#dr garramone

My post op appointment was really horrible.

It started off good with Jodi putting me to the front of the queue as I had to catch a plane from Miami airport later in the day (but had to be there early as Becca was on a much earlier flight). 

When the bandages came off I felt faint - It was horrible seeing myself all cut up and scarred. The incisions do look neat but are a tiny bit closer together in the center of my chest than I would have liked - but its done, I can’t change it and can live with it. Dr Garramone got me to lay down on the reclining chair as I felt ill and then went to remove my drains which is where my problems started.

The left one hurt a bit (I had been told they don’t hurt at all - this was not true for me) which made me a bit nervous about the right one. Dr Garramone reacted to this by going very authoritarian and commanding me to calm down because I had to or it would hurt - which really is the worse way to calm or soothe me and started making things worse as I started worrying that I wasn’t calm and was worried that I was upsetting him and worried that I was unable to do what he asked instantly. 

The right drain was so painful, the whole of my incision burned with pain intensely. It was horrible. I felt vomity with pain and had a fresh wave of faintness. The pain lasted for quite a while (a minute ish maybe?) and did not die down quickly. 

Dr Garramone did not give me time to recover from that before he started trying to touch the now extremely sensitive area to put a Melolin dressing with thick tape on. I don’t know if I flinched slightly or if he just was in a rush and put it on wrong but he managed to completely cover the open wound/hole where the drains had been with the sticky tape and not the Melolin dressing (which was just on skin with no wound) ON BOTH SIDES. It was agony to take off as pulling the tape off opened the wounds back up - I was crying in pain the first night I tried it and had to leave it until the next day when I could slowly ease it off. 

That red line is the incision with the tape stuck over it

Here it is with the dressing removed - you can see how sore and tender the area is from the inflamed skin.

Really not pleased with the post op care - I am also sending them an email with these pictures. In the long run still glad I went to Garramones but unhappy with how poor this was after having paid so much!

After the appointment I was a mess - I had felt fine upon arrival for the post op appointment but after the pain of the drains and the pain caused by the tape pulling on the open drain holes everytime I moved I ended up in a bit of a state - feeling on the verge of fainting and throwing up for the next day. I was so faint in the waiting room as I left that I had to put my head between my knees while Lo stroked my back. I kept on getting faint and having to sit down in the airport and felt like I was going to throw up constantly - Becca nearly cried having to leave me at the airport to get on the plane as I was so ill. I couldnt stand up straight due to the pain the tape was putting me in and so hunched over the whole journey home (one train ride, two flights, one long car journey).  

Apologies for the lack of recent updates- recovering and looking after the recovering kind of lulls one into a rhythm of being actively lethargic, of slowing down the pace of life but at the same time never being completely able to relax. Hence why we haven’t quite managed to get it together enough to make a post until now.

So a rundown of the past few days from my perspective:

Tuesday- Kaye’s pre-op

We, along with a few other people from New Beginnings, we driven by Leland to Dr Garramone’s office for pre-op. Kaye’s appointment was scheduled for 10am but unfortunately he didn’t get seen to until hours later, which meant a lot of hanging around filling in forms and signing stuff in the chilly waiting room with irritating soft jazz playing in the background but also meant we got to make a trip to Waffle House along with yungbuckbabyface and her girlfriend Michaela, a really cute and awesome couple from New York who are also staying at NBR with us.

We eventually got ushered into the consulting room where we did some more waiting. We had to do so much waiting that day that it got pretty boring.

Enter Dr Garramone in green scrubs and trainers. He took some photos of Kaye’s upper body and we had an informal chat about the surgery. We we then finally released from the office back into the Florida mid-afternoon heat, armed with a prescription of painkillers, antibiotics and anti-nausea drugs to pick up from the pharmacy.

Kaye was feeling fairly apprehensive that evening. If I’m honest it was difficult for me to know what to say to make him feel better- surgery and the pain afterwards is a scary prospect to digest and there wasn’t really anything I could have said to change that. It’s kind of difficult to feel so helpless in comforting someone so nervous.

Wednesday- operation day

Bonnie took us to the hospital, Kaye checked in and filled in some more forms and we waited. After a couple of hours he got called in to the pre-op area, where I was allowed to join him shortly after. He had been prepped with a cannula in his hand, a monitor on his finger and some sensor sticker things on his back. At this point we made our little Tumblr update post. We tried playing 20 questions and chatting to while away the time before the op but ultimately there waiting was pretty tense and uncomfortable. After about an hour and a half a nurse came along and gave Kaye some calming drugs, after which he says he can’t remember anything that happened. He was wheeled away, I hugged him and I left him in the care of the lovely team.

I then went off in search of a mall (after having fallen in love with the American ‘mall experience’ a few days beforehand) while Kaye was under. I returned to this:

Kaye was cold to the touch, behaving like a drunkard and had taken on a slightly yellowish hue (and I’m certain is going to love me for this description!). He was entertaining his nurse Jackie with slurred jokes and after some time was given the all-clear to be discharged. Leland picked us up and, after some persuasion from Kaye, drove by McDonalds to pick up a large portion of fries.

As chest surgery gives you rather limited upper-body movement, Kaye had to be hand-fed his fries on the way home by Jerry (another awesome resident of NBR). Kaye gets his first taste of being waited on hand and foot and seems to take to it pretty well.

That evening was spent pottering around the house with the other patients and caregivers. Kaye settled down to sleep in the reclining armchair in our room and I finally got the bed to myself and so sprawled myself across it (one of the perks of Kaye being so laid up :P).

Thursday, Friday, Saturday- caregiving and convalescing

If I’m honest, I think I underestimated how much care a chest surgery patient would require in the post-operative period. As mentioned, Kaye’s upper-body movement is severely restricted and so even basic everyday tasks require assistance, such as getting a cup of water or reclining the chair.

Before leaving the hospital, Nurse Jackie showed us how to empty Kaye’s drains, two tubes coming from each incision which allow the fluid to drain out with little bottles on the end which need emptying every few hours. Clearing them out is actually pretty simple but definitely reminds me of how serious a procedure Kaye has been through. He also needs topping up with drugs every few hours as if he does end up in quite a lot of pain otherwise.

Caregiving is something which is completely new to me and I can’t say I’ve found it all easy- adjusting to the new dynamic of our friendship has been a little tricky for both of us and I have been stressing out a bit worrying that I’ve not been doing a good enough job. However I think now we have worked out how to do this a bit better.

Apart from this we have just been chilling around the house with Leland, Jerry and the other people staying here. Kaye and I have spent most of today on the sofa watching Netflix with the others and are currently waiting on a pizza.

That’s pretty much it for now. I will try to nag Kaye into making an update soon but because he can’t move his arms too well it’s a bit difficult for him to type at the moment.

Oh and the dress I got at the mall whilst waiting for Kaye during the operation (only $15!):

Over and out.

Becca