Surgery and Beyond
I am alive and have made it through surgery. Incredibly grateful for your prayers and thankful for God’s hand in safely bringing me through. It has only been a few days but feels far longer.
I was hoping to send an update earlier than this, but symptoms got the best of me, and in the meantime, I have more to report.
Tuesday. Jeff prays with me in the room in our Inn and we head out with a driver to the surgical clinic. Fear raises it’s head right away in the reception area as heavy smells make me aware of possible reactions. My throat closes off some and I step back into the hallway. Praying that the scents most people adore won’t proliferate the surgical suite and recovery area. They require my passport, which is interesting. Staff comes to take me away and I kiss my goodbyes to Jeff. They remove some perfumed sticks from the bathroom as they are getting to know who I am… somewhat. Almost no one speaks English, so the journey is made more confusing and hesitant. There is currently no paperwork concerning my medical allergies and red flags are raised. I get an iv but because I was told not to drink anything for eight hours, my body is already dehydrated, The first attempt leads to a bloodless vein so they try higher up my arm. That doesn’t work so they call in the anesthesiologist to get it done. I’m rolled to the surgical suite in a hospital bed. And, ironically, I have to jump off the bed and stroll into my own surgery and hop on the table. They quickly rearrange me in my blue hospital garb with fancy, not so fancy, boy shorts. As I lay on the table I hear Spanish music playing… was hoping for some praise music, but alas… I look over and see the anesthesiologist is already inserting something into my iv, and I’m out. No time for questions.
I hear my name being called, and I come to in recovery, grateful I do not seem to be in any undo state of distress. I’m extremely tired, but can breathe, so no obvious lingering anaphylaxis from surgical meds (one of my greatest fears). I’m not supposed to talk for an hour after surgery, but the staff is quite insistent on interacting and I follow along the best I can. They really want me to eat, which is also something I’m sure I’m not supposed to do,. Again, the Spanish vs English plays out in a bewildering fashion. Jeff ends up running around Escazu trying to find me pomegranate juice as its the only juice we know I don’t react to. The poor guy finally has to buy a membership at a Costa Rican style Walmart to buy one bottle of juice. The staff is happy I have something they can give me. Jeff is also beyond thrilled to see me alive. He had been walking the streets of Escazu waiting for updates, and as the hours dragged on… four hours in, he said his mind went to difficult places.
The night was uncomfortable and I noticed some reaction to the meds… chest tightness. The nurse said I would likely be discharged in the morning. The hours dragged on as I tried to listen to devotionals on my phone to help me sleep. One of the nurses decided to sleep in the bed next to mine and snored the night through. Delightful. I was able to drift off for a few hours but lights and sounds were back on in full force by 5am and more meds were given. I started developing some sort of reaction of red welts. Nobody quite knew what they were from. Jeff arrived around 9:30 to whisk me away and after getting out of the lobby onto the sidewalk, we discovered our driver had disappeared. So here I sat in my wheelchair, Jeff and I without wifi and a befuddled Spanish nurse wondering what to do with us. She’s motioning, “where is your ride”. And we do not know how to answer her in Spanish or English. I’m so tired and some tears fall. The nurse offers her phone to call an uber and we are rescued off the sidewalk 10 minutes later.
Back in our little room I get to relax on soft pillows for a few hours before we head out again to go back to the clinic for more ivs. I won’t be allowed to eat anything for three days, so we are sustaining me on pomegranate juice and amino acid protein replacement tablets. Thankfully I can swallow. Food and sustenance was another one of our concerns and miracles needed for me Jeff heads out again in search of something to bring down my allergic reaction and thankfully finds a Spanish version of Claritin which I know I can take. We get back to the clinic for 1:00 where the wonderful staff nurse is a bit shocked at my skin reaction and sends a picture to the team. I’m given more antibiotics (I’m so stuck full of holes that this iv was done in my hand as my arms are too holey) and receive comments that I’m looking pretty good. It’s all surreal as its less than 24 hours since surgery.
We see Dr Fernandez in the hallway. Jeff really likes him. He shows no ego and takes the time to stop and talk even if he’s headed to a meeting, as he was. He gave us an update on the surgery which we weren’t supposed to get til the following Monday. So having him stop and talk to us was a brief report a full week early was incredible. He said the metal plate was embedded in bone as were the screws. For all you screwdriver aficionado's, they were Philips screw heads 🙂 Very detailed in his explanations! He needed to use some sort of sonic device to remove the bone from the screws in order to access the "Philips" part. I asked him if he had "fun" doing the surgery. He immediately said "no". The wires in my chin were extremely difficult to remove and he admitted to getting very tired during the process. First, they were buried, so using GPS guided xray software they located the wires and began digging. He discovered my chin bone had extensive cavitations hidden inside and the bone was soft. I asked what long term prognosis this had, thinking of my chin collapsing inwards. He said I would have gotten much more sick... I can't fathom. Its a reminder again of how insidious electrical galvanization can be where two opposing metals are placed in a body (a wet environment) and they create an electrical arch damaging all bone, cells and tissue in the vicinity and throughout the body. We will find out more tomorrow, but Dr Fernandez did need to rebuild my bone more extensively here as there was so much cavitation and bone loss. He worked on the cavitations after all the metal was removed. The cavitations on my lower jaw were not as progressed as the upper jaw, likely due to the scar tissue from the jaw surgery. It sounds like he got through them quite quickly.
Surprisingly, another nurse pulls me aside to do a CT scan of my head for post surgery (I was only supposed to do iv today, so progress!). I asked and have been told I will receive copies of the images... kind of excited for that. This time, post surgery, I don’t have the heart pounding during the CT, which is wonderful. I can just stand peacefully and let it whirl away. Progress in my body already? Jeff watched from outside the room as the screens displayed my metal free head. He jokingly said to Faby the nurse... "look I can see inside my wife's head". She's quick with her English and replied, "Now you can see what she's thinking". 🙂 So we obtained a much greater update than expected for Wednesday. And the initial meeting with Dr Fernandez which was supposed to take place on Monday is now scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday.
Back at the Inn, more red welts started traveling down my arms, so we knew something was progressing. The anesthesiologist though the reaction was from contact on something, no medication related, but Dr Fernandez had the theory it could be the body attempting to detoxify from everything it had just gone through. From testing in years past I knew infections and viruses tended to congregate in my jaw around the metal, so with the metal removal, and the discovery of the cavitations, the release of all these toxins was a potential big concern. One surgeon in California was so concerned with my case he was recommending one cavitation surgery at a time with other surgeries planned for the metals, and I had just done everything at once. The pros and cons being that leaving the infections in longer would also be a burden for my body and I was not in great shape. Wednesday night going into Thursday was also when all the pain killers and anti-inflammatories wore off. The pain set in, the swelling expanded, and the reactions grew, so the night was not the best and this posting of updates had to wait.
Thursday morning I’m still battling with the strange swathes of reactions on my body, but they seem to be toning down. Jeff spends some time looking at flights as he has been getting multiple notifications that his flight and carrier has changed, but mine has not. As traveling without me is not an option, we decide he will look for another flight without first confirming with the doctor today. This turns out to be a blessing as when our tickets were originally booked, the only flight available for return was with a two hour layover in El Salvador. Our lovely planner Tatiana said, when we told her about the flight, “oh you don’t want to go to that airport, the whole thing smells like fried chicken and everyone takes their fried chicken on the plane.” So we get to skip the fried chicken airport! Coupled with the fact that with the original booking, we wouldn’t land in Toronto until after midnight. It would be an exhausting trip. Gratefully, Jeff found tickets for us on a direct flight which miraculously came available for Tuesday of next week. We are praying for renewed energy and I will be able to fly sooner than anticipated.
Our doctors appointment got delayed from 10am to 2:30 pm, so our day stretched out until we could get more news from Dr Fernandez. Upon arrival he had me sit, did a quick inspection, and showed me the scans of my head, before and after, which I have shared. He told us again everything he had found, especially in regards to the softening of bone and the hole in my chin. How he replaced the bone with a type of bone cement which the body will rejuvenate to natural bone in the course of 6 to 9 months with the help of Platelet Rich Plasma that he spun from my blood.. The 3D scans definitely show the hole that had been forming in my head. I gave my Mom an update after the meeting and she said she was mind boggled by everything that had happened. It made me reflect that with the searching and the praying for answers. Desperately so at time, with years going by. I had so many “no’s” it’s not possible, we cannot remove your plate, we cannot remove the wires… when Dr Fernandez said yes, he could take everything out… I was suspicious. If everyone else said no, was he exaggerating, being truthful? Doubt was definitely present. It was a difficult surgery, as Dr Fernandez said it would be and as he experienced. It left him quite fatigued. But he knew his abilities, knew how to navigate through the surgery and come out successful. With all the closed doors we had, it does really feel that we were meant to come to this surgeon in Costa Rica.
Before Photo with metal plate and wires buried in my chin.
After Photo showing the hole in the bone of my chin, and the removal of the plate and wires.
The cause of lifelong trauma… finally removed.
Both Jeff and Dr Fernandez feel like I look different (minus the swelling), there is less tension in my face (apparently). Hopefully this is a positive sign of wonderful changes in my body. As I watch Jeff eat his dinner tonight, I dream of a time that I can live without fear of reactions, can eat food, live life, and enjoy the world around me.
We’ve notified Dr Fernandez about our flight change, so my last appointment will be Monday and we will fly home early Tuesday. So far I haven’t been able to eat so my energy is flagging. My pain still needs to be monitored, and my reactions are still present. But we continue to pray and are hopeful my strength will return at least somewhat over the next few days. Over dinner, thinking about all the “burdens of toxins” my body has been harboring as it could not keep up with the load, Jeff mentioned it will be an interesting months ahead as we will hopefully see things unfold. Some reactions may be curious, some stressful, but hopefully we keep our eyes on the goal and are positive in outlook.
On Monday Dr Fernandez and his colleague will do a bit more inspection of the surgery as the swelling will have gone down and give them better access.
Our thanks for your continued prayers and I will send more updates as they unfold.
The journey has produced miracles and we are humbled and grateful to be at this stage and still moving forward..
Flowers delivered in Costa Rica from my Kiddos! Feeling Loved.
