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Jesse is on his way to surgery....Sorry its hard to break character sometimes....I GOT TO FOCUS! lolOn my way to surgery at 9:00pm (March 9th) I remind the nurses that when I wake up this time and ask for water, that no one better shove a wet sponge in my mouth like they did last time!! I told them I want a real glass of water otherwise there is going to be a Fight! As I am being rolled down to the surgery it dawns on me that in my first surgery I did not remember any of my trip into the actual operating room. I immediately start to think that Mr.Hippie Anesthesiologist failed to give me enough drugs to knock me out! After that thought the next thought in my head I blame on watching too many movies on the Sci-Fi Channel. I see all these bright lights and people in mask and rubber gloves I am thinking ALIEN IMPLANT TIME OR My Head Will Be Forever Alive In A Glass Jar On a Shelf!!! And Can I Take Another Look At That Waiver I Signed! However, If they place some Bionic Implants inside my legs well.........that could just be our little secert!
After I am moved onto the surgery table the Anesthesiologist gives me some more drugs, places an oxygen mask over my face and instructs me to take a deep breath in. It was lights out after that Do Not Pass Go, Go Straight To The Land of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
GOOD NEWS!
But to my delight when I woke up and asked for a glass of water THEY ACTUALLY GAVE ME A GLASS OF WATER AND NOT A WET SPONGE!! Cheers to me! I was happy the procedure was over but still a bit upset that I had to stay overnight. Doc came in after the surgery and explained to me that he had successfully removed all of the standing fluid/blood out of my leg and that no signs of infection had been detected. Doc went on to tell me that he also had to cut away more of the fascia in my leg. He cut lower towards my ankle and higher towards my knee to make sure all of my muscles were full released. Doc joked and said he wanted to make sure I did not have to come back a third time! I DID NOT LAUGH! All I was thinking is that if I have to come back a third time it will not be to you because I got two Great Surgeons Doc Greenwald at ISU and Doc Thometz in Chicago that I would be calling, and I know they would get the job don on the first try!!!
Then next morning Doc came back in the room explained the operation to me again and removed the wraps that were on my legs. The pressure, pain, and swelling that was once in my leg was finally gone! It was as drastic improvement from a week ago let alone a few hours ago. I was free to leave the hospital that afternoon under my own power with a little help from my crutches of course. Three days later on the 13th I was in the training room going through my therapy exercises. My legs were starting to feel a lot stronger and I was able to walk without the need of my crutches but I continued to use them because of my Doctor's orders. I continued therapy through out the week and each day my muscles continued to get stronger and I began to regain the flexibility in my lower legs.
The next week on the 17th Doc came in to remove all of the stitches from my legs, except at the point on my right leg where he had to go back in at a week ago. I asked Doc when could I get off the crutches, he told me two more weeks. I was not thrilled about that thought at all. I also asked him when I could start running again, he said maybe a couple of weeks after I get off the crutches. I failed to tell him that I had already started jogging, back peddling and side shuffling the last couple of days now!(I am very impatient people and I personally feel that my body needs to respond when I need it to!) I had told the trainers that it would not take me the 8 or more weeks Doc had said I would need to get back to lifting and running, but they were skeptical at first! They are Believers now!
GREAT NEWS!!!
Two days later on the 19th I informed the trainers that it is harder for me to walk around with the crutches than it is walking without the crutches. This was due to me grossly over compensating on my left leg for my right leg resulting in my left leg beginning to hurt. I asked them if they thought it would be ok if I did not use my crutches for short distances like walking around the cafeteria, the gym and in my room. Because in all honestly my legs felt better when I was able to perform walking motions on my own.
Doc came back on the 23rd to remove the last of my stitches and saw me walking around the cafeteria with out my crutches, he was not amused! He joked with me saying "Hey Nice Invisible Crutches You Have Their Jesse!" I Told Him I Had A Guy That Specially Makes Them For Me! lol After we both ate lunch we went into the Training Room where Doc removed the last of my stitches and cleared me to start LIFTING WEIGHTS!!!!! AND HE SAID THAT I WAS THREE WEEKS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE IN MY HEALING!!!!!! That's What I'M Talking About Doc!!! I COULD ONLY REALLY THANK GOD FOR BLESSING ME BECAUSE I WAS SERIOUSLY PRAYING EVERY DAY OVER MY LEGS THAT THEY GET BETTER FAST! And The BIG MAN UPSTAIRS CAME THROUGH AS USUAL! Doc also gave me advice on taking it easy and that I was not fully cleared to go really heavy yet. I actually listened to him on this because I did not want to have any accidents or cause too much inflammation in my legs too soon. Ok well I sorta of, kind of, eventually listened to him! lol Ok so after I got cleared and left the training room I was not going to go and lift BUT...(please tell me you got the joke that it was a big but! lol) I had to find out how much strength I had or had not lost because I would not be able to sleep at night if I did not know, and that would not be healthy. So, I did a little warm-up for squats and my last set on squat ended up being 160k or 352lbs for seven reps! Some of my teammates were in the weight room and saw me lifting after I got cleared and just shook their head at me and said "Are you kidding me Jesse! Only you would be in the weight room now!) They didn't know I still had some GETTY stored in me! The KID was feeling GREAT!!! After that for the last couple of weeks I have only been doing 4 sets of 80k or 176lbs for 10 reps, to make sure I do not over do it.
This past Monday on the 6th I was able to step up the pace of my running/jogging and my lifting since I got fully clearance from Doc!!! I still have to go a little bit easy on my plyometric exercises but other than that ITS TIME TO ROCK AGAIN!!!!!
I am feeling good! I have more flexibility in my lower leg than I can ever remember having, my strength has not really drooped off any and most importantly I continue to pray that my recovery continues to progress and I do not have any set backs!!! I also have some good trainers and strength people up here who are giving me everything I need to stay healthy, stronger and faster than I have ever been!
I am currently lifting three days a week (depending on how my legs are feeling), doing therapy five days a week (7 total therapy sessions a week) and running sorry jogging twice a week. lol And I will be able to sprint next week!!
Just want to say thank you for everyones well wishes and prayers!
God Bless you all!
Jesse
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Second Surgery and Training Update
April 7, 2009
Good morning everyone!
I have a little bad news, Good News, and GREAT News!
BAD NEWS FIRST.
As you all know I had surgery on March second on both my lower legs for compartment syndrome. Well after that surgery I came back to the OTC and my legs were starting to feel a little bit better. However, my right leg was still more swollen than my left leg, which was initially attributed to more cutting needing to be done in that leg. After being back at the OTC for a few days, and walking around on my crutches I noticed that it became more and more painful to put any type of pressure on my right leg. I immediately let my trainers know what was going on and asked them if they thought it was possible that I had some sort of infection. They went through a gauntlet of questions with me to determine if in fact any infection was going on. It was determined that I did not have any type of infection. But I knew something was not right. One more day had gone by and the pain was really starting to build. Being that I needed the healing pads covering my stitches changed out, I talked with our head trainer and told him how my leg was feeling. He texted the doctor (It was Doc's surgery day and texting him works better because he is in and out of the office) informing him about what was going on with me. Doc, called the training room in about 5 minutes to talk with my trainer to figure out what was all happening with me. Evidently they were worried that the blood was not flowing in and out of my leg properly. We went over some symptoms I was having to see if I was experiencing a blood clot, but the symptoms were not consistent with a blood clot. Doc was still a little bit concerned and said he would call back a little later when he had more time to talk.
After Doc got off the phone I spoke a little bit more with my head trainer and he informed me that one of the tell tell signs would be if that a section of my leg was shinny like it was directly after my surgery. Little background information for everyone, before a surgery a nurse(s) come in to shave and rub iodine around the area that is going to be operated on. Once this is done this area becomes extremely shinny and almost metallic looking. Swelling also occurs around the area due to the body's way of healing itself causing the skin to be over stretched. Not seeing any of these tell tell signs I went through my normal therapy exercises, iced down and went to go take a shower before we put the healing pads on my legs.
This is where it gets interesting....I get out of the shower and as I begin to dry off what do I notice? Yup you guessed it! On the inside of my leg where most of the pain has been occurring is really shinning, People my leg looks like a Penny Fresh from the USA Mint! lol All I am thinking at this point in GREAT just what I needed! Not only is it shinny but a boil or something has popped up as well. I get dressed as soon as possible and cruthc my way back down to the training room and show my Head Trainer my leg! He immediately calls Doc and lets him know the situation. Doc was evidently in surgery again because he did not respond back. My head trainer tells me he will let me know what Doc says so I go back to my room at about Noon . At 1pm I get a call from one of the other trainers telling me that Doc wants to see me in his office within the hour so he can look at my leg really quick. At this point I already know this is not going to be a short examination! lol Especially since he has surgery's scheduled all day and he is taking time in between surgeries to look at my leg.
We get to the hospital, they sit me in a waiting room and about ten minutes later Doc comes in. Doc is as cheerful as ever, like I mentioned before he loves surgery and he has been doing them all day. He looks at my leg and orders a ultrasound be done so they can see what is going on inside. While Doc is walking out of the room he ask me "hey when was the last time you had something to eat" I told him about two hours ago, he says "Oh OK" and continues on down the hall. I immediately look at the trainer that brought me to the hospital and asked, That was a surgery question wasn't it? He said uhmmmmm....Yeah! This is the point where I start to realize I have a 40% chance of walking out of this hospital today.
I go down for the ultra sound and they find that I do not have a blood clot but there is 13 centimeters of standing fluid and blood inside my leg which is causing the swelling and added pain. I am thinking ok no big deal just go ahead stick a needle in there and suck it out! Right? Right? Yeah......I am not a doctor! lol Doc comes back in to the room, while standing at the foot of the table I am on and stares at the results. He starts to talk about what he see.....then he pauses.....looks up at me then walks around to my right side! I look at him and I say DON"T EVEN SAY IT!........... YOU HAVE TO OPERATE AGAIN DON'T YOU! Doc shook his head yes and said he needs to go in and extract the fluid and make sure no infection has set in! This is not what I wanted to hear!
I finish this lovely conversation with Doc about 2:30pm, which is when the nurse comes in and rolls me out down to the preoperative holding room. My trainer walked down with us but had to leave for another appointment. This worked out pretty good for him because initially I was suppose to be operated on within the next hour which soon became 5 HOURS but I will come back to that! Because now I get to tell you about my Really Fun Time of Playing HUMAN PIN CUSHION!!!...it was fun everyone should try it! lol I am laying in the hospital bed when my nurse Nancy comes in to insert my I.V. While she is trying to do this I see my nurse from last week Wendy walks by and she says "Hey what are you doing back here and where are your Sisters!?" lol We talked about what was going on and she told my current nurse that she is getting off easy today because my sisters were not there to interrogate here!! I then here Wendy telling the other nurses at the nurses station about how my sisters questioned beat her up with question! It was really funny she kept saying that it was not fair that my current nurse was getting off so easy! lol
For whatever reason my nurse seemed a bit distracted or flustered for some reason. It showed a she was trying to insert my I.V, she got the needle in my arm and somehow missed the vein she was going for so she moved the needle left and right in my arm trying to catch the vein. She finally catches the vein but some how it got blown and she could not use it. She takes the needle out and goes for another vein....Can yo guess what happened? Yeah she did the same thing, this woman is providing the definition of insanity in my arm right now. You know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result! lol. Besides being frustrated with the fact that she was going to go for a third attempt I could not help but think that...God must really like this nurse Because she seriously Lucked out that none of my sisters were there with me!!! Because they would have thrown Nancy in a Head Lock Soooo Quick she would not have time to say "Let me try again"! On Nancy's third attempt knowing that she is having no luck getting this I.V in she decides to bring in the lefty from the dug out, namely Nurse Lisa. Nurse Lisa tries to get the I.V. in my arm and working properly but she fails on her first attempt! Evidently I a came to Hospital Las Vegas because these people keep rolling the dice on my Veins!! NOW...I am really getting frustrated, I am thinking ok, you all get one more shot before I call for another nurse! Finally on the fifth try, and after switching from my right arm to my left arm they successfully get the I.V. into my arm. They tell me that it is flowing slow but it will be ok! UHM....No! See this does not work for me at all!
Thankfully Wendy the nurse from my first operation was still wandering the halls and I was able to call her in to redo my I.V. By this time I a visibly unhappy, I told her the situation and I am not confident with this I.V and have serious concerns about whether or not the anesthesia would flow effectively or not. Wendy takes out my current I.V. attempts to put another one in! This is really not my day! Wendy's first attempt fails but her first attempt was Golden, the I.V. was in and flowing normal! THANK GOD!! Its around 3:15 now. Doc comes in at about 4:30 to let me know he has one more quick surgery and that I will be next. At 6:00pm I ask the nurse what was taking so long, she informed me that the surgery before mine is taking longer than they expected.
At 7:00 pm I had the privilege of getting the one Hippie anesthesiologist in the whole hospital! This guy strolls in all melo lik with long stringy hair, scruffy beard and is talking to me like I am just one of the guys in his Friday night smoking club! He runs through the usual list of options for anesthesia. I inform him that I do not want any tubes stuck down my throat and into my lungs. He understands the reason why and goes on to tell me about a lawsuit he is currently involved with where his throat was damaged a bit after he had tubes stuck down it during a surgical procedure. He then tells me about some anesthesia that he can give me that would require no tubes, but they use to use it in VIETNAM! EXCUSE ME MR CHEECH! DID YOU SAY VIETNAM!? He continues his little speech and tells me that they use to give it to soldiers on the battlefield after they had been shot and they would just leave them there until they can attend to them. He said that some people wake up feeling nauseated and it causes others to hallucinate!! By this time I am looking at this guy in disbelief while I am giving his ID Badge another look over!
I throw this guy one the sternest look that I have in my arsenal and tell him "Listen the fact that you just said VIETNAM, NAUSEA AND HALLUCINATION all in describing this particular anesthesia THERE IS NO WAY THAT WILL BE AN OPTION FOR ME SO GO AHEAD AND MARK THAT OFF YOUR LIST! Then he says well maybe we can come back to that one. EXCUSE ME HIPPIE MAN DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID THAT IS NOT AN OPTION! I then made it clear to him that the possibility of me waking up hallucinating and thinking I am surrounded by monsters or something might result to some serious harm for him and any other person attending to me who I mistake for a creature from out of space! He Seem To Amazingly Ge The Point This Time!
He goes on to tell me about the other options. I said I would like to be awake if possible, and I did not want an epidural because I did not like waking up with my lower body completely numb. He said ok, well let me go talk to Doc and see what his recommendations are, then we can see what you both agree on. As he is leaving he asks me to sign the release form saying that I agree to have an anesthesia administered. I tell him Listen Man, I am not signing anything until me and Doc have agreed to what type of anesthesia I will be receiving. So after you get done talking to Doc, come back and tell me what he thinks I should do then I will make my decision and only then will I sign your release! We finally agreed to putting me to sleep and having a tube placed in my throat but only to the top of my esophagus. After that lovely dialogue they start to role me down to surgery. But this e-mail is long enough so I will finish the story in the next email. TO BE
CONTINUED........Duh............Duh............Duh.........Duh!
P.S I always wanted to end an email like that so do not be surprised if it happens again!
God Bless
Jesse
Good morning everyone!
I have a little bad news, Good News, and GREAT News!
BAD NEWS FIRST.
As you all know I had surgery on March second on both my lower legs for compartment syndrome. Well after that surgery I came back to the OTC and my legs were starting to feel a little bit better. However, my right leg was still more swollen than my left leg, which was initially attributed to more cutting needing to be done in that leg. After being back at the OTC for a few days, and walking around on my crutches I noticed that it became more and more painful to put any type of pressure on my right leg. I immediately let my trainers know what was going on and asked them if they thought it was possible that I had some sort of infection. They went through a gauntlet of questions with me to determine if in fact any infection was going on. It was determined that I did not have any type of infection. But I knew something was not right. One more day had gone by and the pain was really starting to build. Being that I needed the healing pads covering my stitches changed out, I talked with our head trainer and told him how my leg was feeling. He texted the doctor (It was Doc's surgery day and texting him works better because he is in and out of the office) informing him about what was going on with me. Doc, called the training room in about 5 minutes to talk with my trainer to figure out what was all happening with me. Evidently they were worried that the blood was not flowing in and out of my leg properly. We went over some symptoms I was having to see if I was experiencing a blood clot, but the symptoms were not consistent with a blood clot. Doc was still a little bit concerned and said he would call back a little later when he had more time to talk.
After Doc got off the phone I spoke a little bit more with my head trainer and he informed me that one of the tell tell signs would be if that a section of my leg was shinny like it was directly after my surgery. Little background information for everyone, before a surgery a nurse(s) come in to shave and rub iodine around the area that is going to be operated on. Once this is done this area becomes extremely shinny and almost metallic looking. Swelling also occurs around the area due to the body's way of healing itself causing the skin to be over stretched. Not seeing any of these tell tell signs I went through my normal therapy exercises, iced down and went to go take a shower before we put the healing pads on my legs.
This is where it gets interesting....I get out of the shower and as I begin to dry off what do I notice? Yup you guessed it! On the inside of my leg where most of the pain has been occurring is really shinning, People my leg looks like a Penny Fresh from the USA Mint! lol All I am thinking at this point in GREAT just what I needed! Not only is it shinny but a boil or something has popped up as well. I get dressed as soon as possible and cruthc my way back down to the training room and show my Head Trainer my leg! He immediately calls Doc and lets him know the situation. Doc was evidently in surgery again because he did not respond back. My head trainer tells me he will let me know what Doc says so I go back to my room at about Noon . At 1pm I get a call from one of the other trainers telling me that Doc wants to see me in his office within the hour so he can look at my leg really quick. At this point I already know this is not going to be a short examination! lol Especially since he has surgery's scheduled all day and he is taking time in between surgeries to look at my leg.
We get to the hospital, they sit me in a waiting room and about ten minutes later Doc comes in. Doc is as cheerful as ever, like I mentioned before he loves surgery and he has been doing them all day. He looks at my leg and orders a ultrasound be done so they can see what is going on inside. While Doc is walking out of the room he ask me "hey when was the last time you had something to eat" I told him about two hours ago, he says "Oh OK" and continues on down the hall. I immediately look at the trainer that brought me to the hospital and asked, That was a surgery question wasn't it? He said uhmmmmm....Yeah! This is the point where I start to realize I have a 40% chance of walking out of this hospital today.
I go down for the ultra sound and they find that I do not have a blood clot but there is 13 centimeters of standing fluid and blood inside my leg which is causing the swelling and added pain. I am thinking ok no big deal just go ahead stick a needle in there and suck it out! Right? Right? Yeah......I am not a doctor! lol Doc comes back in to the room, while standing at the foot of the table I am on and stares at the results. He starts to talk about what he see.....then he pauses.....looks up at me then walks around to my right side! I look at him and I say DON"T EVEN SAY IT!........... YOU HAVE TO OPERATE AGAIN DON'T YOU! Doc shook his head yes and said he needs to go in and extract the fluid and make sure no infection has set in! This is not what I wanted to hear!
I finish this lovely conversation with Doc about 2:30pm, which is when the nurse comes in and rolls me out down to the preoperative holding room. My trainer walked down with us but had to leave for another appointment. This worked out pretty good for him because initially I was suppose to be operated on within the next hour which soon became 5 HOURS but I will come back to that! Because now I get to tell you about my Really Fun Time of Playing HUMAN PIN CUSHION!!!...it was fun everyone should try it! lol I am laying in the hospital bed when my nurse Nancy comes in to insert my I.V. While she is trying to do this I see my nurse from last week Wendy walks by and she says "Hey what are you doing back here and where are your Sisters!?" lol We talked about what was going on and she told my current nurse that she is getting off easy today because my sisters were not there to interrogate here!! I then here Wendy telling the other nurses at the nurses station about how my sisters questioned beat her up with question! It was really funny she kept saying that it was not fair that my current nurse was getting off so easy! lol
For whatever reason my nurse seemed a bit distracted or flustered for some reason. It showed a she was trying to insert my I.V, she got the needle in my arm and somehow missed the vein she was going for so she moved the needle left and right in my arm trying to catch the vein. She finally catches the vein but some how it got blown and she could not use it. She takes the needle out and goes for another vein....Can yo guess what happened? Yeah she did the same thing, this woman is providing the definition of insanity in my arm right now. You know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result! lol. Besides being frustrated with the fact that she was going to go for a third attempt I could not help but think that...God must really like this nurse Because she seriously Lucked out that none of my sisters were there with me!!! Because they would have thrown Nancy in a Head Lock Soooo Quick she would not have time to say "Let me try again"! On Nancy's third attempt knowing that she is having no luck getting this I.V in she decides to bring in the lefty from the dug out, namely Nurse Lisa. Nurse Lisa tries to get the I.V. in my arm and working properly but she fails on her first attempt! Evidently I a came to Hospital Las Vegas because these people keep rolling the dice on my Veins!! NOW...I am really getting frustrated, I am thinking ok, you all get one more shot before I call for another nurse! Finally on the fifth try, and after switching from my right arm to my left arm they successfully get the I.V. into my arm. They tell me that it is flowing slow but it will be ok! UHM....No! See this does not work for me at all!
Thankfully Wendy the nurse from my first operation was still wandering the halls and I was able to call her in to redo my I.V. By this time I a visibly unhappy, I told her the situation and I am not confident with this I.V and have serious concerns about whether or not the anesthesia would flow effectively or not. Wendy takes out my current I.V. attempts to put another one in! This is really not my day! Wendy's first attempt fails but her first attempt was Golden, the I.V. was in and flowing normal! THANK GOD!! Its around 3:15 now. Doc comes in at about 4:30 to let me know he has one more quick surgery and that I will be next. At 6:00pm I ask the nurse what was taking so long, she informed me that the surgery before mine is taking longer than they expected.
At 7:00 pm I had the privilege of getting the one Hippie anesthesiologist in the whole hospital! This guy strolls in all melo lik with long stringy hair, scruffy beard and is talking to me like I am just one of the guys in his Friday night smoking club! He runs through the usual list of options for anesthesia. I inform him that I do not want any tubes stuck down my throat and into my lungs. He understands the reason why and goes on to tell me about a lawsuit he is currently involved with where his throat was damaged a bit after he had tubes stuck down it during a surgical procedure. He then tells me about some anesthesia that he can give me that would require no tubes, but they use to use it in VIETNAM! EXCUSE ME MR CHEECH! DID YOU SAY VIETNAM!? He continues his little speech and tells me that they use to give it to soldiers on the battlefield after they had been shot and they would just leave them there until they can attend to them. He said that some people wake up feeling nauseated and it causes others to hallucinate!! By this time I am looking at this guy in disbelief while I am giving his ID Badge another look over!
I throw this guy one the sternest look that I have in my arsenal and tell him "Listen the fact that you just said VIETNAM, NAUSEA AND HALLUCINATION all in describing this particular anesthesia THERE IS NO WAY THAT WILL BE AN OPTION FOR ME SO GO AHEAD AND MARK THAT OFF YOUR LIST! Then he says well maybe we can come back to that one. EXCUSE ME HIPPIE MAN DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID THAT IS NOT AN OPTION! I then made it clear to him that the possibility of me waking up hallucinating and thinking I am surrounded by monsters or something might result to some serious harm for him and any other person attending to me who I mistake for a creature from out of space! He Seem To Amazingly Ge The Point This Time!
He goes on to tell me about the other options. I said I would like to be awake if possible, and I did not want an epidural because I did not like waking up with my lower body completely numb. He said ok, well let me go talk to Doc and see what his recommendations are, then we can see what you both agree on. As he is leaving he asks me to sign the release form saying that I agree to have an anesthesia administered. I tell him Listen Man, I am not signing anything until me and Doc have agreed to what type of anesthesia I will be receiving. So after you get done talking to Doc, come back and tell me what he thinks I should do then I will make my decision and only then will I sign your release! We finally agreed to putting me to sleep and having a tube placed in my throat but only to the top of my esophagus. After that lovely dialogue they start to role me down to surgery. But this e-mail is long enough so I will finish the story in the next email. TO BE
CONTINUED........Duh............Duh............Duh.........Duh!
P.S I always wanted to end an email like that so do not be surprised if it happens again!
God Bless
Jesse
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