Back With A Vengence

The critical stage is over, I can finally breathe almost normally without feeling the tremendous amount of pressure on my heart.

What surgery did I go for? I'm so sick and tired of answering this question, which is basically why I kept this in the dark, apart from a few of my close friends. I had to go for a Spine-Thorascopic Cervical Sympathectomy to cut the sympathetic nerves. In other words, it's to cure cold and clammy hands (i.e. sweaty palms).

Going into this surgery is quite mind boggling and it's not the process of the whole thing, it's the waiting that is a killer. I freaked myself out before the whole thing, I had to wear nothing but the surgical gown and my wobbly bits were dangling for everyone to see. They inserted a transparent like drip into my right hand and injected the anesthesia into the drip which knocked me unconscious for about a couple of hours. They made two small incisions on each side of my body, right underneath the armpit where the doctor had to find the sympathetic nerves and sliced it right off. Waking up is the fun part, I remembered being delirious and making jokes to the nurses that only I understood (something along the lines of getting sleeping pills). There was a huge pressure on my heart and it was difficult to breathe. I couldn't even walk and had to be wheeled out by the hospital's concierge.

It was hell when I got back home. I had to walk up a flight of stairs to my bedroom, after each step I had to stop to release some of the pressure in my heart. Under heavy painkillers and anti-bis, I slept my way through the weekend, waking up through intervals to take my meals and meds.

And now I'm feeling better. Not yet 100% since I am not able to operate heavy machinery for a week or lift anything, or even hold a pen for a couple of days. Weird thing is, I'm able to type and move my mouse but in an upright position so my arms don't move around so much. I'm getting my stitches out on Saturday. Woo hoo! I'll be 100% then!