Surgery Week

Before I dive into probably my longest post yet I just want to thank everyone for their support and prayers. I really am blessed to have this. It really makes a difference as you already know with the success of my surgery. The prayers have been answered. Thank you everyone!

Alright I'm going to try to keep this as short as I can, but at the same time try to get all of the main events that occurred throughout the week for me. I'm starting this right now at 7 pm Friday night. Let's see if I can get this done in one shot since my arm is pretty sore. Lots of pictures in here.

Monday: Made our trip down to Philadelphia, and stayed in a hotel that was only one mile away from the hospital. This was really nice on surgery day allowing us to get more sleep and be less stressed on an already stressful day. Not much really happened this day other than getting down to Philly, and enjoying the hotel which I did greatly. There was a pool, and hot tub in the hotel so I got rid of my nervous energy that way. It was a fun time with my brothers. On a normal day this would have helped me sleep better, but no dice this time. I only managed to get 4 hours of sleep. I just couldn't sleep that night. It's Friday now, and Monday night in the pool was the last time I had any amount of fun. So I was really glad for this day.

Had the Pool to Ourselves

Not to Brag, but don't I look pretty healthy in this picture?

I love hot tubs!

The picture right above at the beach was taken when me and my family went on vacation this summer. It was taken a week before I found out that the lump in my arm was more than just a strain, or tear. The swelling in my right arm is obvious even from the front in this picture. If you compare this image to the pictures above you can really see how far I have come. Not only am I bald now, but my arm looks back to normal. I also have genuine smiles on in the pictures on Monday. I was in so much pain on vacation... it was a pretty miserable time. Monday was the conclusion of my big break from treatment, and it really showed. I mean I was jumping in the pool and everything on Monday. It was really great! It's crazy to think that 6 months ago I was sitting in a hot tub on vacation thinking that the jets directed at my arm was going to fix it. On Monday I was sitting in a hot tub counting down the hours until the operation that would finally fix my arm.

Tuesday: Operation Day! A lot happened on this day, but I was knocked out for most of it.

Presurgery: We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 a.m, and the surgery started around 9 a.m. It was a pretty scary time for all of us, but us staying together is what helped us get through it. It was a pretty emotional experience when my family saw me for the last time before surgery in the waiting area dressed in my gown and all. I don't think it really hit me how scared I really was until I was getting dressed in my hospital gown. I began to get really afraid as I got dressed up, but seeing them one last time helped me a lot. The one thing that kind of eased me during this time was the fact that I was naked underneath my gown, and the hat thing looked ridiculous on me. My brothers were laughing at the way I looked. Once I said goodbye to my family they took me into the surgical room. Setting me up made me feel stressed out because they strap down like every part of your body to the bed. But they gave me an anti anxiety med which slowed me down so that feeling didn't last too long. The last thing I remember happening before I was knocked out from the anesthesia was........throwing up. Yeah, the anesthesia gave me problems during the last procedure(installing the port in my chest), and it was no different this time.

 Complete Boss Right Here

Surgery:

Surgery as you know went better than expected. My surgeon was very surprised how well it went. Like nothing went wrong at all. Some of these details might overlap from the post that my mom so generously wrote on Tuesday. The section of bone that was removed was 10 cm in length. There wasn't much muscle removed because the first margin of healthy tissue she took with Jimmy was clean. Meaning the removal of heathy tissue stopped there. The muscle she took didn't serve much function at all, and that strength will eventually come back. There was no damage to the rotator cuff so I'll get full flexibility in my shoulder. Also there was no damage to the nerve in my arm that controls hand function. My surgeon explained to me that this damage does occur a lot unfortunately, and it is difficult; often impossible to regain this hand function fully. Very lucky here. I can move my hand, fingers, and wrist in any way possible which was one of the first things they assessed when I woke up from surgery. Necrosis percentage I won't know for 2 weeks, but I'll get it on here when I find out. Some more statistics... 46 stitches in my arm, and 7 in my hip for the bone graft. One of the things that surprised me was that the surgery took longer than expected. 6 hours! It's crazy to think that I was knocked out for that long.

Post Surgery:

This part I don't really remember too much, but I was in recovery from like 3 until 8 pm. The first thing I remember doing was.... throwing up, and then I saw my parents in an hour or so. I remember feeling so bad because I wanted to talk to them so much, but I could barely speak because of how out of it I was. They left soon after so I could get more rest. A few hours later I saw Joey, and my mom. During this time I was much more alert, and able to talk with them. We were so happy with how well surgery went. This was also when my mom explained to me that I had a catheter which was a lifesaver for me that night. I didn't even realize it was there until she told me. I don't think I moved a muscle until I saw Joey, and my mom. I had so much pain in my arm, and my hip, but I feel like the nausea, and just overall sick,crappy feeling was the worst part of this night. Like after they left I threw up about an hour later. Then, about 20 minutes after that they transported me to my room. I was feeling pretty sick on the way up so they slowed down the bed. But as soon as we got to the room in which everyone was there already so happy to see me, it happened again. I threw up yet again. Not much happened after this. My family wasn't up there too long since I was still slowly getting over the anesthesia, and it was pretty late.

Night: 

I didn't get much sleep at the hospital during the nights, but the first night was the worst. It's hard to get much sleep when the nurses are checking your vitals every few hours, on top of that you have all of the iv's, wires, cords, and straps wrapped all over your body. This night was also pretty difficult to sleep because of the pain, and lack of effectiveness of the painkiller I was receiving. I switched that up in the morning. Switched from oxycodone to Dilaudid.  The other things that made sleep difficult was the constant beeping, sore throat, and numb tongue from the anesthesia. This unfortunately led to me biting my tongue pretty badly(still hurts pretty bad now), and not even realizing it until the following morning. So all of these extra annoyances that occurred on the first day kind of set the tone for how I'd be enjoying my stay in the hospital. 

Catheter:

The catheter was one of the things that I dreaded the most with having surgery, and my experience wasn't too bad I guess. I never really adjusted to it. I only had it in until the afternoon on Wenesday, but it's such a weird feeling not realizing when you're peeing. I had the urge to pee like all the time, and didn't feel like anything was coming out so it was scaring me. Getting the catheter out was about as comfortable as you'd expect....not at all. And it takes a few hours to get back to peeing on your own. Things get better as time goes.

Wednesday:
Things went much better on Wednesday than on Tuesday. I got the catheter out in the early afternoon, the pain meds were working better, and I got the leg cuff-things off. I don't know what they're called, but they're supposed to prevent leg clotting because they inflate like every couple of minutes. Sore throat didn't improve, and the tongue wasn't numb so it killed me. Still got down breakfast though. On Wednesday I was encouraged with the fact that I was progressing with things. Losing the catheter allowed for this. I met with my surgeon in the morning and she went over why the surgery was such a success. This was the first time that I really smiled after the surgery because all of the pain and crap I dealt with coming out of surgery kept my mind off of how awesome the procedure went for me. I met the therapist, and surprisingly started rehab that afternoon. The arm exercises were very difficult, and painful, and so were the hip exercises. She showed me how to use my cane which she recommended I use over the crutches for many reasons. Even though I was in a lot of pain, I still pushed through it. She was surprised with my resiliency. She was shocked when I was able to walk up, and down the stairs. I even messed up the technique making it more difficult for myself, but still made it look easy. Now for the arm rehab, I have no weight bearing with my shoulder for 4-6 weeks, but I can do passive range of motion exercises. Pendulum swings. I look so dumb doing them, but they are so difficult. I also do active range of motion exercises with my arm. Curls, fist clenches, and wrist rotations? Don't know what to call them. Maybe I'll upload a video of my routine so you can see what I'm doing for rehab. The hip exercises were difficult too. Very painful. I do this rehab 3 times a day. After rehab I had a few hours off until my grandma, and aunt came in to see me. In this time I tried to eat lunch, but made the mistake of ordering from the hospital. I thought that it'd be alright since breakfast wasn't bad, and I wasn't starved or anything. Just wanted to get something more in my stomach before I had company. But as soon as I pulled the lid off of my meal I got extremely nauseous and threw up my breakfast. About 20 minutes after throwing up, I finally urinated for the first time after losing the catheter. Right when I got out of the bathroom(which I was in for about 15 minutes struggling to pee in) my grandma and aunt Diane were there. We talked for a little bit, but they left and came back later since I didn't look too good, and needed sleep. I slept for a little bit, and felt much better when I got up. My dad got me chicken soup from the WaWa across the street. Wasn't too bad, but I had a dark moment with it.

Cancer:
Throughout this whole battle with cancer I can count all of the times that I have been so upset that I cried which I believe is a good thing. One was when I found out that I had a cancerous tumor. Second was actually a few times during my first cycle of chemo. Third was when I thought that the cancer spread to my lungs when I read the lab report. The other three all happened this week. The fourth was when I was sitting in the presurgery room getting dressed for surgery, and right after my family left me. The fifth was right here with the soup. My mom stayed with me while I tried to eat the soup while everyone else went out to give me a little break. This was impossible for me. There was no way that I could sit myself in the chair to allow my left arm to feed myself the soup. So I was forced to have my mom feed me! After about two spoonfuls I got so frustrated, and upset that I just told her to stop, and I only ate the bread. I felt so helpless sitting there getting fed. I just couldn't take it, and neither could my emotions. I just cried for minutes and couldn't stop. It helped me though because I needed to get it out with all of the suffering I had from the day before. The most recent time I cried was on my way home from the hospital, and I'll get to that soon.


After finally getting comfortable I finally was able to enjoy my visit from my family. We talked, and laughed, and had a great time for a few hours. I ended the day on a high note!

Thursday:
This was the day I came home. It started out well, but ended up being such a crappy day. When I woke up the sore throat was gone, the tongue was a little bit better, and the pain meds were keeping the arm, and hip pain at a manageable level. I remember this was the first day that I told the nurse that my arm pain wasn't a 10 in the morning. Early in the day I met with the therapist, and did better with the therapy than the day before. We had a pretty long walk in the halls, and I even finished the walk without the cane! Even though the arm didn't see much improvement I was so pumped with how much my hip improved in just one day. I met with one of the surgeons from the team and he cleared me to go home, and removed my drains. In 30 minutes, the wheelchair came up, and guess what happened at this moment? I sat down in the chair, yelled for the bucket, and threw up my grilled cheese and salad that I ate for lunch.  From here on out the day just sucked. The car ride ended up being 4 hours! I had to go to the bathroom so we stopped at a rest area. What happens here is my fifth time I really got upset. I got out of the car, and got really chilled when I got to about half the distance to the facility. My shivering was putting me in so much pain that I was in tears. I was chilled to the bone! I felt like my shivering was going to ruin the surgery, and force me back into the hospital. What happened next was something that I'll never forget. There was a really kind man who held the door for my mom (who was holding me up), and I. We were like 30 yards away so he didn't have to do it, but he did. Something this little doesn't sound like much, but this act of kindness is something I'll always remember. About 2 hours later we arrived home, and I couldn't have been more relieved. I took my pills, and slept my best night of sleep in days. 12 hours! Much better than the 4-5 hours of sleep I was only getting in the hospital.

Over the next few days things improved for me. Right now my arm is still just as sore as it was back in the hospital, only the pain meds make it manageable. But everything else is getting better. My tongue is almost healed. I'm walking without a limp, and only have a little bit of hip pain during the day. Moderate pain in the hip in the morning. Eating, and sleeping well. Every new day brings more healing. Tomorrow(Monday), I begin rehab at home on my arm. Pretty pumped up for it. Even though I have so much pain when I do the exercises, I still enjoy doing them. It's a new challenge for me; to rehab my new arm. Which reminds me...Don't ever think that you have anything cooler than my new arm. With all of the hardware in my arm. Its pretty decked out. Nothing cooler than it....Don't even argue with me there.

Frankenstein right here

After reading this blog post you might think that I complained a lot here. My answer to that....I'm a very truthful person, and this is my story. To say that last  week sucked would be an understatement. The most important thing that I needed to go well; the surgery, went excellently and I'm very lucky to have been given this gift. But everything else just went terribly. Like I didn't expect to throw up 7 times this week from the medication. Neither did I expect to bite my tongue to pieces, or to be in unimaginable pain from the procedure. If it weren't for the support of my family, friends, and all of you reading this right now along with the awesome care that I received at HUP (thanks nurses, doctors, surgeons, and everyone else involved with my care!) I don't know how I would have done it this week. If you are ever in a hard situation like this past week like surgery was for me, just remember that if I can get through this...So can you!

Alright I'm done. If you made it this far I applaud you. This was very long, and took me forever to put together. It took me a few days to finish this because my arm gets pretty uncomfortable after typing for a while. I still missed a lot of stuff during my week of surgery, maybe I'll mention things in future blog posts. I just want to get this posted already. I've kept you all waiting far too long.