You were waiting for me?
Opps. It's my birthday and I slept in. Ahhhh.
So where did I leave off? In the St Joseph's hospital ICU. So there I was lying in a tangle of wires and tubes with boots that compressed my legs every minute while being poked and probed and tested every 15 minutes or so whether I needed it or not. It was pretty boring. The ice chips were a blessing. I found out though what a stretched facial muscle nerve means -- temporary facial paralysis on my AN side. The "temporary" - according to the surgeons -- was a month or two. Which was great. I get to hang out in bed doing nothing until the writer's strike was over and then back to work. "Hmmm," Dave hmmmed to himself,"I wonder what could go wrong?"
It was the second day in the ICU that I was introduced to the "Moisture Chamber" -- I'm sure that sounds more ominous than it is. The chamber is a plastic patch with padding around the edges that fits over your eye. One of the many downsides of facial palsy (paralysis) is that you can't close your eye. Not a good thing. An eye that doesn't close gets very dry and painful. It needs a constant dose of liquid goop (Refresh Drops) to keep it moist. I was getting eye drops a lot when I was in ICU. And of course as I mentioned before, I had an allergic skin reaction to the anti-bacteria soap. And there was the removal of the catheter. I cringe today at the thought. One saving grace through all that was painkillers on demand. So there I lay in a semi-euphoric state hooked up to machines with my scratchy eye and itchy skin. What wasn't an issue though, was the the surgery incision. Other than the head bandage I barely noticed it. But I was ready to get out of there and eat something more than ice chips.
The evening of the second day in ICU I was finally moved to my room. And I had my first "meal" -- jello and juice. It tasted great! During the first night in my room, my eye was the biggest issue -- and a slight headache toward the back of my head. Wednesday, an opthomologist showed up to check out my eye and to put an extended wear contact over my eye to protect the cornea. And my daughter and friends stopped by -- it made the time pass easily. I couldn't really read because of my eye -- too much of a strain. But what I could do was watch TV. What I remember most was the Pizza ads. I developed a craving. The hospital food was hospital food. It tasted odd. That afternoon, with the help of my daughter, I took my first walk in the hallway. I felt fine. It's sort of like walking on the deck of a rolling ship. But I did notice other AN patients walking around with walkers. I don't know why I was so spry -- at first. I think a lot of it had to do with pre-surgery physical conditioning. The day before my surgery, I hiked up a local canyon and I had been doing a lot of kayaking. Debbie and Melissa, I don't know if it makes a difference, but you might want to consider bike riding or other balance exercises that you are able to do.
Thursday was more of the same. Eye goop. Odd tasting food. Bandages came off. Hall walks. Visitors. Eye patch. Junk food craving. I was ready to get out of there. Finally, on Friday (4 days after surgery) I was cleared to go home stack of prescriptions in hand for every known (and some unknown) malady. My daughter was on hand to wheel me out and take me home. It was the first time she mentioned that I looked like a pirate. That wasn't the last time I heard it. As you will see on this board, it's a common theme. Capt Deb commands the ship here.
So I got home and the first thing I wanted to eat -- Nachos. Something that tasted. But there was something odd about them. I couldn't taste them. Nada on the Nachos. All of a sudden, I realized my taste was gone. Today, four months later, it still isn't there completely. I found the only food I could actually taste was Greek food -- especially Domades (grape leaf wraps). Why I don't know. I'm having Greek food for my birthday dinner. So I was finally at home with a scratchy eye, half a smile, and not taste. It wasn't until Monday when I friend took me to the eye doctor that I discovered something else....
(to be continued)
Have a great day!
David
