Hi all,
I am about 6 hours post-op staying in a room at Honorhealth Scottsdale Osborne Medical Center overnight. I would like to share (what I remember) from my experience.
Check in was at 8am. I got here at about 745am. Multiple people throughout the day, starting with the first admin person I spoke to about signing all the paperwork, mentioned I was the second person checking in for this procedure with Dr. Nakaji today.
After doing all the check in stuff, I was immediately taken back to start prepping for surgery. They connected the IV in my left forearm. Then, despite the nurse telling me the arterial entry point would be in my left wrist, the nurse who came to do it said it would be the right wrist. I asked her to double check because the previous nurse was pretty confident it was on the left. She made a comment about that nurse mixing up her directions often but she checked the paperwork anyway and it said right so she proceeded. When the previous nurse got back I teased her about lying to me about which wrist it goes in.
She turned white and said to the nurse who had just finished, “NO! , ITS SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE LEFT!” The nurse replied that the instructions said right and the first nurse said she made a mistake and forgot to change it.
They immediately called the anesthesiologist, who was in the OR, presumably with the person having the same surgery ahead of me, and asked him if they need to do it again on the left. He told them it was okay but while she was on the phone, the situation freaked me out a little and I fainted. A pretty unpleasant experience.
Thankfully, those two things were the only drama of the day. I was wheeled back for surgery shortly after around 11:15am
I woke up in my current room around 4pm (though I was not paying close attention to the time). Neck pain was about 7 or 8/10. Throat pain (from the intubation) was like a 9/10. My throat was extremely sore. I felt like I swallowed a pine cone, whole. They gave me some water, an Oxy, and, a little bit later, some Toradol. The water helped a little. The Oxy did not make a discernable difference, even after an hour. The Toradol totally took the edge off. I sit here typing this around 9:30 pm and the neck pain is probably a 6/10. Throat pain is probably a 5/10.
I did not get a chance to talk to Dr. Nakaji post-op. The nurse’s said he would likely visit tomorrow to discharge me. He did tell my family that the surgery went “very well”. The incision is the smallest I have seen in any pic of decompression surgery. I tried to upload a picture but the upload button just doesn’t do anything when I press it so I will try later.
Overall, day of surgery was about 7/10. I am only deducting points for the whole arterial wrist entry fiasco because everything else was great. No major complications. I am already eating solid foods without issues and walking around. I know the pain will get worse in a few days from all the inflammation but right now it’s fine.
Edit: According to my spouse, I did in fact talk to Dr. Nakaji post-op. I just had no recollection of it.
