Hello World

Just checking in. This is sort of Nicole Version 2.0 because the last few years have just been pain, pain, pain - kind of like a yapping dog.

I went in to my surgery a little hastier than planned as the person scheduled before me showed up with a hacking cough/flu thing. So they wanted us to mad dash-it to to surgery ASAP. In fact, I was on a list there labeled ASAP. Pretty cool.

Leaving was hard. It was so sudden and the boys really fell apart. Leaving a house full of sobbing, alone children isn't a nice feeling as a mom. Leaving a house of sobbing kids with the new Super Mario Bros was only slightly better. Thank God for modern technology. We called our dear friends from the freeway and they jumped in their car and headed out to rescue my boys. They even took them on a road trip. Love you both!

I got to the hospital a weepy mess and then cried my way through the insurance and payment part. As soon as I changed into my gown though I was fine. Little known Nicole fact: I do all my suffering up front. So if an intolerable oaf is coming to dinner I'll rant and rave all day but then when they arrive I genuinely extend my love and hospitality. Same with bad news. I'll sit down and cry hard. Then get up and get to work. A lot of people I know are the other way around. They shove stuff down and it keeps coming up at them for years. I like my way better. So...

Once I was in my gown, hair net, socks etc. the parade of med folk was truly non-stop for the next hour. I met everyone and I think all their distant cousins. The only interesting bits was that my needle man who did the IV was named Dr. Sharp. Love that! Also, I really failed a lot of neuro tests on my left side. Among them, I had little leg and foot strength left (no wonder I fall all the time), I couldn't feel my big toe etc.

Then I had surgery. Don't remember that. Thankfully.

I woke up in the recovery room feeling my toes wiggle against the sheets. Did you hear that? FEELING MY TOES!!!!! I did a quick check to make sure everything worked and could feel sensations like the sheets, tubes etc. All good. Then Josh, the nice recovery nurse, came over and we chatted. After a bit I asked why I wasn't a loopy drooling mess. He explained that I got a type of anesthesia that is completely out of your system minutes after they stop administering it. Neat. I was totally me about fifteen minutes after surgery.

Since I was so alert the neuros re-did the strength tests and my strength was 100% restored. That along with the feeling in my toe was big news as it usually takes a few weeks before the swelling goes down to regain your losses from nerve damage. In short, within a half hour of surgery I got back five years of things I lost. Impressive. So impressive that it’s going to be part of an academic paper delivered later this year.

There’s a lot more of the story to tell but I’m really tired so I’ll post a Part Two later on.

Thanks for the incredible outpouring of love the last week. I am beyond grateful.