Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of breaking my bionic ankle.
How did I celebrate such an exciting experience? By visiting another OR, Pre-Op, Post-Op, taking a pregnancy test, getting some general anesthesia, riding around in a wheel chair, getting an IV (twice), and adding a sweet new neck tat to my collection of scars. See photo (maybe graphic?) below:
I had another surgery yesterday to remove an enlarged lymph-node from the right side of my neck. It was pretty minor surgery, I was mostly worried about the after affects that the general anesthesia would have on me.
Some new fun facts I learned through yesterday’s expereince:
– They need a current (within 3 days) negative pregnancy test before they operate (I’ve never taken one, so it was creepy)
– St Jude in OC is the BEST. The nurses there are my favorite. I’m an expert on this, I’ve met a lot of surgical staff in the past 365 days.
– When it’s cold, and you have little veins in your hand they will attempt to put your IV in twice. The first time they fail, they will pull out the needle and your blood will spew all over your bed.
– They have magical blankets now. When they make you strip off all of your clothing and put on the hospital gown (ps. they have a much better version at St Jude – they tie on the side, and cover your bottom) and you’re freezing, you crawl under this magical paper blanket that hooks to a giant blow dryer that pumps warm air into the blanket and makes you toasty. Where were these magic blankets for all the times I went into shock in ER!
– A young, white, fair skinned, brunette, female has the highest probability of having a very negative reaction to general anesthesia. Yep, been there.
– When they slice open your neck they will glue it shut, which is nice so you can shower. Your jaw and neck area will feel numb, swollen, and tight for several weeks.
– The pathologist in the OR will see your lady lump (lymph-node) and wonder aloud to the rest of the staff that this patient may have a rare case of Cat Scratch Disease.
– You and your Manfriend will google CSD and go WTF? After learning there are less than 22,000 reported cases a year, a Cat can only be infected for 2 weeks, most people flight off the disease, and only those with suppressed immune systems are susceptible.
– You will also wonder how the heck this happend since you don’t even live with a cat.
Pathology results come on Monday folks, we’ll find out if it’s CSD soon enough.
The Merfett 