10 days ago Ova went in to fix an old mistake that he's been paying for for the past 11 years. 11 years ago, he was playing football at Snow College and he broke his wrist. He went to the doctor and they put a hard cast on his arm and was told to leave it on for 2 months so that it could completely heal. Well, back then, football was way more important than anything else, so he cut the cast off after only 2 weeks and played in the game that weekend. Needless to say, his wrist healed incorrectly and instead of the bones joining back together where they should have, they healed with one sticking up higher than the other.....and the bone that was sticking up was constantly rubbing on the nerves in his hand causing him a lot of pain. Over the years, his arthritis has grown and gotten a lot worse, especially around his injury. He has actually been able to tolerate it pretty well, just using his hand as little as possbile. Sometimes it would flare up and he would have days of extreme excruchiating pain.....and then it would get a little better....but he's never really been able to use it to the full extent that he would like to, like playing sports or throwing a ball with our kids....he could still do it, but always with pain. Working at US Synthetic, he uses his hands all day everyday when he's at work and that additional pressure has caused him a lot of pain, always, that never goes away. Thankfully his insurance is awesome and so is his work....because we finally got to get it taken care of!
He went and met with an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Raemisch...took some x-rays...saw what the issue was....discussed the procedure he would need....filled out some paperwork......and scheduled the surgery
What the surgeon was going to do was shave down the bone that was sticking out....so it wouldn't rub against the nerve anymore....scrape all the arthritis from around that area....and fuse all his joints in his wrist together to give him full strength back. The only downfall of the operation was that he wouldn't have full mobility of his wrist, meaning he won't be able to bend it all the way back or forth ever again......but honestly, the idea of having strength and being pain free was way more important and appealing than not being able to bend it!
This was actually the first surgery he'd ever had, and he was a little nervous about it. He gets a little queezy when it comes to needles (even though he has half a sleeve tattoo....but that's another story...haha) and he was worried about how they were going to put him under. It was actually a very pleasant surprise to know that the only poke they would need to do would be to put an IV in his hand and that was it. They put the sedation medication right in his IV and before he even could count to 10, he was out cold. They even had to intubate him for the procedure, so he got to experience what baby Katea went through (except he wasn't ever awake for it so he doesn't remember having the tube in his throat)
The procedure was just a same day surgery at LDS hospital, we got there and checked in and we actually didn't really have to wait at all. They took us right back, he got prepped for surgery.....then they came to take him back to the operating room. Everything moved really quickly.
I was told to go to the waiting room while he was in surgery and that the doctor would call me when the procedure was done to let me know how it went. They told me the surgery would last about 2 1/2 hours.
I sat in the waiting room and about 45 minutes later, the volunteer told me that the doctor was on the phone for me. I went and answered it and he told me that the surgery went really well and that he was done. I was surprised because it was way faster than they had told me it would take....but he reassured me that they always allow extra time, just in case....but that his surgery went really smoothly and everything looked great. He also told me that hand surgery is one of the most painful surgery's to heal from, just because we always use our hands....so Ova was going to be in a lot of pain. He told me I needed to make sure I did 3 things: 1-make sure he keeps it elevated 2-make sure he keeps ice on it 3-make sure he stays on top of his pain medication. The doctor told me he was in the recovery room and would probably be for another hour....but that as soon as he was ready to go back to a room, they would call me so I could meet him in there.
That was it. 45 minutes in the operating room would hopefully fix all the pain he's been having for the past 11 years.
Only like 15 minutes after that phone call with the doctor, the volunteer told me that I had another phone call. This time it was the recovery room nurse. She said that usually patients stay in the recovery room for 45 minutes to an hour, but Ova kept insisting that he want his wife....so they were going to just take him to a room so I could be with him, since I'm not allowed in the recovery room.....she just wanted to let me know that he was still out of it, but that since he was so adimant I was with him...they would let him leave earlier than normal. Lol.
He was so cute because he kept asking for me, until he opened his eyes a little bit and glanced at me with a very sedated look and gave me a half smile. Then he asked me where Makai was at. I told hime Makai stayed home and he said he wanted Makai to sing to him. I called Makai and told him that daddy just got out of surgery and the only thing he wanted was for him to sing him some Tongan hymns. I put the phone on speaker and Makai started singing 'Folofola Mai a Sisu'....he sang it over and over again and Ova was mouthing the words along with him. It was so sweet, it almost made me cry. After Makai sang it a few times, Ova fell asleep so I thanked him and hung up.....then I sat there rubbing his arm until he woke up. He woke up pretty nauseated and feeling like he was going to throw up. We stayed in that room while he recovered for about an hour before he started feeling better, then we were headed home.
I was really nervous at how much pain he would be in when the numbing and sedation wore off, but he was such a trooper. I am actually amazed at how strong he's being and how much he is able to move his hand. He's been doing so well.....except once a couple days ago, he actually passed out because of the pain....and it was all my fault :( He took a shower and I was helping him put his shirt on afterward. The shirt was bunched up in his armpit and I yanked on it a couple times trying to get it loose and I yanked the arm he had surgery on. Immediatly he started screaming and crying saying over and over again "babe, it hurts so bad" I felt horrible! He said he was feeling light-headed so I told him to hurry and go lay on the bed. He didn't make it. The pain was so intense that he blacked-out....on me...and I couldn't hold him up. We both ended up falling to the floor as I screamed for someone to come help me. Tea came in and saw him on the floor and started crying, she called Kina, Ova's brother, to come and help us help him up and to give him a blessing. He felt a lot better right after the blessing, but I felt so horrible. When he finally came out of it, he didn't know what had happened, he was wondering why he was sitting on the floor, and why I was crying. All he knew was that his hand was throbing and killing him worse than it ever had. I can't believe the pain was so bad it actually knocked him out :( It was pretty sore for a few days after that, but eventually it started feeling better.
Today we went to his post-op appointment. They took the soft cast off that they put on him after the surgery....and they put a hard cast on him. The doctor was very happy with how everything looked, and especially how well Ova is healing. He did say that we still have a few more weeks before it's completely healed though.
Here's his x-ray....you can see the little spider-looking device they put into his joints to fuse them together.....that will stay forever and give him strength back into his wrist.
We went to the appointment thinking he was going to get a red cast.....because of course, we're big UTAH fans.....but as soon as he saw the color choices, he chose purple to support our little miracle in her March of Dimes walk that is coming up. What a great daddy!
He went and met with an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Raemisch...took some x-rays...saw what the issue was....discussed the procedure he would need....filled out some paperwork......and scheduled the surgery
What the surgeon was going to do was shave down the bone that was sticking out....so it wouldn't rub against the nerve anymore....scrape all the arthritis from around that area....and fuse all his joints in his wrist together to give him full strength back. The only downfall of the operation was that he wouldn't have full mobility of his wrist, meaning he won't be able to bend it all the way back or forth ever again......but honestly, the idea of having strength and being pain free was way more important and appealing than not being able to bend it!
The procedure was just a same day surgery at LDS hospital, we got there and checked in and we actually didn't really have to wait at all. They took us right back, he got prepped for surgery.....then they came to take him back to the operating room. Everything moved really quickly.
I was told to go to the waiting room while he was in surgery and that the doctor would call me when the procedure was done to let me know how it went. They told me the surgery would last about 2 1/2 hours.
I sat in the waiting room and about 45 minutes later, the volunteer told me that the doctor was on the phone for me. I went and answered it and he told me that the surgery went really well and that he was done. I was surprised because it was way faster than they had told me it would take....but he reassured me that they always allow extra time, just in case....but that his surgery went really smoothly and everything looked great. He also told me that hand surgery is one of the most painful surgery's to heal from, just because we always use our hands....so Ova was going to be in a lot of pain. He told me I needed to make sure I did 3 things: 1-make sure he keeps it elevated 2-make sure he keeps ice on it 3-make sure he stays on top of his pain medication. The doctor told me he was in the recovery room and would probably be for another hour....but that as soon as he was ready to go back to a room, they would call me so I could meet him in there.
That was it. 45 minutes in the operating room would hopefully fix all the pain he's been having for the past 11 years.
Only like 15 minutes after that phone call with the doctor, the volunteer told me that I had another phone call. This time it was the recovery room nurse. She said that usually patients stay in the recovery room for 45 minutes to an hour, but Ova kept insisting that he want his wife....so they were going to just take him to a room so I could be with him, since I'm not allowed in the recovery room.....she just wanted to let me know that he was still out of it, but that since he was so adimant I was with him...they would let him leave earlier than normal. Lol.
This was right after the surgery.....nauseated and completely out of it
He was so cute because he kept asking for me, until he opened his eyes a little bit and glanced at me with a very sedated look and gave me a half smile. Then he asked me where Makai was at. I told hime Makai stayed home and he said he wanted Makai to sing to him. I called Makai and told him that daddy just got out of surgery and the only thing he wanted was for him to sing him some Tongan hymns. I put the phone on speaker and Makai started singing 'Folofola Mai a Sisu'....he sang it over and over again and Ova was mouthing the words along with him. It was so sweet, it almost made me cry. After Makai sang it a few times, Ova fell asleep so I thanked him and hung up.....then I sat there rubbing his arm until he woke up. He woke up pretty nauseated and feeling like he was going to throw up. We stayed in that room while he recovered for about an hour before he started feeling better, then we were headed home.
I was really nervous at how much pain he would be in when the numbing and sedation wore off, but he was such a trooper. I am actually amazed at how strong he's being and how much he is able to move his hand. He's been doing so well.....except once a couple days ago, he actually passed out because of the pain....and it was all my fault :( He took a shower and I was helping him put his shirt on afterward. The shirt was bunched up in his armpit and I yanked on it a couple times trying to get it loose and I yanked the arm he had surgery on. Immediatly he started screaming and crying saying over and over again "babe, it hurts so bad" I felt horrible! He said he was feeling light-headed so I told him to hurry and go lay on the bed. He didn't make it. The pain was so intense that he blacked-out....on me...and I couldn't hold him up. We both ended up falling to the floor as I screamed for someone to come help me. Tea came in and saw him on the floor and started crying, she called Kina, Ova's brother, to come and help us help him up and to give him a blessing. He felt a lot better right after the blessing, but I felt so horrible. When he finally came out of it, he didn't know what had happened, he was wondering why he was sitting on the floor, and why I was crying. All he knew was that his hand was throbing and killing him worse than it ever had. I can't believe the pain was so bad it actually knocked him out :( It was pretty sore for a few days after that, but eventually it started feeling better.
Today we went to his post-op appointment. They took the soft cast off that they put on him after the surgery....and they put a hard cast on him. The doctor was very happy with how everything looked, and especially how well Ova is healing. He did say that we still have a few more weeks before it's completely healed though.
Here's his x-ray....you can see the little spider-looking device they put into his joints to fuse them together.....that will stay forever and give him strength back into his wrist.
We went to the appointment thinking he was going to get a red cast.....because of course, we're big UTAH fans.....but as soon as he saw the color choices, he chose purple to support our little miracle in her March of Dimes walk that is coming up. What a great daddy!
3 comments:
Such a brave man. Hope he is fine right now and everything will be in a good condition as days goes by. God Bless your family.
Those past injuries sure get the best of us...you're a trooper Ova and you're such a great nurse Monica..glad it s fixed and hope he feels better quickly!!
I agree with Kassie, you are a great nurse, its your calling! It still amazes me how strong you continue to be through all your trials. I wish to one day be as strong and faithful as you in order to hold my family together!! Glad everything is working out for you guys and I hope for a speedy recovery for your hubby as well!!
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