The whole routine was pretty familiar when we arrived at 6:45 am. Last time Dr. Millard's first surgery had gotten cancelled so they were able to move me up and we really didn't have to wait long. This time we didn't have the same luck and we had to sit around and wait for a little over 2 hours before they took me back to the operating room. This time, I told the anaesthesiologist about my problems with nausea and they loaded me up on anti-nausea meds along with a transdermal patch.
Once they wheeled me down to the operating room, I was awake for a while longer than I had been the first time. They strapped this big black cuff to my upper arm and then wrapped the arm super tight to put the block in. They put me into a twilight sleep and I didn't feel or hear anything until I started to wake up after it was over and they were bandaging up my arm. I was able to get myself over to the gurney on my own and they took me right back to the pre-op floor where I'd been before surgery. I felt pretty good at that point, no nausea and really no pain since the block was still working. The nurse gave me some crackers and water so I could take a percoset. Jeff came right back and I said I felt okay enough to get dressed and go to the bathroom. After that, the nurse said I could leave and I was able to walk down to the car. All in all, surgery started a little after 9:00, I was back in recovery by 9:45 or so and left by 10:30 am. What a huge difference from October when I was in recovery for 4 hours because I was so sick!
We stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to get my prescription for percoset and then headed home. Aside from feeling groggy, I've felt pretty good. I'm taking percosets every 4 hours to stay on top of any pain but I hope to be off of it in a couple of days. My hand is still extremely numb with only some severe tingling when I touch my fingers. They said the block should wear off pretty quickly but that doesn't appear to be the case. It's now been about 24 hours. I guess if its not wearing off by tomorrow, I'll call Dr. Millard just to check in to see if he has any concerns.
The plan is to work from home tomorrow and then go back to work Thursday as long as everything looks good. I'm really hoping to get a lot more feeling back in my fingers today.
