Isn’t it ironic…

It’s like rain on your wedding day, it’s a free ride when you already paid, it’s like when you get an epidural after major surgery and it only works on the leg that was NOT operated on. That last line is not so catchy, but it’s what happened to me.

Back on Tuesday, we entered the hospital for surgery around 9:30 a.m. They took me back to my pre-surgery room pretty quickly – about 10 a.m. I got my IV shortly after and my parents were allowed to come back to the private waiting room with me – where we waited and waited. Luckily for me, my parents had just bought me an iPhone the night before. (Instead of a push present it was more like a grow gift.) So I was pretty entertained for a while. My mother ended up telling my dad the whole story of the Hunger Games. Not the trilogy, but the first book – in great detail. My surgery was scheduled for 11 a.m., but that time came and went. We were told it would probably be another hour. I began updating my Twitter account with pictures and texting some friends. Finally around 1 o’clock, my surgeon came in and said he was finished with his first operation of the day and they would take me back in about 30 minutes. He had me sign a paper and that meant I could finally get some calming drugs. They put it in my IV and I began laughing immediately. I was taken back for surgery at about 1:30.

 My mom and dad sitting with me before surgery.

The last thing I remember before going completely under was getting the epidural. It hurt and felt pretty weird. It was two pokes in my spine and a long thin thing being shoved up underneath my skin. I thought I would pass out but I just kept thinking – this will be worth it.

The next thing I know, someone’s calling my name as I’m being wheeled in a bed down a hallway. “Carly, Carly. How do you feel?” “It hurts,” I say. “I can feel my legs! I thought I wasn’t supposed to feel them! It hurts!” When they got me into a recovery room they began testing my legs with ice. We soon discovered my left leg was completely numb, but I could feel everything in my right leg. My right leg is the one they had just operated on. “How could this happen? Please give me something else.” It took about 10 minutes of sitting with excruciating pain, but they just kept pumping more drugs into me until it was tolerable. That was the most pain I’ve been in since the surgery. They say sometimes that can happen with epidurals. If it’s placed just a hair one way, it can go more to one side. This whole time my left leg has been completely numb while my right leg has gotten up to about 25% numb, but that’s it. They give me other drugs though which help and knock me out. Right when I woke up, my pain was probably at a 9, but since then it’s fluctuated between a 3 and 7. It’s been tolerable. But seriously?! Pretty upsetting it happened that way. What are the chances?

The funniest thing that’s happened I think is that after they gave me some medicine, I fell asleep with an egg salad sandwich in my mouth. Made me laugh, anyway.

Dr. H says he is extremely pleased with the surgery. He says I have a very strong bone, and he was even able to place the device in at the top of my leg around my hip. (This is where most people get theirs inserted, but he thought that part of my bone was too thin and he would have to place it in at my knee – which could have potentially caused some trouble for my knee.)

I still haven’t moved very much. Wednesday, the physical therapists made me get out of the bed and sit in a chair. I cried a bunch, but then they gave me some more medicine and I calmed down. They moved me into a chair again today and I did a little better.

 This is what my legs look like right now.

One thing’s for sure, I definitely feel a lot less pain and more comfortable than when I did this 16 years ago and for that I am very thankful. Right now, being nauseous is almost bothering me more than the pain.

Also, having this new iPhone has been great because many friends and family have texted, called, Facetimed, Facebooked and Tweeted me so that’s very nice and keeping me busy!

I’m still in a weird state where I’m falling asleep a lot and have  no real concept of time. My sweet parents are helping me a lot. I hope this entry makes sense because I wrote it in between about six different naps. I’ll continue to write when I can.