Justin's Surgery

If you are connected to me or Justin on facebook, I'm sure you've seen all sorts of posts about his being in the hospital without much explanation as to why; so, I figured I would clarify that here.

For the entire time I have know Justin, he has had back pain that limits how and what he can do. In fact, back when he was 17, he had a similar surgery. He needed work done on some herniated discs, but since he was so young, they were worried about doing a spinal fusion and hoped that he would be ok with whatever their "quick fix" option was at the time. Well, it didn't last for him. His pain has gotten worse and worse for years now, making us come to the decision that now was as good a time as any to get it taken care of (plus we have health insurance now which will not last after the Space Center shuts down the shuttle program).

After going to several Doctors and trying everything from therapy to injections, he slowly negated all other possible fixes to his pain which lead us to Dr. Hynes.

Dr. Hynes is a very famous surgeon throughout the US. He is the person who did Justin's original surgery as well. He gave him a few options, but said that a partial spinal fusion on at least two discs would be the best option for his condition.

This brought us to Friday morning, October 1st when Justin checked into Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, FL ... at 6am. I got to be with him until they took him back for surgery around 8am (I was a blubbering wreck too which he fully enjoyed).

His parents and I waited for 4 hours in the waiting room and they finally said he was in recovery and everything had gone great. **Note, this is the last time you will hear of anything with this experience going "great."

By about 2pm, they had him in his room and were getting him situated. He was still very out of it from the anesthesia , so we let him sleep for quite a while. His mom and I sort of took shifts after that. I stayed with him for the rest of the day (while he slept) and then his mom came to relieve me at 9pm so I could go home to sleep since I had to work the next day. Around 8:30 is when things really started to get interesting. His anesthetic was wearing off and the pain was starting to kick in. Now, having someone slice open your spin and abdomen is bound to be painful; but when you add in that the surgery was laproscopic, that complicates things even further.

Laproscopy is a surgical process that is supposed to be less painful than traditional incisions. They make a few small cuts in your stomach, blow it up with air, then insert cameras and small tools that they use to to the surgery by camera. The advantage is that they don't have to slice you completely open. The disadvantage: you are full of carbon dioxide gas. Now, before this experience, I would have said, "Why is this a problem?" Well, when you have people up in your bowels touching everything, they kind of freak out and shut down; thus you have all this gas in your body and your bowels won't do anything to help you get it out.

Ok, so we knew that some gas would remain in there, but nothing too ridiculous. Not so with Justin. At 8:30 on the first night, he began to complain of intense pain in his chest when he breathed. The pain would cause his heart rate to rise, sometimes up to 160 bpm. This is not a good thing. The poor nurse was wonderful, but no matter what she did or who she called, she couldn't help to relieve his pain. After work the next day, they had just given him a bunch of morphine and muscle relaxers to help him sleep before I got to the hospital, so I sat with him again while he slept for hours. Around the same time (9pm), he woke up and started having terrible pain again. All night, he would call to me to help him with something or other, turn him on his side, get him a blanket, etc. The pain just got worse and worse and his heart rate continued to climb. We got so used to the constant beeping of annoying machines because they just would not stop.

By the morning, they actually became worried he may have had or would soon have a heart attack. So, a cardiologist came and ordered a ct scan of his chest. If it wasn't a heart attack, it could have been a blood clot that had made its way up into his lungs which cause the stabbing pain while breathing. Also note, his bowels had not yet shown any sign of waking up, which for other laproscopy patients would have already been in full swing. So, they took him for some scans and tests and then transferred him to the telemetry floor where he could have his heart constantly monitored. This meant a little box was hooked to him at all times, which was annoying for anyone, but it was not designed for someone who needs to wear a back brace at all times. The box would not fit beneath the brace without pushing on the cuts on his stomach, and could not be left to hang because that would disconnect the wires. So, he had to hold it whenever he moved.

Anyway, all the scans came back fine - no clot, no heart attack yet. So, he was monitored, and given everything they could to get his bowels working. The nurses got a little over anxious, and they gave him 3 suppositories and a laxative at the same time. Well, his bowels started to work, but not in a fun way. Soon, they couldn't do anything to make them stop. Which brought on another problem in itself. He was still in horrible pain and he could only have liquids. Not a fun combo with nothing to comfort you.

So, this long explanation finally gets a little better. By Monday, which was his last full day in the hospital, he could at least watch tv and get up to walk around. Remarkably, he was able to go home on Tuesday morning, which was faster than normal for his surgery. He was able to eat solid food again and walk just fine. He was in a lot of pain for the first day, but now he can actually walk without a walker.

Our problem has now become his actual surgical sites. He is allergic to the tape they use to hold the bandages on, so not only does it itch because the skin is healing, but he has blisters and rashes under the tape that itch like mad, and we can't do anything about it. So, his mother, who is a nurse, comes by every so often and changes the bandages to help alleviate the pain and itching.

Other than the tape, his main issue is frustration and boredom. He has to wear a brace and he also can't bend, twist or lift, limiting the things he can do to laying around and playing video games. He can't shower, which annoys him to no end. He can't walk very far without becoming incredibly tired since his body is literally using a protein they injected around the discs to grow bone.

So, I know I have put a very depressing spin on things, but we are glad to have it done. The worst is over and he gets the staples taken out next week. And on the bright side, he can't work for at least 4-6 weeks, so we get to spend a lot of time together. So, thanks to modern medicine, he will be able to pursue the more physically demanding careers he really wanted after he has healed :)