Teacher,

OK, ICU is actually the good part - it's quiet, and the care is fantastic.

You'll probably have 4 drains from the neck, your trach, an IV, and possibly Doppler wires to monitor the blood flow to the flap, which sticks out of your neck.

You'll also have an ng tube down your nose to stomach for feeding. I asked my dad to take a picture of me in ICU, which is on my face book page (Tina Huizinga) if you want to see. You can see my thumb up in the photo.

I had what almost looked like a cast on my left arm for the graft, which came off at day 7. It looks gross, but has gotten much better. The follow up photos are there too.

I had the trach for 7 days closed and one day fenestrated, at which point I started talking (badly so don't panic). The day the fenestrated tube came out they had me swallow some water, moved up to yogurt, and it went from there.

There was no neck pain. There was pain in the forearm from the graft, especially when they took the staples out, but I am allergic to local anaesthetic, so mine was all done without that or any pain killers.

The skin graft from my leg hurt, but that's like road rash.

I got upset during my first physio in hospital when I realized how limited my movement was, but that just took time.

Hope that helps. Feel free to "friend me" on facebook if you want to see (just send a message so I know it's you).