THE SURGERY (post 4)

Tuesday 12th March

Game Day!

Surprisingly I managed to sleep well the night before surgery, most likely because I had had a week to process what was happening, I was ready and felt mentally prepared for what was to come, well so I thought… I woke up to find Ryan waiting in my room nice and early, from memory it was about 7am. I knew I was required to have an MRI before surgery however I hadn’t been given a time for when it was scheduled. Not in any rush I was about to jump in the shower when one of my neurosurgeons walked into my room holding an electric razor and said he needed to “mark” my head for the MRI. I was unaware that markers (fiducial is the correct medical term) were required for the MRI to assist the surgeons with aligning the images to my head during surgery. Unable to shower once the fiducial’ were in place I jumped in for a quick 30 second rinse as I knew I wouldn’t be up to showering after surgery.

For the fiducials to stick to my head the neurosurgeon discretely shaved my hair in 10 different spots where he placed them. I wasn’t aware that the fiducials should be drawn around with a marker to confirm the correct positioning and the surgeon didn’t have a chance to do this before he was called to another patient and while he was gone, I was taken for the MRI. I had never had an MRI before and I didn’t know what to expect. I was given a “panic” button that I could use at any time if I was uncomfortable that would alert the technician. The machine was extremely loud, and It was important that I stayed still to avoid blurry images being taken. The scan itself took about 30 minutes.

When I returned to my room after the MRI, I noticed that one of the fiducials had fallen off and was stuck in my hair. At this point I still hadn’t realised the importance of the fiducial position. Luckily, I mentioned it to one of my other surgeons who had popped in to check how I was feeling. Quite concerned he told me they would completely disregard that marker as without the outline they wouldn’t take the chance of guessing where it had been as if it wasn’t put back in the exact position it could cause complications during surgery.

After the MRI, time seemed to slow down as we waited for my surgery. Ryan fell asleep so I helped the time go by watching a guilty pleasure of my hospital stay ‘Yummy Mummies’ on Netflix.

It was close to 11am when the time came. As Ryan hugged me goodbye, I was trying to hold back the tears. He held me so tight, smiled and said, “you’ve been so strong don’t cry now”. I quickly pulled myself together, said goodbye and I was ready!

The surgeons had told us they expected the surgery would take up to three hours. Ryan had decided he would go and see The Avengers movie to distract him and take his mind off what I was going through.

While I was getting prepped for surgery it felt like I was asked the same questions 100 times to confirm my identity and any allergies I may have had. Red id tags were placed on my ankles and wrists as I have a severe reaction to Codeine which I unfortunately found out when I had my wisdom teeth removed a few years back. I was then wheeled into a tiny narrow room with doors at either end. A nurse came to check my vitals and covered me with a ‘Bair Hugger’ blanket (a patient warming system). I was met by my anaesthesiologist who put two cannulas in my arms. She asked several questions to determine the best anaesthetic to use and I had to sign a permission form to confirm I understood the procedure.

The surgical room was just on the other side of the door and members of the neuro team popped in to see me and explained they were finishing up on the other side and it wouldn’t be long. That’s when it hit me, this is what these people do for work daily. It was a rotating door of performing surgery on people’s brains, how crazy is that! This was everyday life for them, they are truly amazing people.

Before the anaesthetic kicked in, I was placed in an upright seated position and a section of my hair was shaved on the left-hand side of my head. The procedure that was performed on me was a craniotomy, meaning an opening of the skull. The surgeons removed a section of my skull to access the brain underneath, cut out the AVM from the surrounding brain and clipped the ends of the arteries and veins that the AVM had been attached to. The section of my skull that had been removed was put back in place with metal plates and screws and 21 staples were used to hold my head back together.

5.5 hours later I woke up from surgery and was told Ryan was on his way. On arrival he took a happy snap and as always, he managed to make me smile, we were both just so relieved to hear the surgery had gone well. Ryan sent the below photo onto family to help put some worried minds at ease. My Mum said it was the only reason she was able to fall asleep that night. Ryan stayed with me for a few hours but as I was extremely groggy coming off the anaesthetic. As he walked through the doors to go home, I took a turn for the worse.

An hour after surgery

#anewperspective #strokesurvivor #avm #surgery #newlife #mystory