VNS Surgery
I know its been a while since I posted something, things have been a little crazy. In my last post I said that in my next post I'd write about my VNS surgery experience. In one of my past blog posts I wrote about Medical MJ or VNS...what should I do!...I tried the medical MJ, but that didn't work out so with the support of family, friends and Bri I made the decision to just get the surgery. This post is about some general information about the surgery itself and what happened the day of my surgery.
For those that don't know what VNS Surgery is, it stands for Vagus Nerve Stimulation and its where a small device is put into your chest then a wire is wrapped around your vagus nerve to help reduce seizure activity. 2 small cuts are made causing 2 scars on your body, one on your chest and the other on your neck. I call it "a pacemaker for your brain". It comes with a magnet to stimulate the device when needed. When you first get the surgery the doctors make it go off every 5 minutes for 30 seconds. However, since Its been over a year now the device goes off every 3 minutes for 30 seconds which stimulates the device causing me to sound like I've been smoking my whole life.
I got the surgery on December 17 2018. So its been a little over a year since I had the surgery. The day of surgery I had to be there about 3 hours before the actual surgery. Brian drove me and my dad met us there (that was the first time they met also). The doctors and nurses kept asking if Brian was my husband or my boyfriend etc. But I would just say no, hes my uber driver just paying him a good tip to stay. They found it funny, and Brian just went along with it...my angel. I had to sign a shit ton of papers for the general anesthesia and the papers saying that I am aware of what is going to be put in my body etc.
Like every surgery there is a pre-op appt about a week before and since I have epilepsy its honestly much more in depth than needed. They ask all the general questions, do you know whats being put into your body and what this will do for you? Check my vitals then they gave me this special soap to use the morning of surgery. It came with very very specific instructions. This soap is usually given to everyone who is getting surgery and with my past 2 experiences with surgery I was given this type of soap.
Anyway, I passed the pre-op and was cleared for surgery! At the hospital, after hours of waiting just to be greeted by the doctor they FINALLY wheeled me into the operating room. Side note...nowadays they have little beepers to let the family/friends know that the people waiting for you are out of surgery and in the recovery room. There was more people in there than needed, they said it was for "precautionary use". To distract me from the drugs being injected into the I. V, the anesthesiologist asked me what my favorite cocktail was. I told her it was a French Martini. She never even heard of it so I told her whats in it (vodka, chambord, and pineapple juice). Next thing I know I'm waking up from surgery in the recovery room. I was sent home a couple hours later with a box of magnets, a handbook and then the recovery process started...next up, VNS-the road to recovery.