Pictures from after surgery

Here are some pictures of me after surgery. The first one is (i THINK) a day or maybe even 2 days after surgery. My face was SO swollen after surgery! The next is the xray of what my spine looks like now. And the last one is a picture of me walking at the hospital. Nice socks, huh?! :)

Update!

I just now read Travis's post from the hospital...I laughed. I cried. Thank you Travis for letting everyone know I survived. I will try to give you a few more details today. Not that I really remember much from that week when I was in the hospital, but i will try my best I was on so many medications that I could not tell you what day or time it was--but I continued asking poor Travis about every 15 minutes for 5 days straight! Haha. He loved that! So the day of surgery, I went to Critical Care after my surgery, as Travis stated. When Travis tells you I was swollen, he is being very conservative! My face looked like a beach ball that someone had taken a black sharpie and drawn two little slots for eyes, two little circles for nostrils and a small slit for a smile. Not kidding at all! (I will post pictures later). This was due to me being in an awkward, downward position for 6 hours of surgery. I don't remember much from that day/night in critical care except I kept trying to sleep but the nurse kept yelling at me to breathe. I would start to doze off again and some beeper would start going off on my machine and the nurse would yell at me to breathe. When I say yell, I'm sure it was normal tone, but to me in my foggy world I felt that she was yelling. :) I could also hear the the nurses and other critical care employees talking about their weekend plans. Not sure why that sticks out in my mind, but it does. Throughout the night nurses would come in and turn me from one side to the other. This was very painful-no matter how much pain medication you have in your body. And keep in mind that my face is still so swollen that my eyes are swollen shut and I can't see what's going on!!!!! Nice, huh? I knew my parents were there and Travis because I recognized their voices The next day, which would have been May 31, I was transferred to a regular room. The physical therapist came by and I stood by the bedside!!! I can't remember if only Travis was there or if my parents were there too, but all I remember is people saying is "Oh my gosh, you are so tall!". So I wasn't quite sure if the surgery straightened me out to 5'10" or 6'0". I was a bit freaked out. I was only allowed to have ice chips for most of the 5 days. I had a feeding tube in for (I think) 3or 4 days. I slept a lot! The physical therapist came in daily and took me for walks down the hall. She taught me how to walk up and down stairs. She taught me how to sit in a chair and how to get in and out of bed. The occupational therapist also came by daily and taught me how to put shoes and socks on with these special tools. Honestly, I didn't listen to him because it's summer and I plan on wearing sandals and flip flops. However when the fall comes and I still can't bend over, I'm really going to regret that! Haha So on Wednesday , June 5th, I was dismissed from the hospital. The doctor wanted me to stay in St. Louis for a couple of days, just to make sure I didn't have any complications and be 4 hours away. So we stayed at the Parkway Hotel, which is connected (by walkways) to the entire hospital, dr offices, everything! On June 7th, we were released to come home. Luckily my sister Chloe rode with us so she could help me when we stopped for restroom breaks. We actually were instructed to stop once every hour and get out and walk (to prevent blood clots). So we did! So the following day, June 8th, Travis and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary!! :) The next 3 weeks are very foggy and blurry to me. I was on 9 different medications. I remember eating a lot of Popsicles. You wonderful people prepared meals and brought to our house and fed me and my family. Thank you so much! And thank you Julie Beatty for organizing all of that!! I know I said a bunch of funny things. My family loves to tell me the stories! Just ask one of them and they'd be happy to tell you one! Haha The ones that I remember are: telling the nurses that Obama got me that special private room. Lol. Or the time I told them I was on my tour bus! Geez! Now that I am off of the "heavy stuff" I can function much better! I am still on pain medication, and 4 other pills a day, but my memory is back. My bossiness is back too--my kids and Travis love that! Haha I am able to walk around the house without my walker now, but I'm very slow. I "exercise" every dayby walking around my "track" at home. My daily routine consists of sitting in my recliner with ice packs all over my back. Then I walk a while. Walk up the stairs and back down. Sit some more. Walk some more. Eat lunch. Sit in chair and take a nap. Get up and walk. Sit. Walk. Sit some more. Walk some more. Eat dinner. Walk. Sit. Walk. Sit. Walk.. Go to bed. Wake up and do it all over again. We are estimating that I will be off the pain meds by August and I can start driving again by August. Thank you so much to those of you who have brought us meals. I don't know what we would do without you! Thank you for all your prayers! They worked!! :) Continue to pray for quick healing and for the pain to go away. Thanks for sharing this experience with me! Oh, and I'm now 5'10"! .

SURGERY DAY

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. My name is Travis. I am Tiffany's husband. She's pretty sore right now so I will write in the blog for her until she's well enough to take over. I'll start on the day of the surgery. We showed up to the pre-op room at 6:30 am to begin preparations. Tiffany changed into her gown and the nurses proceeded to hook her up to all of the IV's and monitors. We were both very nervous and very anxious. Go ahead and throw scared and unsure into the mix of emotions also. Something that had always seemed so far away was now bearing down on us very quickly. One by one, we met with each member of the team that would be in the OR with her. Though they were total strangers, I know it gave me a little more comfort actually meeting the people in person that would be responsible for my wife that day. Finally the time came for our good-byes. It took everything I keep it together through this. Though a small chance, there was still a 5% chance that this would be the last time I would see my wife alive. I knew she was in good hands though, so we hugged and I gave her a kiss and told her I'd see her when surgery was done. She was starting to drift off from the sedative so I left the pre-op area and made my way to the waiting area on the 7th floor. It was here that I would receive the update calls every 2 hrs. My first call was scheduled to be at 10:00 am. They have a huge coffee maker in the waiting room that would make any sort of coffee concoction you could come up with. I thought to myself that it was funny that they would take a room full of already nervous jittery people and supply them with unlimited amounts of free coffee. So I grabbed a cup of my own blend and settled in for a long day. 10:00 am came and the phone on the wall rang. It was for the lady sitting next to me. 10:15 am came and still nothing. Finally, at about 10:40am my call came through. The nurse was very apologetic for being late but she then informed me that everything was going great and that Tiffany was doing very well. I hung up feeling very relieved and passed the info on to Tiffany's mom, stepdad Virgil, and sister Chloe, who were all sitting in the waiting room with me. The next call was to come at 12:30pm so we decided to go get a bite to eat and get me checked out of the hotel. We got everything taken care of and got back to the room at about 12:00-12:15. The phone on the wall rang at 12:30 on the dot. Same news everything's going well and she would call back at 2:30. The nurse then asked me for my cell phone number in case they got done early. I gave it to her and settled back into my chair. 2:30pm came around and the phone rang again. This time they were closing her up and then they would move her to a visiting area called the Critical Care Unit. This is a step down from ICU but not the normal recovery room we would be put in later. The nurse said it should take about 1 1/2 hrs to get her down there. So I hung the phone up and sat back in my chair. At around 4:45pm Dr. Lenke came into the waiting room and spoke with us. He said the surgery went great and that there were no issues at all. He said Tiffany did wonderful. We were then instructed to wait until about 5:45-6:00 and then head down to the Critical Care Unit to see her. At 5:30 we started the journey to the 3rd floor. We navigated the maze to a room labeled Critical Care. I approached the nurses desk hoping I was in the right place and before I even made it, a nurse stopped me and asked if we were Tiffany Fink's family. With much relief I said yes and she guided us to the bed were Tiffany was laying. I rounded the corner to find her very swollen and hooked to an endless number of tubes, IVs, monitors, etc., but I didn't care. My wife was alive and had made it thought the surgery and that was all that mattered at that point. They allowed me to stay next to her in a small recliner. I did my best to stay out of their way all night. Every 2 hours they had to come in and rotate her to the other side. This was horrible to watch and I'm sure even more horrible to be the one being turned. She did great though with no complaining. We got little sleep that night so there was no real way to differentiate one day from the next, other than the clock on the wall with the date and time on it. It had been a very long day but we were through it and ready to start the next day.

Reality has set in. As I try to focus on packing today, it is very real to me that I will come home an entirely different person. A very slow moving person! I'm trying to keep my mind off of the surgery today by packing and finishing up some last minute details. Not working though. I'm getting nervous and anxious. Please pray for me today. I would appreciate it!

15 days to go

2weeks from tomorrow I'll be having my surgery. I'm not so much nervous about the actual surgery, or the surgeon. Dr Lenke is the best! I am however nervous about the recovery. I'm just dreading the long summer of recovery. Recently I've been searching for other scoliosis patients that have gone through the same thing. I found a very similar case to mine. She has an awesome blog that has really helped me put my mind at ease. You can read it at http://thebionicachronicles.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html

34 days to go. St. Louis last week went well. I had MANY pre-op tests. I had a MRI, a CT Scan, an EKG, lots of x-rays, and plenty of blood work. All tests came back with good results. I am in good health; a prime candidate for surgery. We met with Dr. Lenke before heading home last Wednesday. He confirmed that he will have to fuse my spine from T-4 all the way down to my sacrum. He was originally hoping he could stop at L-4, but the tests showed by last disc already had started degenerating and I had some arthritis in it. So they will have to take the rods all the way down to my sacrum. :( So after being home the past week, I've really been second guessing myself. Am I doing the right thing? I've lived with this for 33 years, what's another 30 or 40?? Do I REALLY need this surgery?? And after spending a lot of time with God, asking him these questions, he has "answered" them. Ever since I asked God these questions I have had some of the worst back pain yet. Some days, the pain almost sends me to my knees! So when that happens I have to kind of chuckle, just knowing that God is reassuring me that I am doing the right thing. But now that he's been sending me these signs for over a week now, I'm getting irritated! I get it, God!! Enough is enough!! haha :) I sit at my kitchen table tonight, wondering about things; like what does the OR room look like? What will I look like after surgery? I am told my face will be swollen due to the amount of time I am on my face and at the angle my body will lie for 7 hours in the OR. I wonder how my 4 hour car ride home will be. How will I go to the restroom while on I-44, if it's just me and Travis. He can't go into a ladies room to assist me and I can't go into a man's --or would I EVER WANT to! Ewww!! Gross!!! I'm sure my wonderful sister, Chloe would just LOVE to help him get me home. I'm sure that's what every graduating senior wants to do over their summer after high school graduation! Right! All joking aside, she actually has volunteered to come home with us and help transport me. She has offered to come to the house and stay with me too. My mom will take off work several days and come sit with me. I'll have plenty of help at home. So many people have offered to help with the kids (which I will be calling you soon to set up those days!) My good friend, Julie Beatty has set up an awesome website at mealtrain.com to help coordinate meals for our family after we get home. And as I sit here tonight looking at the website, tears flood my eyes. I am just amazed at the number of people that have already signed up. I am in awe at the number of people that are willing to help us. It might be just a meal to you, but to me, it's a big deal! THANK YOU! ALL of you! THANK YOU for your generosity! Thank you for your prayers and thoughts! I know God will take care of me and get me through this. We started a Caring Bridge site this week. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a website designed for people with loved ones in the hospital or with some sort of medical need. Family members can update it as often as they'd like to keep everyone informed about the patient. Travis and my sister will be updating it after May 30. You can view it at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tiffanyfink If you are interested in the mealtrain website you can visit it at http://www.mealtrain.com/view/?id=xQvOeEJh6Jg%3d You will need to set up an account and a user name and password.

Pre-Op Appt

We are heading to St. Louis today for 2 fun filled days of tests. I will have several x-rays, an EKG, a MRI, CT Scan, blood work and a few other pre-op tests today and tomorrow before seeing my doctor, Dr. Lenke tomorrow.
Please pray for safe travels. Thanks!