Surgeries #1 - #11

Gifts from my students after my "cyst surgery"

Most people at 35 years of age have not had eleven surgeries to write a blog about.  Strangely enough, I have!  Quite a few of them (#1 - #5) happened before I was ten years old.  I was one of those children who had tubes put into her ears over and over again.  I remember absolutely despising the smell of "happy gas" as they put me to sleep as a child.  That has got to be the worst smell I have ever experienced!  The trouble with all those tubes in my ears was that they kept falling out and they would have to be surgically put back in again and again and again.  The trouble with THAT was that it wore away my ear drum and I now only have half an ear drum in one of my ears.  Thankfully, when I was about fifteen I had reconstructive surgery (#6) on my ear.  They took tissue from behind my ear and recreated half of my ear drum!  I think that is pretty amazing!  But, the surgery was pretty awful!  I am thankful that Mom and Dad took such good care of me.  And, I had an excellent doctor.  Thank you, Dr. Jones!  My hearing was still damaged, but I have learned to cope.
     Most high school kids have to get their wisdom teeth out at some point.  Me included!  Out of all my surgeries, that one (#7) was the easiest for me.  I didn't get black and blue or swelling.  I had the surgery on a Thursday and was back to school by Monday.  Ice packs were my friend.  The pain meds. made me loopy! 
     Later I had to have another surgery (#8) to remove one of my teeth for upcoming braces that I had for a year.  As they were putting me to sleep, I was reminding them it was tooth #12 (or whatever it was) and I guess I kept saying "Tooth #12" over and over.  When the nurse woke me up, she asked, "Now, was it Tooth #12 you wanted out?"  She thought it was quite funny.  I had been so worried they would take out the wrong tooth!  Maybe that surgery tied for easiest one with my wisdom teeth!
     The next surgery (#9) was on my eye!  Somehow I developed a bump on my eye ball!  They gave me steroid drops and I drove to Alexandria from Becker about six times for appointments with Dr. Gess.  The day of the surgery I had to be awake for the whole thing.  I had to stare at a corner of the ceiling and not move my eye as they did surgery.  I remember that I sort of freaked out and started my deep breathing to calm myself.  Dr. Gess was afraid I would either pass out or injest too many fumes, so he asked me to breathe with my mouth shut.  Thankfully he took care of the bump and it was not cancerous.  My eye looked terrible for a long time.  Mom and Dad took care of me again.  I didn't open my eye for about three days.  I remember sitting in Dad's special chair downstairs with his special speakers facing the chair perfectly for the best sound.  I mostly listened to "The Swingle Singers."  They're the best!
    The most major surgery (#10) I had was when I had a cyst on my ovary removed.  I had been having lots of tests done for my high blood pressure.  During the ultra sound they found the cyst.  It was the size of a grapefruit!  My roomate, Angie named it Spike because when I would laugh I would grab my tummy where Spike was located.  Spike consisted of fat, fingernails, hair, and teeth!  Gross!!!!!  Even though it was an "emergency surgery" I had to wait two weeks before having it removed.  My last day of teaching school was on my birthday, and my students gave me cards and presents.  I felt so loved.  My second grade team gave me a bathrobe and new p.j.s.  So sweet!  I was out of school for five weeks!  I missed my kiddos!  I was very nervous for this surgery because it was so major.  I mean they were going to cut into me!
    I remember that before surgery I asked my surgeon (Dr. Nash) if she could "scoop out some fat" while she was in there.  Anything to lose a few pounds, right?  She laughed and said she definitely could NOT do that. 
   Before and after surgery, I was visited by my pastor.  That meant a lot to me.  My church family was praying for me.  My roommate Angie visited me as well as some friends from school (Kristi, Jenny, and Corrie).  I was so touched by that.  One of my nurses was my friend Stephanie G.  That was neat.  Mom was there with me every step of the way.  She slept at my house in Becker each night and spent her days with me.  I had to stay in the hospital for about three nights.  I remember pushing myself to walk a little each day.  I remember that the nights were lonely, but my Dad had sent a CD player/boombox for me to listen to music on.  Angie had made three CDs of great music for me to listen to.  I felt very loved and cared for.        

Flowers from friends and staff after surgery

After my days in the hospital, Mom brought me home to Alexandria for some of my recovery time.  Some of my recovery time was in Becker too.  I read lots of books and watched lots of movies.  I remember getting to attend the  Tuesday morning Bible Study at church. 
     My most recent surgery (#11) was in July.  I had my tonsils removed.  I had been having trouble with irritating tonsil stones and numerous sore throats.  My ENT specialist (Dr. Craigle) that I regularly see for my ears took a look at my tonsils and confirmed that they needed to come out.  The recovery time was to be about 10 days.  But, I really didn't feel good again for about three weeks.  Out of all my surgeries, getting my tonsils out was my most painful!  There was simply no relief.  I was in constant pain!  I barely slept.  It hurt to move my tongue or to talk.  It hurt like crazy to swallow!  My jaw and my ears radiated pain.  The pain meds didn't help the pain much, but made my body do weird things.  Thankfully, after about two weeks I started improving and I improved more each day after that.  Getting my energy back took a long time too.  Todd is sure I will get less sore throats because of having surgery.  I hope he is right.  Those were two of the longest weeks of my life!
     Despite having had these eleven surgeries, I consider myself a very healthy gal.  I have friends who have had surgery for cancer.  I know that there are people who have regular surgeries numerous times a year for health reasons.  I am so thankful for the good doctors I've had and the excellent care I've received.  I'm so thankful I can exercise and be active.  God has taken care of me through it all and provided loved ones to look after me.  Strangely enough, when I look back on my surgeries, what I think about is the people who helped me through.  Mom, Dad, Angie, Todd, friends, nurses, doctors, my church family, my students..... I am so blessed.  God has always been faithful to me.