Everything you didn't know about my arm until now!

I have to admit that the surgery on my arm was far less horrifying than it seemed it would be the night before it happened. Lou, trusty friend Penny and I tumbled into Building P at the Cleveland Clinic around 5:00 am in our half-sleep and got me checked in. Once we'd finished the "these are my people", "here is one of your anaestheticians" and "now you guys need to leave", they got to work on prepping me for surgery.

I'd had a respiratory infection earlier in the week, which was quickly remedied by a z-pak, but the doctor in charge before Dr. N did the surgery loudly protested the procedure due to it. Despite the fact that all of the doctors during the week said that the Friday surgery could proceed, he wanted to hold it up. A quick call to Dr. N put the kibosh on that and we were underway again. 

A line was inserted into a nerve cluster in my neck--4" in, actually. I got to see the nerve cluster and the vein next to which it resides on the ultrasound. The original anaesthetician (whom Lou called "David Arquette") was impressed at how easily it showed up on the screen because apparently, they usually have a lot more trouble locating it. So there it was and there it went and a nerve block was soon coursing its way into my arm. 

I remember the journey down the corridors and being wheeled into the operating room where I transferred myself onto the operating table. I recall two young anaestheticians, who happened to be female, putting the mask over my face and instructing me to take five deep breaths. After doing so, I closed my eyes and the two-hour surgery was magically over.

A lovely lady named Denise came into the recovery room and explained to the three of us the nerve block pump, its features and the hip-sack that would be my companion for the next few days. After setting it up, she sent us on our way.

I spoke to someone from the hospital on Monday morning when they called in to see how I was doing with the pain. I told them I was feeling pretty good and that I didn't need to administer any extra doses of the nerve block. The level of pain, which was possibly a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10, encouraged her to tell me that I should switch off the machine on Tuesday morning (today), which I did. The hospital worker called up this morning to check in with me and to ask how I was doing without the nerve block. I said I was doing alright and that I was glad that my hand wasn't feeling as numb as it had been for the last few days. My hand and arm would quickly fall asleep whenever I began to attempt any tasks--like typing. This was so entertaining until it stopped being entertaining around Sunday afternoon. She said that I was free to remove the line, to which I told her I would gladly allow my companion to keep beeping at me through the day until Lou got home and that I would make him remove the line. It will be such a relief to not have all of these tubes taped to and across my shoulders and also to my neck!

I hate to say that I might actually miss the sound of the nerve block being sent into my body with its gentle whoosh that was a cross between a cheap lightsaber toy being activated, a motorised whir and my cat quietly whining. My follow up is next Tuesday and I guess we shall see when radiation can be started on that stupid mass in the bone that was repaired.