Short story: implant is done, no problems.
Long story: My surgeon emailed me yesterday saying it looked like everything was ready to go on his end and surgery would probably be about 10:30. Told me there was no reason to be at the hospital much before 8:30, no matter what the schedulers tell me they called later (they said to be there at 6:30).
I reported in at 8:25. Then I sat down and read until they called me back. Usually routine ensued, changed, IV line installed, answer questions, Melinda comes back. A little while the surgeon comes in and is a bit frustrated. My implant had not been delivered as promised at 8:00 am, but he had been assured it would be there at 10:00. However, he had been requested to move another surgery up which meant mine would be delayed two or three hours. He said he understood if I wanted to reschedule…I demurred saying I was patent and ready to go.
Darn good thing I had a book, particularly an interesting one.
Around 1:00 pm, after I had sent Melinda to get lunch, and then everything started moving. Shortly I was rolled into surgery where I got to see the 42 inch LCD monitor with a variety of pre-op checklists displayed.
I did fall asleep under sedation as this was performed under a local. The last thing I recall was being asked if I minded the group of med students watching that had just come in.
I said, “Of course not, that’s why I’m here.â€
I woke up about two-thirds of the way through to the sound of the drill. They had drilled the hole through the skull already and were now countersinking it to make the abutment fit snug. It was all very interesting to listen to and I asked a few questions, one of which if what I was feeling at the time was the suturing. It was. It is a feeling you don’t really forget.
So, all went well. I have a minor headache tonight that is being soothed with chocolate from my BAHA Recovery Kit sent by friends on the AN Forum. I’ll go back to work tomorrow most likely with follow-up appointments each of the next two weeks. Later in the month I see the other ENT about my vocal cords and we’ll determine if another surgery is appropriate then.
The only downside today is that this was very hard on my wife. Yesterday she was having having panic attacks that continued through the night and today. Part of this is from stress at work, part is clearly a result of all the anticipated waiting and such from that very long 32 hours nearly a year ago. In retrospect, it may have been misguided to not ask her take off work for my three laryngoplasties. However, she was definitely in a better place when she saw me in recovery. It is also fortunate that one of my moms from Scouts is an nurse at MCV and was able to check on her once I had gone back.
Life is good.
Tod
PS - When they rolled me out of the OR, I waved to everyone and said "Thank you, I enjoyed it! Have a great day!"
