The repair down there. (funny videos after surgery)

The time came for me to have my vaginal reconstruction surgery. Needless to say, I was worried and uneasy about it. I was afraid that after all of the time that had passed, after going through the ileostomy, the wound would reopen and we would be set back again. 

My dad came to town for the surgery to help out. The morning of the operation, John brought me to Bethesda early, dad stayed home with Johnny and brought him later. (We left the house something like 5 am) I went through the pre-op screening process. I had blood drawn, I had my vitals taken and I was put in the pre-op area in a hospital bed to wait for the Drs. 

Me and dad

I had a team of four surgeons. Dr. O'boyle and Dr. Barbier were leading the team. They came and said hi and ran through the operation a little bit with me. It was going to take a few hours (it took 5) and I was going under general anesthesia. The anesthesiologist came around and let me know that I would be having a PCA button again for pain managament, along with oral drugs. That was a relief to hear. I held onto Johnny for a little while until they told me it was time.

Lights, Cold room, Action.

I don't remember waking up. I have little bits of hazy memories. I remember eating some delicious Kabobs and rice pudding....  Here are some funny videos my husband took of me coming to.





I I think was tired of being recorded. How embarrassing! (And awesome.) 

I had a catheter and the ostomy, so once again I was bed ridden for a couple of days. 3 I think. I have before and after pictures of my vaganus. I won't post them publicly but if you are curious for medical purposes, feel free to send me a message. The Drs did some amazing work. They left a drain hole in the middle of the wound that I was to poke lightly with a cotton swab to release any fluid that may be trapped. This was to aid in the healing, and to help keep the wound dry. It hurt like a mother!

I was home for about one night until the pain was so unbearable that I had my CNA drive me to Ft. Belvoir ER. They looked at the wound and decided to transfer me via ambulance to Bethesda. I developed a major migraine somewhere during the course of the day. The Drs at Belvoir had given me an injection of imitrex and all the IV pain meds they possibly could, but nothing helped. The ambulance ride was a horrific experience. My grandmother was in town for this hospital trip. She sat in the front with the driver and tried to keep me calm, someone sat in the back with me and I vomited the entire ride from a combination of motion sickness and pain.

Once I arrived back at Bethesda, I was shocked when one of my Surgeons took out my IV. She said the only way to control my pain was to get rid of IV medicine and control it with oral medicine. I wanted to punch her in her face. No quick relief. Luckily for her, (and for me) She was right and I didn't have to punch her. She did put a catheter back in, which helped a lot. It was almost impossible to pee because I was so swollen.

John was always in good spirits for me.

Johnny in my hospital bed.

Resting before going home.

The Drs told me that I could go home with the catheter in if I wanted to. I opted out. They gave me some sterile catheters to take home to use if I needed to. (I needed to) I was on 40 mg of Oxycontin twice a day. My pain was pretty well managed, I slept a lot.

to be continued...