Surgery for the Titanium plate! May 2015

So it is time for the plate to go in! I am looking forward to it so much! I am also full of fear that an infection may set in...

We had to leave two days early to head to Milwaukee. Both parents were with me and the night we got there I had to go to the hospital for an MRI. The next day, I had blood work and meetings with my doctors. When I came for an MRI a few months prior, I was looking at the business cards as I checked in. One caught my eye: Dr Rovin! Dr. Kassam had finally talked my Marquette doctor into come to work with him! So this surgery, was going to be done by Dr. Rovin. My surgery was scheduled for 10 a.m. the next day.

During the meeting the doctors moved it down to 1p.m. I didn't love that idea, because I like to be able to wake up and go straight to the hospital. Keep in mind,  I can't eat or drink anything beforehand. I warned my parents that I may be a crabby bitch the next day! Obviously, there is nothing I can do about it, though. So, off we went with my soap scrub for my shower process that night and the next morning.

I had to take out my extensions for the surgery and they were going to shave the front of my head. I had asked the doctors at the meeting how much they were planning to shave so I had an idea of what to expect when I woke from surgery. They said from the top of the left side of my head, down to my ear on the right. And it would be about 2 inches thick. I made sure to ask them if they could shave as little as possible and they agreed and understood! I was finally getting my hair to a length I could work with and now it was getting messed up! I had plans to wear a lot of headbands and I cut a strip off of many of my scarves to tie on my head to help keep it covered. I would put the extensions back in also so the side that was shaved was hiding under the hair.

The day of surgery, I woke pretty late. Luckily, that killed a lot of time! I took my shower, and watched a show. Before I knew it, it was time to go! I didn't even have time to get crabby! Haha.

Off the the 3rd floor same-day surgery unit. I get checked in, get asked all the questions, and get my port hooked up so I didn't need to use an IV. It was hard for the nurse to access it (a certain size needle goes in and a sticky gauze is put over it), but after trying a few different size needles, she eventually got it. Then it was time to wait for them to take me into surgery.

My brother Kent from Appleton came to town, so he was in the check-in room with my parents and I. My mom's cousin was there also! She had come a few other times to be with my mom during surgery too.
We seemed to be waiting for quite a long time to be brought back. I was starting to get antsy. A nurse eventually came in and she told us that the doctors were in a surgery that was taking much longer then they thought.

So we were just waiting.

I was getting crabbier and crabbier!

We were in this small room with a curtain for the wall. There wasn't enough room for my crew to sit in there with me. And I was starving!

Around 6 o'clock the nurse came back in and told me that the surgery was coming to an end but the doctors think that we should move mine to the next day.

Fine. Just get me some food please!

I was told I can go home for the night or get checked into a room. I picked to stay because I was already prepared for surgery, my port was accessed, I was checked in and I wouldn't need to do any of that the next day if I stayed there.

I had to wait a bit longer for my room to be ready and during that time my dad went out and got food. My mom's cousin had brought brownies, so I ate a few of those and my mom also went to the cafeteria and got me something little to eat. I was not so crabby anymore! They told me surgery would be late morning and I would text my family to keep them posted on when I was going in.

Right after surgery they had the
incision covered. (And stapled to my head again)

Once in my room, my family left and I went to sleep. I was full and tired. The next morning, when I woke up, I watched show after show to pass time. Before I knew it, it was noon and I still had no word of when I was going in. My parents and brother eventually came. My brother is great at trying to cheer me up and keep me busy and entertained. Finally, a nurse came in and told me it was time to go!

Into surgery I went. It was only a couple hours and everything went great. I had a harder time waking from the anesthesia. I was very nauseous and threw up a few times. My nurse was one of my favorite ones that I had when I was in the ICU for my long stay.  A few days after I had thanked her for being a rockstar at taking care of me and I apologized for being such a mess! I was lucky to have her because shortly after that she started school to be an NP and was taking some time off of work!

This surgery was probably the most painful one for me. The brain itself does not feel pain. It has no pain receptors. But the scalp does. The titanium plate was put in above the brain, right under the scalp. My eye was starting to swell again. That poor eye has been through so much! I am amazed it still works. I had blood and antiseptic in my hair and all over my face. My head was shaved exactly how they explained it would be. There was a spot right behind my ear that was really painful, but I wasn't sure why it was in that area.

The drain tube was removed from
the top of my head and two staples were put in.

It was such a relief that my brain was now protected! My mom liked to joke that "she can now sleep at night." I don't think it was much of a joke though! I was very limited at what I could do during that time.

 I'd go to my brother and son's hockey games and have to sit up very high and keep my eye on the puck. I did not go to a single Tech game, and the only high school games I went to were playoffs at the SDC. I know my Dad told my brother (who was sitting next to me) to be on the look out for me, and of course a puck came flying in my direction! My brother instantly threw himself in front of me! Haha. Gotta love him. One hit and I'd be a goner!

 I never went out during that time either. I obviously wasn't going to go out drinking, but even sitting at the bar, someone's elbow could hit me, or my chair get knocked by a drunk or someone fighting and I could hit my head. It wasn't a chance that I was going to take.

Sometimes I'd be rough housing with Rease and my dad would say "take it easy Val, remember you don't have a skull." Sometimes I'd say, "yeah, yeah, I'm fine." But I understood where they were coming from!

The helmet could be burned! I could have had a separate party just for this. I never wanted to see that thing again!

My birthday dinner

I only was staying in the hospital two nights after the surgery. My friend Meagan was driving up from Florida and she stopped in to be with me for a few hours. It was so awesome to see her!

I was so afraid of an infection setting in! The doctors reassured us that everything looked great and I was good to go. We were only going to my Mom's friend's house at the lake, so we would still be close by.  It rained the next few days so we didn't do very much. I slept a lot. My eye was getting better every day! It was amazing to see how quick I was recovering from this surgery.

My brothers graduation.

My birthday was the end of this week and my brothers graduation from high school was the day after. I did not plan on doing anything for either of them because I knew I'd look horrible for both. But now I was rethinking that.

I had a doctors appointment a few days later and we got the clear to head home! I ended up going to dinner with my family on my birthday and to my brother's graduation! His party was scheduled a few weeks out so that if we had any complications, we had time to get back.

I needed to go back to the hospital in another week to have my stitches removed. I was not looking forward to getting them out since it hurt all the other times!  My friend Joanne came with me and we made a night out of it. We shopped, ate, and relaxed! The stitches were hard to get out be we got most of them!  Now it was time to heal and no appointment needed for 3 months!! The craziness was now coming to an end!