Vertebroplasty Round 2

Traffic on the 210 sucked but we still arrived at 7:45am. We went straight to the Admitting office to check-in. Expectedly the lady referred us back to the front desk. I “nicely” cut her off and said we were in the right place. She got a more experienced lady and everything quickly fell into place. Funny, it’s like we did this before.

We just got into pre-op and the nurses remember us. Satomi’s changed into her gown and we’re waiting patiently for the Anesthesiologist. It’s 8:10-So far so good.

Dr Chen popped in to check on us. Everything is ready and we’re about to start. She apologized for the week delay. I thanked her but made clear that I knew it wasn’t her or her staff’s mistake.

Satomi’s ready to go.

[12:25pm Update:  Satomi is in recovery.  Dr. Chen said she is doing exceptionally well.  The procedure went very smoothly.  There are no signs of cement leakage and she passed all initial neuro tests.  The volume of cement was also quite high so vertebral body reinforcement should be good.  She’ll be in recovery for the next hour or so afterwhich time she will be returned to the Post-Op area.  If all goes well, she could be discharged as early as 4:00pm.  If there is any question, she’s staying over night.  I’ll post again when I know more.]

[2:35pm Update: I’m with Satomi in the outpatient Post-Op area. She’s groggy and needs to pee but she isn’t allowed to sit up yet. The guy in the next bed just got a colonoscopy and is nothing but big farts.  Besides the aroma, she’s doing just fine.]

[5:00pm Update:  We got discharged and made the drive home.  Satomi’s too dizzy from the anesthesia to use the walker.  She’s upstairs and sleeping now.  Things seem OK.]