From the Heart- I Had Vascular Surgery + Next Step
Hi everyone! Happy Monday! Today's post is another medical update because stuff has been happening, namely vascular surgery.
So this last week, my parents and I got up early in the morning to go to a medical center nearby where I was scheduled to have vascular surgery. Even though God had graciously granted me good health, the thought kept swirling around in my mind of whether or not I would be able to have the surgery as scheduled. This is because the day before the surgery, I was running late and ended up literally sprinting in the cold to grab something from my house and then hopped on my bike and peddled off to school without really fully stopping to catch my breath 😬. Suffice it to say, I did not feel too great right after that adventure. Even though after catching my breath, I felt a lot better, my lungs were wheezing on and off that day and even on the morning of the surgery, so I wondered if the surgery would need to be rescheduled. Even though we told the nurse and the anesthesiologist about the wheezing, they listened to my lungs and thought that they sounded healthy, so the surgery was on 🙌!
Going back in time a bit, my parents and I got to the hospital and I was admitted. Then there was the normal pre-surgery prep (getting an IV, getting my blood drawn, etc.) Also during this surgery prep time, my parents and I talked with some important people. As I mentioned, the anesthesiologist came in and talked to us about the plan. There was some miscommunication so what I said in the last blog post was not accurate. The anesthesiologist made clear that this different anesthesia method, TIVA, is still general anesthesia. Although the plan was that I would be given little or no narcotics, she said that she needed to give me a little bit of the narcotic fentanyl because even when someone is under anesthesia, his or her body still reacts to the pain caused by what the surgeon does. This reaction to pain stresses the heart, making it beat faster, so the fentanyl helps the heart not beat too fast in spite of the pain. I was a little nervous about being given fentanyl because we think that that is one of the triggers of the nausea and vomiting I tend to get after surgery, but all we could do was hope and pray that it wouldn't make me sick.
I also got to see the child-life specialist. Basically, this is a person at a hospital who helps make kids' hospital experiences more pleasant. She was really sweet! She told me a little bit about what was going to happen, but she did it in "normal English" which was nice 😉. I also got to talk to her a little bit about how she became a child-life specialist, which was cool because I'm definitely interested in working with kids in the healthcare field without being a nurse and having someone's life in my hands.
The last main medical person I saw was my cardiologist. It was nice to get to see him because I know him pretty well as I've been his patient for the last few years. He just wanted to make sure I was doing ok and he asked me a little bit about life. That was nice because even though I have health challenges, I'm still pretty much a normal person with a regular life.
It was also a blessing to have a couple of family friends come to the hospital and stay with my family and me as we waited for the surgery to start. They read a passage of the Bible to us and prayed that everything would go well for God's glory. That meant a lot!
At about 8:15 in the morning, it was show time! The anesthesiologist came and gave me some versed in my IV. This is a medicine that we call "happy juice." It is not needed for anesthesia but is used more to relax people before surgery. Even though I wasn't super duper nervous about the surgery, I chose to take the versed anyways, but I think next time I won't because it made me feel weird. My mind felt fuzzy and I felt flushed. I also forgot some of what happened before the surgery, which I didn't like. Anyways, after the versed, I was wheeled to the children's cath lab. My family and friends said their goodbyes and then it was surgery time!
I don't remember much about the few minutes before surgery, but I remember scooting onto the operating table and one of the nurses or surgical technicians telling me how he could tell that I was trying to figure out what was going on. (which I think I was because I was curious 😉.)
Next thing I knew, I was in the anesthesia recovery unit feeling pretty out of it. A family friend stopped by as did the nurse practitioner who I usually see at clinic appointments, but I was too out of it to acknowledge or even really remember their presence 😂. But y'all, here's the super duper exciting part- I didn't get nauseous or throw up🙌🎉!! It was pretty much the best recovery from surgery that I can remember having. I will say, though that I was pretty loopy afterward. I asked a few times, "When am I going to stop being out of it?" I also asked my parents multiple times what they ate for breakfast 😂. Anyways, being out of it after surgery certainly beats vomiting after surgery!
The surgery took about 3 hours, and I had to lie flat for about 4 hours after to prevent bleeding. So I talked to my family, ate a little bit, watched some TV, talked to friends and stuff.
In the evening, the surgeon came by and said that after he signed the discharge papers, I could go home 🙌! This was neat because the plan was to stay the night in the hospital and be discharged the next morning, but the surgeon essentially said that there was no reason to stay! In the surgery, he had to re-open and then widen a portion of the vein in my leg that had collapsed some since last surgery and he also was able to keep working on opening more of veins in my leg. Also, my surgeon said that my cardiologist is starting to help organize a choir for kids who have had the type of heart surgery that I had because singing is shown to help keep us kids healthy. This is all pretty tentative, I think, but if it ends up working out, it would be so cool to be in this choir 😊.
So a little bit after that, I got to go home, which was a blessing 🙌. Although this surgery is done, dealing with this circulation problem in my leg is not. I have an appointment with the surgeon this week, probably so he can see how I'm doing and also to talk about what the next step in dealing with this issue is. I'm thankful for his persistence in dealing with this problem and also that this problem, though a problem, is not at all life-threatening, even if it's never totally solved 😊.
That's all for now. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram! I look forward to posting again on Friday (probably another medical update because of the follow-up appointment this week) 😊.
So this last week, my parents and I got up early in the morning to go to a medical center nearby where I was scheduled to have vascular surgery. Even though God had graciously granted me good health, the thought kept swirling around in my mind of whether or not I would be able to have the surgery as scheduled. This is because the day before the surgery, I was running late and ended up literally sprinting in the cold to grab something from my house and then hopped on my bike and peddled off to school without really fully stopping to catch my breath 😬. Suffice it to say, I did not feel too great right after that adventure. Even though after catching my breath, I felt a lot better, my lungs were wheezing on and off that day and even on the morning of the surgery, so I wondered if the surgery would need to be rescheduled. Even though we told the nurse and the anesthesiologist about the wheezing, they listened to my lungs and thought that they sounded healthy, so the surgery was on 🙌!
Going back in time a bit, my parents and I got to the hospital and I was admitted. Then there was the normal pre-surgery prep (getting an IV, getting my blood drawn, etc.) Also during this surgery prep time, my parents and I talked with some important people. As I mentioned, the anesthesiologist came in and talked to us about the plan. There was some miscommunication so what I said in the last blog post was not accurate. The anesthesiologist made clear that this different anesthesia method, TIVA, is still general anesthesia. Although the plan was that I would be given little or no narcotics, she said that she needed to give me a little bit of the narcotic fentanyl because even when someone is under anesthesia, his or her body still reacts to the pain caused by what the surgeon does. This reaction to pain stresses the heart, making it beat faster, so the fentanyl helps the heart not beat too fast in spite of the pain. I was a little nervous about being given fentanyl because we think that that is one of the triggers of the nausea and vomiting I tend to get after surgery, but all we could do was hope and pray that it wouldn't make me sick.
I also got to see the child-life specialist. Basically, this is a person at a hospital who helps make kids' hospital experiences more pleasant. She was really sweet! She told me a little bit about what was going to happen, but she did it in "normal English" which was nice 😉. I also got to talk to her a little bit about how she became a child-life specialist, which was cool because I'm definitely interested in working with kids in the healthcare field without being a nurse and having someone's life in my hands.
The last main medical person I saw was my cardiologist. It was nice to get to see him because I know him pretty well as I've been his patient for the last few years. He just wanted to make sure I was doing ok and he asked me a little bit about life. That was nice because even though I have health challenges, I'm still pretty much a normal person with a regular life.
It was also a blessing to have a couple of family friends come to the hospital and stay with my family and me as we waited for the surgery to start. They read a passage of the Bible to us and prayed that everything would go well for God's glory. That meant a lot!
At about 8:15 in the morning, it was show time! The anesthesiologist came and gave me some versed in my IV. This is a medicine that we call "happy juice." It is not needed for anesthesia but is used more to relax people before surgery. Even though I wasn't super duper nervous about the surgery, I chose to take the versed anyways, but I think next time I won't because it made me feel weird. My mind felt fuzzy and I felt flushed. I also forgot some of what happened before the surgery, which I didn't like. Anyways, after the versed, I was wheeled to the children's cath lab. My family and friends said their goodbyes and then it was surgery time!
I don't remember much about the few minutes before surgery, but I remember scooting onto the operating table and one of the nurses or surgical technicians telling me how he could tell that I was trying to figure out what was going on. (which I think I was because I was curious 😉.)
Next thing I knew, I was in the anesthesia recovery unit feeling pretty out of it. A family friend stopped by as did the nurse practitioner who I usually see at clinic appointments, but I was too out of it to acknowledge or even really remember their presence 😂. But y'all, here's the super duper exciting part- I didn't get nauseous or throw up🙌🎉!! It was pretty much the best recovery from surgery that I can remember having. I will say, though that I was pretty loopy afterward. I asked a few times, "When am I going to stop being out of it?" I also asked my parents multiple times what they ate for breakfast 😂. Anyways, being out of it after surgery certainly beats vomiting after surgery!
The surgery took about 3 hours, and I had to lie flat for about 4 hours after to prevent bleeding. So I talked to my family, ate a little bit, watched some TV, talked to friends and stuff.
In the evening, the surgeon came by and said that after he signed the discharge papers, I could go home 🙌! This was neat because the plan was to stay the night in the hospital and be discharged the next morning, but the surgeon essentially said that there was no reason to stay! In the surgery, he had to re-open and then widen a portion of the vein in my leg that had collapsed some since last surgery and he also was able to keep working on opening more of veins in my leg. Also, my surgeon said that my cardiologist is starting to help organize a choir for kids who have had the type of heart surgery that I had because singing is shown to help keep us kids healthy. This is all pretty tentative, I think, but if it ends up working out, it would be so cool to be in this choir 😊.
So a little bit after that, I got to go home, which was a blessing 🙌. Although this surgery is done, dealing with this circulation problem in my leg is not. I have an appointment with the surgeon this week, probably so he can see how I'm doing and also to talk about what the next step in dealing with this issue is. I'm thankful for his persistence in dealing with this problem and also that this problem, though a problem, is not at all life-threatening, even if it's never totally solved 😊.
That's all for now. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram! I look forward to posting again on Friday (probably another medical update because of the follow-up appointment this week) 😊.
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