Healing Time

Hospital Stay
I ended up staying in the hospital for 5 days. The first two days were the worst part. It was hard to find a comfortable position to sit or lay that wasn't painful.

Pain
 The pain medication was turned up, and I was given a button that I could push every 10 minutes.  I've heard of a lot of cases of nuss procedure patients having epidurals, but my surgeon said I didn't need one and that it was becoming more popular to use a PCA pump (Patient-Controlled Analgesia). The first night I probably used it almost every ten minutes. The medication was dilaudd and its usually used to treat moderate to severe pain. The more I turned it up, the more nauseous I became. It was a battle between feeling sick or feeling pain. The nurses gave me meds for the nausea, but they didn't work very well against the dilaudid. Since I was feeling so nauseated I didn't eat for a couple days and became really weak. Before I was able to go home I had to be weaned off off the pump and given oxycodone orally. I felt so much better after they decreased the dilaudid and started slowly eating. Eventually I was on oxycodone orally right before I got to leave. It was hard to keep the pain under control at first when I switched meds, but it was well worth it. 

One week later 
It's been over a week now since the procedure and I am much better. I can walk around without help and go to the bathroom on my own. Getting dressed is hard because it hurts to lift and rotate my arms, and it hurts to bend over to put on my pants or shorts. My mom has been helping my a lot. I still can't shower on my own. I did everything today by myself except she had to wash my hair for me.  Sleeping is done in the recliner. I could not sleep in a bed right now. It's painful to lay down flat and nearly impossible to get up from lying flat. You can't use your arms to help push you up. Also my mom has been helping me get food and preparing my meals. I keep my meds by my side so I can get them when I need to at night. I think it would be a good idea to write down times that you take your meds because its easy to forget with all this pain medicine and muscle relaxers!

10 Days Later
Not much has changed in the last few days. It's getting harder to sleep at night and im still sleeping in the recliner. I think that sitting still for a long time makes my chest stiff so when it's time to move its really painful. The surgeon said it should take about two weeks for me to be able to go back to school. I went grocery shopping with mom but I could only get shallow breaths and it was painful to walk around. Also, when i move around I can feel a popping in my chest. My surgeons nurse said it was normal. So for now... I'll keep resting.

12 Days Later
It's only been two days since my last post, but so much has changed! Last night I still slept in the recliner. The pain hasn't been bothering me, and I think the bars are setting into place. I still have to take my pain medication every 4 hours which means I have to wake up at midnight and four in the morning to take my meds. If I sleep through the time to take the meds I wake up in excruciating pain, and it takes the whole day to get it back under control. The strips on my stitches are starting to come off and I can barely see the incisions. I will be surprised if there is much scarring. I put together my own food today too. I went to the grocery store with mom, but this time I could keep up and didn't have trouble breathing. It felt so good to be free of the recliner and leave the house. My biggest improvement was that I got dressed, showered, and fixed my hair all by myself! I was so happy to be able to be more independent because now I can see some light at the end of the tunnel! The only problem I had today was when I was walking around it was uncomfortable because if I hang my arms down they rub the steel stabilizers and its irritating. I can feel the stabilizers with my hands. I haven't regained all of the feeling around my sides. I don't mind it for now because I'm sure it would only make the pain worse. That's all for now... More blogging to come!

3 Weeks

It's been a few days since my last post! Progress has slowed and there's not a lot to report. I returned to school. I was happy to get back to my weekly routine. It was really tough in the afternoon because I haven't done that much activity. I can't carry a back pack for two more months. I carry my MacBook in its case and take notes with it. I would suggest light packing for others that are having the nuss and returning to school. Waking up in the middle of the night at 4am to take my meds is difficult. I'm back to my normal sleeping hours and busy so it's harder than when I just napped all day. I haven't been able to concentrate on my school work. The narcotics make it really hard to process what I'm trying to do. I have two tests to make up this week so I only took my ibuprofen at 4pm and it's 1am now and the pain is bearable. I'm going to try and see what I can get done after class tomorrow. Sitting in a chair and sleeping is terribly uncomfortable, but I've recently migrated to a bed. It helps to use a pillow to cling to as you set up because you can't use your arms. I'm trying to stay positive here in the last stretch. I'm seeing the surgeon two days from now for my first post op appointment. I'll have 5 more over the next 3 years before the bars are removed. I can't wait!
Crossing my fingers that the pain in my chest and sides decreases sometime soon!

Lots of love,

-Autumn

6 Weeks
Wow, time has flown by in the last few weeks! My chest pain has reduced, I'm more active, and I have better range of motion. I feel pretty good most of the time. The roughest parts of the day are waking up and going to sleep. Taking tylenol before you go to bed and when you wake up helps a lot. I have gotten caught back up in school because most of my professors were understanding and cut me some slack. I'm still not lifting weight like I was before the surgery. It is pretty painful to pick up anything that weighs more than 20 lbs. I haven't returned to the gym yet. I am taking my time to make sure that I don't overdo it. A lot of people have noticed a difference in the way my chest looks, and I'm happy with the results as well. The scars are a little worse than I had imagined, but the are on my sides underneath my arms. Things continue to improve every day and I don't regret a thing! I will write again once I get back into the gym! Hopefully ASAP!

8 Weeks
Well, its been two weeks since my last post. I am caught up in school and the semester is almost over. I am not taking any medication regularly anymore. I have went running twice now. Once during the sixth week and once during the seventh. I am hoping that I can get at least two runs in this week. Resistance training exercises are still not on the agenda for now. I started carrying my backpack again, but I am keeping the load light. My discharge papers said to wait until 12 weeks. The smallest incision scars are almost gone now. The large incision scars are not as dark as they were. Sleeping in a bed is easy again. I can almost sleep on my side. I am happy that I continue to recover so that I can get back to feeling like my old self, but better!

Until next time,

-Autumn <3

22 Weeks (5 1/2 Months)
It has been a very long time since my last post. I would have posted sooner, but things just got over another slump. The progress after the surgery at first was faster. I have a few things to report after the recovery. I have been up and down since my last post. Some days are better than others. Some days there is intense pain in my side near where the incisions are, and other days I feel like I could run a marathon. It all depends on how you treat your body.

There is much to report so I will break it up into sections:

Scars
-The scars are looking better all the time, but they are considerably larger than I had hoped. When you are told that this surgery is minimally invasive I guess they mean that they aren't going to reach their hands and arms inside, but the incisions are almost large enough. They are probably a few inches long a piece on both sides. The small incisions where they inserted the cameras are nearly invisible.

Pain
-The good news for nuss procedure candidates is that if you are resilient you will succeed. You have no choice. Eventually you get busy and forget about the pain. That is what gets better. People are always asking if my pain has gone away. The answer is no, but the intensity has. I don't think that it will while these steel bars are in.
To make this short and sweet I want to give a DO NOT personal recommendation list to help manage your pain for the long haul:

**DO NOT**
-Sleep on your side
-Pick up heavy objects
-Hit your chest or let anyone hit you in the chest (it will bruise and hurt pretty badly for awhile)
-Lay on your chest
-Carry heavy loads in your backpack. (Leave the laptop and books out, I carry a binder and supplies)
-Try to do upper body exercises too much, take it easy on these.
-Join a group fitness class too soon. (I made this mistake) I couldn't keep up and it was discouraging. They forced  me to do push ups (awful).
-Let a dog jump on you!

Appearance
Best part! My chest still looks so great. I honestly think it has gotten even better, but maybe thats just me. I need to stress that maintaining that great posture you receive right after surgery is really important for healing and pain management. I used to slump over a lot because it was more comfortable on my lower back, and easier to breathe. I think that I sit up straighter now, and have received many comments about it. I also have received comments about the way my chest looks, and they are all positive. Its really nice to wear a bathing suit top and not worry about how much or little it is covering to hide the PE. I don't even notice anymore. However, it is extremely hard to get back into moving around and certainly doing any physical activity right after surgery. I have gained somewhere between 10-15 lbs since my surgery. Don't get discouraged if this happens to you! It isn't something you can help.

That is all for now! Wishing the best of luck to all of you who are candidates for the nuss proceudure!

Much love,

Autumn <3