Today is the big day! It's currently 4:45am as I'm starting to type this post. I haven't slept at all as my mind has been too busy trying to remember last minute things.
Going to take my morning shower in little more than an hour and then just get my hair dry and leave for the hospital at 7:30am.
My surgery is planned to begin at 11am but they need me to be at the hospital at 9am.
I had my pre-op meeting last Wednesday and the doctors and I talked everything through regarding my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and what precautions needs to be taken because of it, and we also needed to switch the pre-surgery antibiotics as I have a known rather severe allergy against one of those they normally use. I'm going to take two different antibiotics just before surgery and I haven't taken either of those before so I'm the least to say vary about it because of the severe reaction I have had in the past. But oh well, at least I will be in the hospital and they can treat any reaction instantly if needed.
It was also decided that I will not get an epidural injection before surgery, instead a tubing will be placed into my spine and the tubing will be connected to a pump so I will be having a continuous epidural for several days after surgery. This is due to how difficult my pain can be to manage by oral or IV medicines.
I am quite nervous about the placing of that epidural tubing as I always have to see what's going on when being poked with a needle, and it's a scary thought that they're going in with a big needle right in between the vertebrae!
The surgery I'll be having is called a Total Abdominal Hysterectomy or TAH, it basically means that they'll make an incision and take the entire uterus and cervix out. I will keep my ovaries due to my young age as I need them for bone strength. They only remove ovaries in young people if the ovaries are diseased.
My hospital stay is expected to last at least 3-4 days, possibly longer. I'm hoping to have signal on my iPhone and iPad so I can keep everyone updated on how I'm doing, but I'm also bringing crosswords, magazines and cross stitch work to keep myself entertained when not sleeping.
I have to say it was an awesome feeling taking that last ever mini-pill in the evening! There's still 5 pills left in that box, but I no longer need them after the surgery. It's also an awesome feeling to know that the Mirena IUD is going to be out in just hours. The IUD has been nothing but pure hell since the moment I woke up from anesthesia when it was fitted, and sadly I know more people with horror stories than people who has been helped by the Mirena. That little plastic hell is a medieval torturing device!
I know it is going to be a long, tough recovery, but I also know it can only get better and I will feel so much better once the surgery has been done and I have recovered!
No more heavy periods, no more constant cramps and no more worrying about random spotting or leaks. Both random spotting and leaks have been common for me. Spotting just randomly when least expecting it, and leaks on days where my period has been so heavy I go through a super-plus tampon AND a maxi pad within an hour or two, or fill a menstruation cup and maxi pad in a couple of hours. It's awful to never feel safe and always having to worry about leaks and/or having such bad pain you almost throw up. And not to forget when I got a stabbing attack from the Mirena a while ago while driving on the highway- I almost lost control of the car while driving 60mph!
So yeah, it can only get better!
I'm still allowed clear liquids for another 45 minutes now, so time to drink a little because I won't get to drink anything again until I have woken up after surgery! I don't know how long the surgery will take, but I guess I'll be asleep for longer than I have been before.
So yeah, it's time very soon! Just wanted to give everyone an update as I haven't had time to blog lately. I have been very busy!
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
I have a date!
Well, if you thought I'm going on a date with someone upon reading the headline, you'll be disappointed.
I was woken up today by a loud slam in the letterbox, sounded like a newspaper only that I don't have any newspaper subscriptions and this was shortly after noon. Up I went to have a look and it wasn't a newspaper but a very thick envelope with the regional hospital logo on it.
I've got a date for my pre-op and surgery! Pre-op is on the 18th and surgery on the 26th of SEPTEMBER! So that is really soon! Sooner than I had ever imagined as I had expected to have to wait at least until October. I suspect my gynecologist has been pushing a bit for this to happen as soon as possible as he was rather peeved about me having been left in this state for several months before the appointment in early August.
I feel surprisingly calm about the surgery to be honest. Considering it's a pretty big surgery and I've only had very minor procedures done before that didn't involve incisions or stitches. I'm not worried about the actual surgery as all I need to do is sleep through it and wake up afterwards. I'm more worried about the first hours and possibly days after surgery as I'm difficult to treat pain wise. I can get enough morphine for most people to see pink elephants and I may still be in a lot of pain. I may well opt for an epidural as pain management while I'm in the hospital, as long as they put it in when I'm asleep...
There are two very likely reasons why I'm difficult to treat when it comes to pain. One being the EDS and how it for some causes resistance to painkillers. The other is the fact that I most likely have the red headed gene which also causes resistance. Going by the fact I have a lot of freckles on my arms and shoulders, and my hair looks like a carrot when I try to bleach it, I don't even need to have the genetic test done...
Other than pain management, I only really worry a bit about the healing as I have no experience with stitches and simply don't know how my body will handle it. The hospital knows about my Ehlers Danlos and they have experience with operating on EDS patients so I'll just remind them to put the sutures closer together than usual, and leave them in for longer. I just hope they won't rip through the skin which may happen with EDS. I'm also allergic to some adhesives so need to be careful with what brand and kind of tape is used. Sometimes there's differences even within the same brand. I can use Tegaderm without problems, I use them all the time over my patch, but a Tegaderm+Pad will rip the top layer of my skin off!
Other than having got a surgery date, not that much has happened since my last post. I'm battling the same crap as usual, including having an awful time with insomnia. I've been out and about some with my parents, day trips to some places in my region. The other week we went to a lakeside town not too far away from my old high school, because that town has a nice ice cream place with home made ice cream that we wanted to try.
This past Friday I was in the big amusement park in Gothenburg together with my parents, that was totally unplanned and unexpected but a lot of fun. I'm still paying for it now, by having some flu like symptoms and feeling generally crappy but it was so worth it! I had not been to that amusement park for over 6 years and it was beyond awesome to ride some roller coasters again! Had I known about that trip beforehand I could have prepared for it and rested up and would have probably been feeling better now. But heck, with things like this, it's worth it to feel crappy afterwards because you're having a blast while there! The fact Friday was a pretty summer like day with a warm evening surely made the day even better!
Will be really busy now until my surgery. Still a lot of preparations to be done to make the recovery as smooth as possible. And I've found something I'm going to try as entertainment while healing, along with it being a way to keep the family tradition and my grandmother's legacy alive- I'm going to start with counted cross stitch! Small scale at first but have found a couple of advanced patterns that I have as goal to manage one day. I hope my hands can tolerate it, but I am going to try it at least!
Now I need to fill in some documents that the hospital wants me to send back as soon as possible and then just wait for sleep to come to me... It's almost 2am already and while I am tired, I know it will be like last night if I do try to sleep now. I'll just end up tossing and turning until after 5am! Last night I tried to go to sleep before 1am, I was still awake by 5:30am :/
I was woken up today by a loud slam in the letterbox, sounded like a newspaper only that I don't have any newspaper subscriptions and this was shortly after noon. Up I went to have a look and it wasn't a newspaper but a very thick envelope with the regional hospital logo on it.
I've got a date for my pre-op and surgery! Pre-op is on the 18th and surgery on the 26th of SEPTEMBER! So that is really soon! Sooner than I had ever imagined as I had expected to have to wait at least until October. I suspect my gynecologist has been pushing a bit for this to happen as soon as possible as he was rather peeved about me having been left in this state for several months before the appointment in early August.
I feel surprisingly calm about the surgery to be honest. Considering it's a pretty big surgery and I've only had very minor procedures done before that didn't involve incisions or stitches. I'm not worried about the actual surgery as all I need to do is sleep through it and wake up afterwards. I'm more worried about the first hours and possibly days after surgery as I'm difficult to treat pain wise. I can get enough morphine for most people to see pink elephants and I may still be in a lot of pain. I may well opt for an epidural as pain management while I'm in the hospital, as long as they put it in when I'm asleep...
There are two very likely reasons why I'm difficult to treat when it comes to pain. One being the EDS and how it for some causes resistance to painkillers. The other is the fact that I most likely have the red headed gene which also causes resistance. Going by the fact I have a lot of freckles on my arms and shoulders, and my hair looks like a carrot when I try to bleach it, I don't even need to have the genetic test done...
Other than pain management, I only really worry a bit about the healing as I have no experience with stitches and simply don't know how my body will handle it. The hospital knows about my Ehlers Danlos and they have experience with operating on EDS patients so I'll just remind them to put the sutures closer together than usual, and leave them in for longer. I just hope they won't rip through the skin which may happen with EDS. I'm also allergic to some adhesives so need to be careful with what brand and kind of tape is used. Sometimes there's differences even within the same brand. I can use Tegaderm without problems, I use them all the time over my patch, but a Tegaderm+Pad will rip the top layer of my skin off!
Other than having got a surgery date, not that much has happened since my last post. I'm battling the same crap as usual, including having an awful time with insomnia. I've been out and about some with my parents, day trips to some places in my region. The other week we went to a lakeside town not too far away from my old high school, because that town has a nice ice cream place with home made ice cream that we wanted to try.
This past Friday I was in the big amusement park in Gothenburg together with my parents, that was totally unplanned and unexpected but a lot of fun. I'm still paying for it now, by having some flu like symptoms and feeling generally crappy but it was so worth it! I had not been to that amusement park for over 6 years and it was beyond awesome to ride some roller coasters again! Had I known about that trip beforehand I could have prepared for it and rested up and would have probably been feeling better now. But heck, with things like this, it's worth it to feel crappy afterwards because you're having a blast while there! The fact Friday was a pretty summer like day with a warm evening surely made the day even better!
Will be really busy now until my surgery. Still a lot of preparations to be done to make the recovery as smooth as possible. And I've found something I'm going to try as entertainment while healing, along with it being a way to keep the family tradition and my grandmother's legacy alive- I'm going to start with counted cross stitch! Small scale at first but have found a couple of advanced patterns that I have as goal to manage one day. I hope my hands can tolerate it, but I am going to try it at least!
Now I need to fill in some documents that the hospital wants me to send back as soon as possible and then just wait for sleep to come to me... It's almost 2am already and while I am tired, I know it will be like last night if I do try to sleep now. I'll just end up tossing and turning until after 5am! Last night I tried to go to sleep before 1am, I was still awake by 5:30am :/
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