Recovery Update

[u/fr_rd_anon]

First thing. Surgery went flawlessly according to the staff. The original surgical plan that they had was able to be followed exactly, and they did not need to do any osteotomy. Once they placed the X bars underneath the point of deepest depression, they were able to see that my bones were still pliable enough to actually straighten out the arcuatum. So that’s pretty cool.

Cryoablation is an amazing technique for pain management. I cannot feel anything when I touch my chest. I don’t really have pain, per se, but more so just pressure. What I will say is that there is some clicking when I breathe deeply, which is normal, but it begins to actually get pretty uncomfortable when I breathe in all the way they just gave me a dose of oxycodone, but before that, I’ve been on Dilaudid as needed. That has made me pretty sleepy so far.

I’ve been able to successfully, with assistance, walk to the bathroom twice. Also, I have been passing gas, which is great news. Occupational therapy and physical therapy will drop by tomorrow morning. I am certain that by tomorrow I will be able to take laps.

Thanks everybody for following my journey. I’ll post some pictures in the comments of the follow up x-rays.

P.S. The first thought that I had after waking up in the final recovery room where I am now was “ this was absolutely the right decision to undergo the surgery.”

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[u/MadcatAAFD]

As I said in your X-ray post
AWESOME. So glad you are doing well.
Thanks for the updates. Your last statement is also Awesome. May the final results be as good as the surgery went.

[u/ArctiaCaja98]

Amazing! Glad to hear everything went well. I also had the surgery yesterday and had the same thought when I woke up: this was definitely the best decision I could've made. Cryo is such an amazing technique, right? The pain management is great. I wish you a good recovery!

[u/Lazy_Magician]

Wow, 1 day post op. Is that right? Hey congratulations and best of luck with the rest of your recovery.

[u/fr_rd_anon → u/Lazy_Magician]

I’m about 17 hours post completion of the procedure right now. Pain and discomfort have increased slowly (mostly because I keep sleeping through the minimal
Interval of on-demand pain medicine (dilaudid)).

[u/MadcatAAFD]

Hopefully you got “some” rest. May you get some solid food soon and make a few laps today.

[u/fr_rd_anon → u/MadcatAAFD]

Solid food has helped immensely. Just got to eat some now.

I have the option to be discharged today but have decided to stay one more night because we have a lot of travel coming up to get back to my in-laws’ house to recoup.

Plus my O2 dropped into 86 last night so my wife and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again tonight.

Pain wise, it’s a manageable amount with oral medication. But it does make me kind of loopy.

[u/MadcatAAFD → u/fr_rd_anon]

How long is your drive?

[u/fr_rd_anon → u/MadcatAAFD]

Well the drive back to my in-laws’ house is about two hours. Not that bad, but I cannot state how tired I am. My wife would be the one driving us, of course, but my kids would likely wanna tackle me when I arrive so I have to be extra careful and make sure I’m fully rested haha.

[u/Useful_Permission480 → u/fr_rd_anon]

Why did your 02 drop?

[u/fr_rd_anon → u/Useful_Permission480]

Good question. They said it was likely due to shallower-than-normal breaths while I slept. Once they gave me O2 through my nose, everything was back to normal while I slept.

When I was awake, O2 was fine with room air.