Merry Christmas!!!!

Dear Santa. I don't want much for Christmas. I just want the person reading this to be happy. Friends and family are the fruit cake of life. Some are nutty. Some are soaked in alcohol (!!). Some are sweet. But mix them together and they're my friends and family :).
Merry Christmas!♥♥

The Aftermath - Week 7 Pre Op

After arriving home - it honestly took about 3-4 days before my mind was clear of the daze of the drugs, apparently thats normal.

My body felt like lead, muscles in my arms and legs ached (also apparently normal side effect).  Plus a sore neck where that bloody big needle was in me. The best position was standing, but with no energy I was predominantly in bed for the next 24 hours.

On the Sunday, more mobile, I baked to take my mind off things and keep busy (easier for me, and during this process I have grown to love baking - its like an escape).  Anyway, this is what I produced!

Firstly - My first attempt at a Christmas Fruit Cake - With a few dashes of Rum

Secondly - Hazelnut and caramel truffles - I did taste one - delicious :)

The weather had improved remarkably so those truffles had to be made quickly and chilled to help set.

In Week 7 I lost 2 more kilos - totalling 17.1 kilos lost - a bonus to everything else that happened.

On the Monday - had the day off - still too sore and out of it.  The anaestetist rang and explained what had happened and what was going to happen from there.  He stated that he was 99.9% sure I was allergic to the drug suxamethonium which is a muscle relaxant. It was pointed out to me, that I was in the right place to have the reaction, where it could be treated.  Anywhere else, and I would be dead.  Oh joy!  However I needed to wait 6 weeks for my cells to recharge to react to allergy testing.  Once it was confirmed, I could then have the operation with another suitable drug.  He also sent a letter outlining what happened and what not to give me in possible future situations. Arghhhhhh....more waiting!!!!!!  Now I know I am a teacher who has to be patient, but seriously - I am so not a patient person outside of work!!! 
The other thing is that I will now have to wear a medic alert bracelet, as it is the most popular drug of that type to use.  I have heard now they are a bit better looking that in years past.  I checked the website:

 

The bead ones are cool, although maybe not completely practical.  A bit of time to make that decision though!


What was nice though, was that the nurse from the Surgical Obesity Clinic rang to check I was ok and what happened. The dietician also emailed and was available to chat anytime.
We also returned to Boulcott which was weird - like the scene of the crime.  Everyone knew who I was, and me knew nobody - pretty intense.  Any who - got a refund for the time being.  Better in my account than theirs!
My department were lovely at school.  I got flowers and a card - very sweet.

 


Went back to school on Tuesday - too early.  I know people care, and I dont want to sound ungrateful, but I wish that other than my closer peeps at work, that everyone else would just leave me alone.  I also wish that I had a tape recorder that I could just play the story and walk away.  There were all the aww tilt head sideways.  You must be so disappointed (really...nooo I was stoked..WTF).  Some people at work are just plain nosey and dwelling on the negative.  I just wanted to move on, and the constant questions just got me depressed.  The students were really my saviour.  Being teens, its all about them - so while they cared that I was ok - it was quickly back to their dramas, nice.

I lasted the week - and made it to senior clearance and their leavers dinner on the Friday night.  One bonus - instead of liquids as pre planned - I could actually eat a normal meal.  I had carbs (kumara) for the first time in weeks and it was nice :)



When things don't go as planned :( (Part 2 of 2)

So Anaphylactic shock means I was allergic to one of the drugs the anaestetist gave me - in this case it seemed the muscle relaxant that stops me moving during the operation was thought to have caused it.

According to the report, my blood pressure decreased, my respiratory rate decreased, as did my circulation.  I later found out that if I was not in the operating theatre under specialist care at the time it happened, I would have died - woah!

Now according to reports and what people have said, I had a tube put down my throat to breath, I had a central line put into my jugular vein which lead to my heart to put adrenalin straight into me to get me going again (see pic of it below)

Not me- but same deal

From the blue piece to the right was in me going to my heart!

Now I also was transferred by ambulance from Boulcott to Hutt Hospital (I was unconscious so don't remember that).  I was bummed to know that the lights and sirens weren't used though - although since the two buildings are beside each other, I guess thats reasonable ;)

Now my poor husband was conscious the whole time, and got a call 21 minutes after he left me.  He ran (doesn't generally run - bad knee) back to the hospital in 3 minutes.  White as a ghost, they took his blood pressure to make sure he was ok - it was high surprisingly (well duh, not that much of a surprise).  When he saw the surgeon coming towards him, he thought I was dead - but no takes more than that...

Anyway, he was in the ambulance as I was transferred.  I was taken to ICU where I eventually became conscious after a while.  I woke not knowing anything, but only responded to Anthony calling me Munter (after doctors used Cassandra for a while)!  From reports I was in and out of consciousness for a while.  When I remember things, the tube from my throat had been removed but had scratched up my throat.  I had vague recollections of something being pulled out of my throat in a semi conscious state - that must have been it.  I had tubes in me, IV drip, electrodes stuck to me, oxygen tubes, various tubes and lines in me and a catheter - my underwear had gone!!! (note - don't wear underwear you want to keep when going to hospital, it may be cut off).  I wasn't in the best state.

Anyway, I soon realised the op hasn't gone ahead.  I patted my stomach area and found nothing.  Anthony told me, and I got upset.  Various doctors, nurses came in.  I got angry at Anthony as I wanted to go to the toilet ( had a catheter in me).  He said I couldn't go and held me down as I got quite agressive about it ( the adrenalin apparently plays a part in that).  I called him various names (which I do regret now).  Luckily, since he has had operations - he knew this would happen and found it funny more than anything...phew!

I got my way though, but had to go on a wheelchair toilet.  I think I was in and out of consciousness for the afternoon, but slowly improving.  My O2 was low and I beeped a lot.  Later on that night, they gave me a low carb meal, the drip was removed, and the surgeon came and saw me. It had never happened before to him, but assured me that the operation would go ahead, just a matter of finding out what drug I reacted to and I had to wait six weeks to take allergy tests.  My cells need to 'recharge' to react properly and that is how long it takes.  NOT HAPPY.  But nothing I could do about it either.

And so, I dozed on and off - throughout the night and through about three nurses shifts.  By morning, I had improved enough to go to the toilet by myself and get bored.  I just wanted to go home. I had to wait to be discharged by the surgeon and doctor and get all the tubes etc taken out of me.  Once that was done, it ended up being about lunchtime when I got to go home, and to my own bed to recover.



When things don't go as planned :( (Part 1 of 2)

So Friday was it!  Operation Day, the start of the rest of my life and all that other cheesy stuff.  I was over the fear and anxiety of the op, and uber excited.  So packed and ready with my 15.1 kilos lost - off to the hospital I went, but not before a couple of pics to hopefully show progress!

Week 6

Week 1

 (So a skirt for the week 6 photo - but you get the idea there is some change going on! )

And off to Boulcott Hospital I went.  Joan and Anthony came in with me, we waited briefly (it is a private hospital - so are actually treated like people) and then was taken to my room.

The room - I shared with another woman, but had complete privacy and a shared bathroom for the both of us - nice too.  The admin lady even went through the features.  I had a tv with sky (even movies and sport), the dom post and a list of options for my "fluids" after the op.  Sweet!  On the bed was my burgundy gown and the shower cap used to wear in surgery.

My nurse came in and went through general checks, blood pressure, O2 rate, heart rate etc, and gave me some ever so sexy white opaque pressure socks to put on....they were truly styling!

The anaesthetist then came in, asked more questions, checked my teeth and went through risks which included possible allergies to the drugs (how if I had known that was very important!) and the risk of breaking teeth when they intubated me (ACC covers it though - so all good really), also how I would feel, what would happen, and sign the consent forms for him.

Then Atul the surgeon popped in for more briefing and consent signing, and also said how pleased he was with my weight loss to date (yay).

Then it was waiting for a little while - then on with the shower cap and off to theatre.  I was pumped!

I was wheeled down the hall in the bed, chatting away to the nurses (no one looks like the tv doctors and nurses I found...) and arrived in the very white and stainless steel new operating theatre.  Felt a bit space age, but the surgeons seemed most excited and very eager to show it off.  Apparently, it has cameras in it, so if they want to broadcast it to the world, they can.  My response:

"This op better not end up on You Tube."  - I got laughs, I was happy.

Next the anaesthetist started to try and find the vein for the various drugs to give me and send me on my merry way to unconsciousness.  This was not to be easy.  I had warned them my veins (even regardless of fat factor have always been sneaky and hard to find).  So after many pokes and prods they got a line in for the anaesthesia to go in.  This is when I decided to say:

"Looks like you are going to have to earn your money today looking for my veins."  The theatre nurses erupted in laughter. I'm thinking now, when a guy is poking needles into you - maybe leave the jokes until later...oh well!

Right, then once I had the pillow under the head situation sorted - apparently the head at the right height is important - I was given an oxygen mask - my lungs needed as much pure oxygen in them as possible to proceed with the anaesthetic and muscle relaxants (stop twitching, and enable tubes down my throat without gagging etc).  Then the drugs started going in, I thought I was nodding off, but thats when my body and events decided to take a different path, and I went into Anaphylactic shock.