long surgery

[Guest guest]

AG- My surgery was ten hours long- I thought that was long. This was just the

neuro though and no plastic surgeon. It was hard, no doubt, but there were

people in the hospital a lot worse off so it put things in perspective. I was

very swollen from being on my stomach. I also had a reaction to Morphine that

made things a little worse, plus I had a bad reaction from anesthesia (as I

always do) and the vomiting hurt the incision. I have nerve damage and am numb

now in several places and have bad nerve pain. The Dr thinks I am retetherd,

also. This is a year later, by the way.

I was in the hospital for a week, inpatient rehab for two weeks, home

for 12 hours then back in the hospital for ten days because of an infection

that needed surgery. After that I had a picc IV line in for 6 weeks and then had

PT. I am still not recoverd but my case is, I think, not " average " . I just

want to let people know so they can be prepared in case these things happen.Most

likely yours will go well and you will be out of the hospital in a week. Oh-

one thing I did that was helpfull was to practice lying on my stomach(no

pillow) because I knew I would have to. I got used to it so it didn't bother me

after surgery.Sounds funny, but it helped-

PS Debbie- isn't your surgery soon?