Surgery Day

I am now the proud owner of an Envoy Estrem! I want to make sure to get everything in writing before I forget the details. :) Long story short: everything went well and I feel great!!

I was way too excited to sleep last night so I tossed and turned all might. :) We left for the surgery center at 6:00 and they started prepping me about 6:30. The nurse was great! Surprisingly enough, I was pretty calm. My BP was 119/74, high for me but not for surgery nerves. I was ready to go by 7:00 and my parents came back to wait with me. The anesthesiologist (Chris) was wonderful and put all of us at ease. He also had a Starbucks cup in his hand -CRUEL! Dr. Shohet was running late and it was a looooong wait. Finally, he got there at about 7:40 and I got my happy juice and life was good. :) I remember them wheeling me into the room and thinking, "This looks just like Grey's!"

I woke up in the recovery room at 12:40. Thr surgery ended about noon. Dr. Shohet waa so thoughtful to put my hearing aid in mu other ear before i woke up. My first thought was to look at the clock and see if the surgery had been long enough to be successful. It had! I asked the nurse if everything went ok and it had. Then Dr. Shohet came to tell me everything was great but I don't remember what he said. Then I asked for apple juice and went back to sleep. See, I pass out very easily and was afraid of that. I was in and out for a little while but woke up for good around 1. It hurt quite a bit at that point so the nurse gave me half a Percocet. They had given me the maximum dose of anti nausea mess via IV and I had the patch on as well. I had a little scare and almost passes out but the anesthesiologist heard me calling for the nurse and three cold towels all over me. :) I sipped lots of juice after that.

The nurse went to get my parents about 2:00. By then I felt really good and was sitting up. My throat hurt a lot from the breathing tube so I wasn't keen on talking (for the first time ever quite possibly!). The helmet/ear bubble/cup thingy hurt quite a bit too so the nurse gave me the other half of the Percocet. Then I felt great! Fortunately, I was not sick at all! We left the surgery center about 2:30 and stopped to get a hot tea for my throat. We came to the hotel and I realized my neck was killing me. During surgery, they pushed my neck to the side for hours mints still sore. Mom and I went to Brookstone to get a body bean, which is helping. Since then I've been back at the hotel re,axing. I've been taking Advil but plan on taking Vicodin for the night. I feel really good with just a little soreness. :)

Tomorrow I see Dr. Shohet at 11:30 to get this stupid helmet taken off!:) So far, the surgery and recovery have not been nearly as bad as I expected! The best part was when Daddy asked me if Dr. Shohet told me how the device is working. I told him no and he reported that, "the numbers all looked good" when they tested it. That means it will work once it's activated!

I'm documenting all of this for my own records but also for others who are considering getting the Esteeem. It was very helpful for me to read accounts from others and also to see pictures. My parents took pictures of everything and I will post the, when I get home. I look atrocious in all of them but I hope to be encouraging to someone else having the surgery. :) Despite knowing that the implant is cemented in my head, this still feels very surreal. I'm overwhelmed by God's goodness!!