I'm so glad I didn't hve to wait days or weeks for surgery. I saw the Dr one day and 2 days later early in the mornig, I was having surgery. It really isn;t that bad at all just something that has to be. Good luck and be strong. You will win this war.

Thanks folks ...I wish I had the confidence in me that you folks have. Guess it will come!! My eyes are closed as tight as they can be!!! I have tried going into things with my eyes wide open and it seems a whole lot scarier. I am beginning to think that blind faith may be a better approach. Although at this time my faith and other beliefs seem to be taking a beating and are becoming a bit unravelled. It is very hard work to stay on track at this time and as things get tougher well I will just have to wait and see...



I also know I am very lucky to have the opportunities to fight this thing. I will probably see that once it is all said and done. Right now there is no other word for me except scared!!

I just re read this post and find it kinda funny would love to practice but I have had all my teeth removed earlier on in life and have not been able to wear my bottom dentures for months now. So I have no teeth to press my tongue against. I guess I will really have fun with this one!!!

Dianne, I should have mentioned as Rita did that you should go to doc and get some relaxation meds -- It does no one any good to have you overly tensed and stressed out -- I usually forget this part because I am lucky enough to take this sort of thing in stride -- You will heal much faster if you aren't wasting energy being stressed about something you can't control -- Just sort of mellow out and enjoy the ride instead of fighting it -- Stay observant, IOW, concentrate on what's going on outside, not inside.

The other trick, as all my docs and medical friends advise, is to start the pain meds and keep taking them so as to stay ahead of the discomfort curve -- If you fall behind, it takes more time and discomfort to catch up. I am still taking some pain meds because they just seem to make it all go easier.

If you sort of expect the worst (without letting it stress you out), then you are pleasantly surprised.

I forgot to mention that pre-surgery, I applied some cockroach decals (supplied by daughter, who has much the same warped sense of humor as I do) to the other wrist and wrote "DO NOT CUT HERE!" with a sharpie -- The nurse anesthetist was amused when he came in to place my IV portals on a foam block on that wrist -- The doc had just come it to mark "No IV" on the harvest wrist.

BTW, my harvest site is healing up quite well; looks a bit ugly because they went so deep, but the staple marks where they sealed the blood vessel harvest are already gone.

In my case, they tied off a lot of tongue sutures to my lower teeth (I've remarked that my teeth looked like a line of cleats in heavy use at a marina dock) -- I wonder how they will handle that in your case.

Thanks Pete but I find this so wierd cause all my life I have been told to just live with the pain. This has been hard but I have done it as much as I can. Besides when I take extra strength tylenol it doesn't really help. And even T3's don't seem to do too much when I got them for surgery. I am not sure why but a nurse here has said that some people's chemestry just doesn't allow it to work not sure why can't remember actually but was impressed. Plus they really constipate me which I cannot have either. Anyway I got the same advice from a friend who had a kidney removed with cancer and she said the same thing. She actually got in trouble for not using her pain pump when she was in recovery. I will talk to the doctor about some relaxing medicine. I can only try for some reason I get told to live with it as I have said before.

Just want my mind to relax!!!

Thanks for advice...

Immediately out of surgery, they were giving me some kind of morphine, but then switched to oxycodone, which took a little longer to kick in (15-20 minutes) but then lasted a longer time and seemed to taper gradually.

I used to be the stoic type, but now that I know I can be, there's nothing to prove, so why should I put up with the discomfort -- It's like choosing to sleep on the floor or in my bed every nite -- I've slept on floors and rocks, know I can do it, but given a choice, I choose the bed -- Likewise the pain meds, if you still have something to prove to yourself, then tough it out without the meds, but I'd recommend Outward Bound or some such for that kind of thing.

Talk to the Docs and explain that the tylenol stuf doesn't do the trick except cause stoppages and you'd like to know what else is available -- If you can, get the anesthetist ahead of time because he/she may have some ideas -- Don't overlook the nurses; they can't prescribe, but they've seen a lot and may be able to recommend -- You really do want your body concentrating on healing rather than just trying to keep out of shock from pain.

Where this really hit home for me was in a couple of former lives ago when I stupidly managed to pour flaming gasoline on my hand, lower leg and ankle (Don't ask, but it was a brief moment of entertainment for the neighborhood kids "Look, Mr D is on fire! Cool!).

They had me on demerol in the hospital (I find demerol to be strange; the pain is still there, it's just not exactly MY pain, sort of distant) and neglected to give me a shot about an hour before a debriding session (You have to keep up with the staff, who sometimes make mistakes -- I always ask "now what are you giving me?").

Debriding consists of getting into a warm turbo tank to get all the burned skin soaked and then getting on a table when a lady with a hatred of all things human attempts to scrub off the rest of your skin, including the good stuf, with Turkish towels (they were invented for removing skin at the baths) -- About that time, the levels of demerol in my system dropped below enough to 'not enough' and I really got to practice my stoicism!

Ok so I don't take the cake for living with pain. Although mine is not by choice lol...Holly cow man I thought stunt men wore suits to do become men of fire!!!


Anyway thanks for the valuable imput. I will take it to heart I still have so much to figure out and so little time but that is what is bothering me now. The time factor. How fast this thing can grow. I read that in two weeks can double it size I also realize that every person is different. But if it is even close to that...I am surprized the side of my neck is three times bigger. I have probably had this since December 07, biopsy July 08, and sugery to remove it not until Sept 8. God this thing must be huge and how much bigger will it get from now till sept 8. I am counting on my doctor knowing his stuff he should have the cat scan by now (done last wed.) I know they will let me know at pre surgery appointment if anything has changed in the proceedure but this just blows my mind. Now I don't wanna wait that long.