My spine surgery journey: from preparation to recovery

[blackemerald1]

Is it weird that I feel more nervous for those appointments than for the surgery itself at this stage? bleurgh.

No, not weird at all. Those appointments are always bleurgh to me.. You have my sympathy. :hug:

I assume anything I can do to stay as 'stress-free' as possible before the surgery will serve me well in the long run.

Yep, you got that right.

Though this is surgery that you need and want - your body and brain are in for a shock.

Take comfort things to hospital too.

Be prepared for some days where you may feel a bit flat, likely that it will in part the anesthetic which may have weird effects on your mind too. It takes a while for just that alone to be eliminated by the body.

 

[bellbird]

No, not weird at all. Those appointments are always bleurgh to me.. You have my sympathy. :hug:

Thank you :hug:

Though this is surgery that you need and want - your body and brain are in for a shock.

Yeah, you are right.

Take comfort things to hospital too.

I will. So far on my list for comfort things, I have:
-2 teddy bears/soft toys that I sleep with every nice
-soft blanket
-slipper boots, flannel pjs, dressing gown (for when I get to upgrade from hospital gown)
-laptop for watching movies, and phone for listening to music (earphones) and staying in touch here/with friends IRL when I'm able

Be prepared for some days where you may feel a bit flat, likely that it will in part the anesthetic which may have weird effects on your mind too. It takes a while for just that alone to be eliminated by the body.

That's true.
I managed to avoid being drugged with morphine by my ex (still not quite sure how), but was drugged with other compounds to the point of passing out (which I suppose is the best comparison point I have for general at this stage), and it was nooooot fun. Nausea and vomiting, and then massive mood upsets as the drugs left my system and for a while after.

Add into that that I'm now on 4 daily prescription meds (SSRI, antipsychotic, tetracyclic, drowsy antihistamine for sleep) and we're talking a lot of factors that will be influencing each other and influencing my mood.
Not looking forward to that. I think I'll really need this place for that.
And to get my sleep schedule back ASAP; that will be critical.

 

[blackemerald1]

Add into that that I'm now on 4 daily prescription meds

I'm sure you have already but just in case, make sure the anesthetist knows about these meds and also post operative carers are aware too. :hug:

 

[Wendell_R]

I managed to avoid being drugged with morphine by my ex (still not quite sure how), but was drugged with other compounds to the point of passing out (which I suppose is the best comparison point I have for general at this stage), and it was nooooot fun. Nausea and vomiting, and then massive mood upsets as the drugs left my system and for a while after.

Maybe it's helpful to begin visualizing your hospital bed as a safe place. A place where nurses & doctors come to check on you & take care of you. Where your body goes to stabilize and heal. So as your mood may go through any ups and downs as drugs leave & enter your body, you are in a protected place.

 

[Freida]

You might mention to them that you were drugged in the past and had a bad reaction. Morphine can be tricky --- my bestie had it after her csection and became raging beeotch from hell (totally unlike her). She was planning on divorcing her husband because he left to get lunch while she was sleeping!

And I love the comfort stuff list! That will make it way easier

 

[bellbird]

I'm sure you have already but just in case, make sure the anesthetist knows about these meds and also post operative carers are aware too. :hug:

I have, thank you though :)
Post-op carers aka my nursing team are aware, and I will be bringing in all my prescriptions on day of surgery, and then they'll be dispensed to me through the hospital during my stay.
Post-op carers aka my parents are not aware. But for the reasons mentioned earlier in this thread, that was a conscious decision and one that had to be made that way.

Maybe it's helpful to begin visualizing your hospital bed as a safe place. A place where nurses & doctors come to check on you & take care of you. Where your body goes to stabilize and heal. So as your mood may go through any ups and downs as drugs leave & enter your body, you are in a protected place.

A good idea, thank you, I will work on this.

You might mention to them that you were drugged in the past and had a bad reaction. Morphine can be tricky --- my bestie had it after her csection and became raging beeotch from hell (totally unlike her). She was planning on divorcing her husband because he left to get lunch while she was sleeping!

Wowee re bestie!!
I've spoken directly to the anaesthetist and the head of my post-op nursing team (and my surgical team have been informed via letters from me+GP) about my history of being drugged, and ways to ameliorate any sticky situations that arise with my general anaesthesia.

We decided that I won't take the anxiolytic that they give most people to help them calm down while they're waiting for surgery (I think it's a benzo of some sort), to minimise that druggy feeling and its potential triggers before hand.

And then for afterward, the team know that if I start panicking because I've been triggered back to thinking I'm back there, to remind me that I'm safe and that I'm feeling this way because I've had surgery.

Oh and there will always be 2 people from the team with me when the anaesthesia is administered, to remove the 'one person drugging me' trigger.

 

[blackemerald1]

This all sounds like it's as good as anyone could possibly arrange. Everyone knows their role and your unique needs. Sounds good to me. :)

 

[Freida]

Oh and there will always be 2 people from the team with me when the anaesthesia is administered, to remove the 'one person drugging me' trigge

This is brilliant!

 

[Friday]

@bellbird Just wanted to give you mad props for working with your team in advance and finding good working solutions, instead of just :speechless: fretting, showing up and dealing wi5 trigger after stressor after trigger all on top of everything else.

Well done.

Very well done.

 

[bellbird]

@bellbird Just wanted to give you mad props for working with your team in advance and finding good working solutions, instead of just :speechless: fretting, showing up and dealing wi5 trigger after stressor after trigger all on top of everything else.

Well done.

Very well done.

Oh thank you very much, @Friday , much appreciated :)

--
10 days! The pitch of my internal [eek!] seems to be increasing as the days are counting down. Too bad I could never sing soprano in high school.

Dentist appointments are done, hair cut is booked for Thursday.

Tomorrow I have to be available all day, as I will get a phone pre-assessment done by an orthopaedic nurse at some stage.
I assume they will just ask me a lot of questions about how my health has been, and also it will be my last opportunity to ask questions pre-DOS.

I'm going to confirm with that nurse that everyone is still aware of the plan.
She will go over my nil by mouth instructions again.
And then I have a list written out of other questions that I'd like to get clarification on.

And then we're into a single-figure countdown.
Still very excited.
Still tear up every time I picture myself standing for the first time with my new straight back.
But with increasing amounts of emotional blanks. I don't think they are dissociation, I think it's just that my brain has got lots of little emotion boxes, and at the moment a lot of them are filled with excitement. And the others, no one can figure out what to put in them because we've never been through anything like this before, so they're just blank for now :laugh:

 

[Freida]

I am so excited you are excited! :)

 

[bellbird]

Had my phone call pre-assessment this morning. A week-before thing.
Of course they rang as I was out on my morning run, at the literal farthest point from my house (my phone had just dinged to let me know I was half way through my run).

They'd told me to make myself available "all day", so I thought they were meaning 9-5, as no times were given.
I thought wrong.

I told the nurse that I could speak if it needed to be right now, but otherwise I would be home within half an hour. She called back once I was home, which was good because I had my list of questions waiting on my desk.


I re-checked with her that the team were all aware of our 'plan' (as my anaesthetist back on pre-op day had suggested), and this nurse said yes there was a highlighted note in my file, and she would put in another highlighted note in my file as part of her notes from our conversation.

She checked I'd had my iron infusion, and asked me how I was feeling, to which I responded "well". I suppose aside from my iron infusion, I had no other adjustments to make to my lifestyle pre-op, so her questions were fairly limited.
She also went over my nil by mouth instructions, and I confirmed that I can take all meds as normal in the morning, and that I can shower/moisturise normally the day before but the morning of I can't have wet hair or wear deodorant/moisturiser/etc. I can brush my teeth the morning of, but I can't swallow any water except for if it's before 6am (provided my surgery is in the morning, which it will be because we'll take all day).


Rest of the day has been a bit of a blur; I can't get out of my head that we're into single figures now in the countdown. Holy shiet.
And that the phrase "I'm having a spinal fusion next week" is true.

On @blackemerald1 's suggestion of ginger sucky-things being good for nausea, and the internet's suggestion of having mints in hospital (once I'm cleared to eat), to keep my breath feeling fresh when I'm not able to brush my teeth, I found the perfect solution that sits in the middle of that Venn diagram. No, wait! There's another circle to the diagram - a natural-as-possible product, because that's a big thing for me in terms of what I put in/on my body. Still fits in the middle; I found these VerMints Organic & Gluten Free Gingermint Mints | VerMints Inc , tried a couple and omg they are great. That perfect spicy ginger kick that grounds you and makes your stomach feel a little easier. Think I'll definitely have some of these around in general for days when I feel nauseous.

Getting excited about my post-op mints. I guess I can let my T know that I'm definitely making progress in enjoying the little things in life.


Been getting through tidying up my loose ends; the list on my phone is no longer long enough that it needs a scroll bar, so that's cool. And in a few days time I'll be counting down the days of the week! Madness.