An Amazing Experience and More Hardware

Well it's all said and done, the rod is in. What a whirlwind this week has been. You might as well pop a bag of popcorn and put your feet up, I have a lot to say...

Despite the choices I was given in clinic I knew that surgery was going to be the best one. So honoring myself, I signed the consent and took a deep breath. More hardware was in store, oh boy. Notifying mom and dad wasn't easy. I knew they weren't going to take it too well. Their first instinct was to jump on a plane and come to my rescue. But this time, I felt like it was something I had to do on my own. Saying that I would be doing it alone wasn't true because I had plenty of people down in West Palm Beach who were more than willing to lend me a helping hand. After making a few phone calls and talking with the clinic staff, I had a tentative plan for Monday. Until then, my mission was to have fun.

After the appointment and breaking the news to mom and dad, I met up with Rachel, an amazing friend who is a nurse at St. Mary's. We revisited our favorite stomping grounds for dinner, Relish; quite possibly the most delicious milkshakes on the planet. Banana's Foster, yum! So delicious. There is no better way to cure a crappy day than with an amazing milkshake and good company. As always, it was so god to catch up with Rachel. Pooped from the long drive, it was then a very early bedtime.

Yum ;)

Saturday morning I had some 'me' time and drove out to the beach. Despite the high winds, it was still warm out. The sun wasn't exactly shining but it's the beach and as I have always said, salt water cures everything. I plopped my bum on the sand and just sat. Voila! The sun came out and the day got that much better. After some much needed thinking time, I had some visitors. Liddy, her mom Jen and her sisters came out. She looks wonderful, all healed from her first procedure. They also had a follow up with Dr. Paley and Liddy decided that she is ready for round two. What a trooper. It was great to catch up with Jen and just talk about life. We had to leave around noon to get ready for the Paley party.

All of the patients who raised $1000.00 for the Paley Foundation were invited to a party at Dr. Paley's house. I had a lot of fun. His house is beautiful; right in the intercoastal waterway. They had valet parking and the even was catered. Patients and staff were there and I enjoyed catching up with everyone.

Dr. Paley, Liddy and I

After the party, I headed out to Palm Beach Gardens to meet Rachel, her sister Lissy and their friend Sara. Matt Kearney and Michelle Branch were playing a free concert. Free is good :) Around 9:30 or so, Maura called and said that she was about an hour outside of WPB. Boy was it good to see her again and catch up. We hit the hay pretty early because the race started at 7:30 the following morning.

Palm Beach Gardens

Catching a ride with Jen and Liddy, we met them outside of their hotel at 6:45 on Sunday morning. Due to the fragile state of my leg I was unable to walk the 5K but Maura still ran it. Caroline and I waited at the finish line for Team Paley. The turnout was phenomenal and it was amazing to see the smiles on some of the patients' faces as they crossed the finish line. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't bummed out because I couldn't walk or run but there is always next year. After the 5K, everyone congregated in the pavilion for breakfast before heading out.

 

Maura and I went back to the hotel and had some much needed 'catch-up' time before going into Jupiter for some lunch. After lunch she headed back to Tampa to eagerly await the birth of a baby rhino. Back at the hotel, I napped and did my best to keep my mind off of surgery. I knew that I was in good hands but geez, when was I finally going to be at the end of the surgical road!?

Monday morning came pretty quickly and I managed to find my game face. Michelle from Homewood Suites gave me a lift to St. Mary's. The only positive part of the whole pre-op thing was being able to say hi to all of the staff that I hadn't seen since my removal in November. Rachel was working up on Waters 3 that day so she came down to say hello. I was the last case of the day so I knew that it was going to be a bit of a wait. Thankfully Dr. James was on duty that day, the greatest anesthesiologist out there, she came right over and cleared me to get some happy meds. After that point, things get a little foggy. Jennifer came in to check on my and she was also going to be my ride home later that afternoon. By 1:00PM I was getting wheeled back into the OR. Nothing prepared me for what I was going to wake-up to.

Before

All I remember is waking up feeling super groggy and in A LOT of pain. It was horrible. There were a lot of tears. They made the surgery sound so minor and simple but the pain told me otherwise. Servando came into recovery and explained that they had trouble getting the rod into my leg because my bone had already begun to bend. Just great.

It tires me out just thinking about the whole endeavor. Needless to say, after many doses of morphine, a shot of something in my arm and a whole lot of crying, they kept me overnight for observation. My parents received phone calls from Jennifer, Servando AND Rachel to ensure them that I was going to be ok. The next day I was discharged back to Homewood Suites. Rachel came and stayed the night to keep an eye on me, bless her heart. Wednesday I did a whole lot of nothing until I managed to make it out of the hotel room to go hangout on Rachel's couch and watch TV. Big things. Just moving around made me feel a little better and I decided that I was going to aim to leave the next morning and drive back to Charleston. All I wanted was my Charleston family and my own bed. It had to happen.

After a quick check-up on Thursday morning in clinic, I was cleared to go home. The 8 hour drive is a little bit of a blur, but I made it.

Love.