Surgery "adventure"

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you may have seen all the crazy updates the past week. If not, let me tell you that I had a rather terrifying experience during surgery on July 18th. I was going in for routine sinus surgery; no big deal, right? Wrong. No one will ever be able to tell anyone in my family that there is such a thing as routine surgery after this experience. I got to the hospital bright and early (5:30 am, to be exact). Everything went fine during check-in. They gave me the way too big hospital gown, took some blood, asked me a million and two questions, and got me all ready to go into surgery. The sinus surgery itself went beautifully. Dr. Eskew was able to get a lot done and fix a lot of potential issues. However, when I was waking up from the anesthesia, my breathing was out of sync. My abdomen and chest were not moving together, and I had uncontrolled movements. As well, my carbon dioxide level was 92; it's supposed to be between 23-29 (so it was dangerously high). The anesthesiologists quickly intubated me again and put me back to sleep. They decided I was having a reaction to one of the medicines they used, so they found an antidote that would hopefully reverse the symptoms. Thankfully, they chose the correct antidote, and the second time I woke up without a problem. They kept the breathing tube down until I was more awake in case there had been another problem. Obviously, I don't remember most of this occurring because I was pretty out of it with anesthesia, but I do remember waking up with the breathing tube. I remember feeling panicked and wondering if I was awake in the middle of the surgery. I also remember wondering why everyone's voices sounded anxious.I remember wanting to grab the tube and yank it out (that wouldn't have been smart, but when your brain is in a fog, you don't always think correctly); that breathing tube hurt!!I remember feeling like I wanted to move, but not being able to. I couldn't even muster the strength to move my arms. For some reason, I thought I was paralyzed at one point (I'm telling you, when you have anesthesia, you don't think correctly).

When I finally woke up completely and was more aware of everything, I was so exhausted. Between having anesthesia twice plus all the trauma that happened, my body not very happy.  Oh, and I gained 15 pounds from my before surgery weight to my after surgery weight from all the fluid they pumped into me. So, you can bet I was going to the bathroom every hour on the hour for the next 24 hours or so. For pretty valid reasons, the anesthesiologists wanted me to stay in the hospital overnight so they could watch me and make sure I didn't have any more issues. So, they rolled me upstairs on my operating bed, dumped me onto my new bed which made noises every single time you moved, put me on oxygen, and left me to "be observed". It was a longgggg night in the hospital with very little sleep, but I was able to go home the next day without too much of a fight.

Since then, I've been recovering at home. Every day gets a little better; I feel like a new person compared to last week. However, I still have a ways to go until I'm fully recovered. I cannot walk up one flight of stairs without taking a break, I can't lift anything heavier than a book, and I sleep all the time. I know I'll get there, but it's going to take time. I am so incredibly thankful for my amazing family who has never left my side through this entire scary ordeal. I am especially grateful for my mom. She is the best caretaker in the world, and I know that she works above and beyond to keep me healthy and well.

Even in the midst of hardship and difficulties, God is good. His love overwhelms me! I know I could've died on that operating table, but I didn't. I'm not done on this earth yet. And until I take my final breath, I will live my life to serve Him and love Him and bring glory to Jesus.