Back from surgery at UCLA

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I arrived back in Michigan last night (6/30) after having surgery at UCLA

with Dr. Batzdorf on June 18. All went well, and I was in the hospital four

nights. The surgery was five hours, with about five hours in recovery, and

about 24 hours in the ICU. After that I was in the most quiet private room

that a neurosurgical patient could ask for!

This was my first surgery, so everything was new to me as " the patient. " I

worked for years in a hospital as a medical technologist (Blood Bank), but

this experience was something for me. I cannot say enough about the

excellent care that I received from Dr. Batzdorf and the UCLA staff, and I

highly recommend them.

My toughest night was my first night alone in the private room (second night

in the hospital). It was such a switch from having someone watching over me

constantly, and I probably felt the worst that night (nausea and vomiting).

Boy did I do my share of praying. Everything improved the next day, when the

kindest nurse got me to eat saltine crackers and tea! I may be the first

patient discharged with an addiction to saltine crackers. I felt better once

the morphine was removed. Next I tried Tylenol 3, then ended up with a

mixture of acetaminophen and propoxephene. This worked (works) well for me,

and I am hoping to " get off the stuff " soon!

My advice of what to take to the hospital might include a cotton mattress pad

of some sort. Those meds made me perspire, no SWEAT, and it would have been

more comfortable to have something cotton to buffer the effects of those

rubber or plastic bed covers! I did the BYOB thing-brought my own blanky,

and it made me more comfortable. I used it to prop my head up. Never

experienced " excruciating " pain, and I describe the feeling at the back of my

head as feeling like someone braided my hair way too tightly, and I want to

let it down. Of course the irony of this situation is that there is no hair

on the back of my head (well there is, but it's really short )

I'll write more at a later time.....I need to take a nap now.

KC

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