When the end of May felt like the end of the world…

I’ve noticed a trend here.
Every week, the very first thing that I say to you is how sorry I am that I haven’t written in a while.. Well this week’s long time no see is with good reason, believe me.
If anything I was kind of waiting to share the events of the past few weeks with you, until I got some good news to share, and now I do!

I will give fair warning though, a lot has happened in the past 2 weeks, and I I am willing to share what happened with you, I just don’t want to completely overwhelm you.

So, here’s what I’ve decided, I’m gonna tell this story to you in parts-Act 1, 2, (intermission & 3. Just so that I don’t completely bore you to death

Take a deep breath though because I promise its going to be okay!…
No need to worry, even if you are squeamish (it really isn’t all that bad) but I have edited out the gory details for you and I’ll even tell you when and where to skip ahead because I love you **just follow the stars**.
As for the rest of yooouuuu….jury duty, jury duty, blackmail, pink slip, eviction notice, jury duty!

Just kidding!! I had to lighten the mood =) Soo LEGGGOO

ACT 1

So, I actually had another surgery! (Surprise?) It was about 4 weeks ago now and yes it was planned and I’ve really been looking forward to having it done for a couple of months now. You may even remember way back when I first got my prosthetic I said that there was this painful clicking sensation in my arm/elbow that was just so uncomfortable that it completely prevented me from wearing my prosthetic arm at all. Anyway, if you don’t remember, now you know!

But this painful clicking felt somewhat like (what my dr’s said they thought it was, at first), a tendon over my bone… But it actually turned out NOT to be a tendon,but it was actually an enlarged bursa that really really needed to be drained! Do I know how or why it was there… Nope! But apparently it was pretty bad. Not only that, but there were a few other things going on in there too. Such as, a couple of nerve endings that were damaged (but fixed during the surgery), and they also did a debridement on my wound while they were in there as well (basically just cleaned out the dead/ inflamed tissue to prevent an infection from forming).
When the surgery was over, my doctor found my parents, and told them the details of how my surgery went, but I was just a little wonky coming out of anesthesia, so I really had no idea of what happened at all, just that nubbie (my amputated arm) was wrapped up like a really tightly wrapped boxing glove!

The procedure was performed at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philly and just like my last revision in December, it was done as an outpatient procedure. (Meaning that once the surgery was over, and the hospital staff thought that I was stable/well enough on my own, that I would be discharged right then and there, given a few extra bandages and gloves and sent “home”) The thing is though, that I don’t live anywhere near Philly. So just like we did in December, My mom and I stayed at a hotel in Society Hill which is only a few blocks down from the Hospital.

So far, everything that I’ve told you above this paragraph (obvi) are pretty much the most basic details that I can explain to you in the most plain way of saying it…. The rest? Well if you havent done so already, buckle up. No jokes, it’s gonna be a rough and bumpy ride.

I never took the idea that “something could go wrong” into consideration, especially because the last time I recovered from an outpatient surgery everything went really well. Still, even after they made me a sign a boat load of paperwork which said that I understood the complications that could happen during surgery, it still never really resonated completely.

Like I said before, I was really woozy coming out of surgery and I had no idea of what happened in the OR. You see, I’m on a lot of medications but one of the most important medications that I’m on is Coumadin– a blood thinner.

**Skip ahead**
So in regards to surgery, I was already at a higher risk of blood loss than most typical patients would be. And with good reason… because thats exactly what happened.
I was bleeding so badly in the OR that after they had already stitched me up, they had to then re-open the stitches, go back in, and clean me all up again, and all before the anesthesia wore off. But they managed, and they put in a temporary drain tube (which they also did after my last revision)

**You are clear for takeoff**
When I woke up I was in a terrible amount of pain. I knew that there was something wrong with my arm but couldn’t really tell out of my foggy haze. Like I said, something on my arm was very tight and I couldn’t tell what it was. Eventually one of the surgeons, who I didn’t know, came over to ask me how I was feeling and I told him that my ace bandage was very tight. I went on to say “I don’t know if you can fix this because the doctors did it in the OR”. He responded by saying “Oh! I can fix it I’m the one who put it on you”(lols)

So anyway, I was still in the recovery room as ALL of this was going on, but I eventually realized that I hadn’t even seen my parents yet.
But I was just so sleepy… So as I was transported to meet my parents, I enjoyed another little nap.
The nurses took me back to the room where I got prepared and where my parents were eagerly waiting for me. I woke up just in time for them to roll me into my room and smile and give a little wave to my parents. And even though it was an outpatient procedure I was still coming down from the (sleepy) medications that were administered in the OR. So I slept in that room for a little while longer, and the nursing staff told me that I could leave whenever I wanted…giving me time to enjoy one last nap.

When I was finally awake my parents told me what the doctor said about the bleeding. He told them that he wanted to see me the next day at his clinic hours. So that was something to look forward to.

However, that first night out of surgery was my very first night of hell. I had some issues with the medications that I was on and i just could not get comfortable. Sleep did not come easy that night, as it wouldn’t come easy for the next few nights either.

I used to have this very weird habit of sitting up, “cross cross apple sauce” in bed and falling asleep in that position after sleeping, lying flat. Well this was the night that my dirty habit came back, and every time I did it I would, unfortunately also wake my mom up. She said that she didn’t mind though, she’d just sweetly ask me if I was ok, and she’d do that every time I did it (which was least 7 times). I just could not get comfortable. So my mom did what she does every night that I can’t fall asleep, she rubbed my hair until I drifted off, which apparently worked every time. But what she couldn’t help was that I was in such a crazy amount of pain that I could not stay sleep. So when we saw the doctor the next day we were sure to tell him about what happened the night before.

So that next day (Wednesday) we saw the doctor and he noticed that my bleeding was still pretty substantial. So once again he invited us to come back the next day. Although it was a little difficult to get from Atlantic City to Philly each day, the ride was only an hour and 10 minutes so it was pretty easy to muster up the strength and get through it.
What we didn’t know it was that Wednesday night was going to be the worst night of them all.

But at last, I was finally home after spending two straight days in Philadelphia. And a soothing is that sounds, I tried not to think about the amount of pain that I was in and settle into recovery mode. But relaxation and rest were the farthest aspects of what the next few days would bring..

Even though this isn’t even close to the end of the first week, I think this is a good enough place to stop. Stay tuned kids, I’ll be back soon!