Rhonda, while not the same surgery, I had the long OR time and came out with the 5-day trach. Just one hint - have your mom or whoever will be there when you awake from the anesthesia, have a white board or paper and pencil for you because you will have things to say and questions to ask, and no way to talk.

A vein was taken from my arm and replanted in my mouth. To make sure it was working, about every hour, day and night, someone stuck what seemed like a microphone in my mouth to hear the blood flow. This may happen to you too. And another amazing thing is that while it looked like a shark had bitten a piece out of my arm, within two weeks it had all filled in.

I am sure you can use your laptop, and by the end of the second day I would have been ready to because even though I was hooked to an IV and looked like elephant man, I was up and roaming.

Expect lots of swelling, and expect a lot of it to go down before you are discharged, and much more in the next few days.

Bottom line, I looked a whole lot worse than I felt, and I went home with no need for any pain meds.

I am so happy that you have docs you are comfortable with and that your wait is almost over. While this surgery truly is a Big Deal, it is something you can handle. We will be looking forward to reports from you.