Posted by greywolf on October 14, 2008, at 19:32:13
Had my surgery this morning. Went a little longer than expected--about 3 hours. Now I have 2 nice physical scars as evidence of the mental ones.
Overall, the experience wasn't bad. The worst pain was actually introduction of the anesthesia, but that only lasted a few seconds. For those of you with interest in the procedure, my understanding is that the incision in my chest was made to introduce a pace-maker-sized electronic stimulator through the chest muscle up under the collar bone. Then electrical leads were run up to the vagus nerve on the left side of the neck, where another incision was made in order to get access to the nerve so that the leads could be coiled around it. Then subcutaneous stitching, steristripping, and voila!, good as new.
Got home a few hours ago, and I'm feeling pretty good. The painkillers administered at the hospital wore off, so I'm on Darvocet which, for all its painkilling rep, doesn't seem to be doing anything for me. Pain is moderate at both incision sites, but different. Feels like a bad pulled muscle in the neck, while the chest incision burns.
All-in-all, a tolerable procedure thus far. I'm pretty hoarse, which is to be expected after intubation. Will likely wear off in a few days (just in time for it to come back when my doctor turns the unit back on).
To everyone here at Babble who wrote to say they care, thank you. Your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated. I will try to keep my experience current on Babble so that others thinking of the same option (if you can convince your insurance carrier to cover it) have some real-life knowledge to consider.
Greywolf
poster:greywolf
thread:857460
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081006/msgs/857460.html