MRI done. It was very noisy. Kind of like a cross between a machine gun at times and a rock concert. I will be discussing the results on Tue July 20th with Dr. Miller to see if there is anything wrong with my head at all, or if maybe I'm just dehydrated because I'm not used to summer heat without an air-conditioned office to hide in all day.
Pre-op assessment, they measured my heart rate pattern, blood pressure, did a chest x-ray, took urine and blood samples and had a couple of consultations regarding what to expect pre and post surgery.
Surgery: I'll be having a three field esophagectomy.
- I'll have to wear fancy diabetic stockings to keep potential clots from my leg veins going anywhere. I'll have to wear them for 18 hrs before surgery, during and for a number of days after the surgery.
- They gave me some sort of pumice rock sponge to scrub my chest with to make sure I'm quite clean for the areas of surgery. I haven't seen it yet, so I'm guessing at its material, its in a tinfoil wrapper.
- I have to take some oral enema prescriptions to have nothing in my digestive track from around 2pm Tue until days after the surgery. Only clear fluids on Tue up to Midnight, and nothing after midnight.
- I have to arrive by 6am, surgery scheduled for 8am with an estimated surgery time of 4-5 hours. Maybe a couple more as a buffer.
- I'll be out cold for the whole surgery and will be groggy for another 8 hours after surgery.
- I won't have one of those buttons for self administering the pain drug post surgery. Instead I'll have an epidural attached to a medicine pole with a constant controlled drip of freezing for pain area.
- I'll have a catheter at my wrist into an artery (instead of a vein like many IVs) to measure blood pressure (possibly more).
- I'll have a tube through my nose into the chest cavity between my lungs and chest to remove air pockets caused by surgical exposure.
- I'll have a feeding tube into (the remains of) my stomach coming out my side to bypass the surgical area.
- I'll have 3 incisions, 1 on my side, one in my mid to lower chest and 1 on my neck.
- When I wake up, for a couple of days, I'll have to practice hourly deep breathing and coughing exercises to remove any fluid build-up in my lungs and prevent surgical pneumonia.
- I'll have an IV site set up as well for medicine injections (as needed) and for nutrition / hydration.
- A catheter for pee.
- After surgery, I'll be spending 1 day in a "step-down clinic" one bed away from intensive care. After that close monitoring, I'll be moved to the quad / semi-private / private for longer term stay.
- Because of all the tubes, incision sites, I probably won't be doing much for a couple of days (like reading) But I apparently should be able to walk around after a couple of days.
- Visitation hours are between 2pm and 6pm and are limited to 2 people visiting at a time (according to the parking garage sign.) Kaye is welcome anytime, they make allowances for spouses.
Oh, the doctor gave me a prescription for the oral enema, but it isn't stocked in Milton. So I have to wait until Monday for a replacement suggestion from the Doctor. One that hasn't been discontinued in Milton, either that, or travel to Hamilton just to fill out a prescription for Tue.
Monday's chemo doctor followup was canceled as unnecessary since surgery has already been scheduled.
Shane
Shane made some erroneous comments about the tubes that will be attached to him post-op.
ReplyDeleteWhen Shane wakes up, he will have:
*a tube in the artery in his wrist called an arterial tube to monitor blood pressure and take blood.
* an intravenous tube in a vein in his arm to give him fluids & medication until he's able to drink good amounts.
*a tube in his nose called a nasogastric tube that goes into his stomach to keep his stomach empty and reduce stomach upset. This tube will continuously draining into a bag that will be placed lower than the level of his stomach.
* 1 or more chest tubes. A chest tube is placed in the space between his chest wall and lung during surgery and is attached to a suction unit. The suction drains air and fluid around the lung to help it expand.
* a tube in his bladder called a catheter to drain urine until he can get up and go to the toilet on his own.
* an epidural catheter to help control pain. This will be inserted in his upper spinal area.
* a jejunostomy feeding tube to give him nutrition while he heals. This will be inserted into his upper section of small intestine, bypassing the stomach. It will be located near the centre of Shane's abdomen.
* He will also be connected to a cardiac monitor - to monitor heart.
* The "diabetic" stockings Shane refers to are anti-embolism compression stockings or TED (Thrombo Embolic Deterrent) hose. He has to wear these to prevent a post-op complication that can occur due to the blood pooling in the lower limbs and the blood clotting in the veins, (esp. during the 5 hours of Shane's inactivity throughout surgery).
Shane will probably be in the Step Down Unit for about 24 to 48 hours post-op. He won't be able to eat anything by mouth for about 7 days.
If you want to visit, it will be better to see Shane AFTER HE IS MOVED OUT OF THE STEP DOWN UNIT to the surgical side of the Chest Unit. He will be more conscious and will be less at risk of infection from visitors.
I also forgot to add that:
ReplyDeleteThere are no flowers allowed in the Step Down Unit.
Only 1 visitor may be in Shane's room at one time. If he has more than 1 visitor, they will need to go to the lounge to wait. No children under 12 may visit.
The health care team at the Step Down Unit need to follow these rules for safety and infection control reasons.
So just to be clear...we can't visit until the Friday or Saturday after your surgery?
ReplyDeleteCan Kaye keep us posted on what room you're in, etc.?
Thx...Deb
That's right Deb. Waiting until Fri or Sat for a visit is probably a good idea. Thanks. -- Shane
ReplyDelete