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Messages from Marty (MMA/GA DIARY)summary

Posted by Zappa on December 22, 2001 at 08:23:18:

Hope I didn't miss any messages, this took about an hour but thought he did a good job reporting and wanted to bring it all together - Zappa

12/06:
Well it's almost here. I am looking forward to being among the people who have had success curing OSA via MMA/GA, UPPP, deviated septum. I am very optimistic and have appreciated the information on this forum.

I had my conversation with Dr. Riley this morning and everything is still a go. The family and I and are making the road trip from Southern California to Palo Alto on Sunday morning and having surgey on Tuesday. I'll let
everyone know the outcome and details as I make my return to the forum post-op.

12/15
I'm in horrid pain right now. Too early to tell whether mma is a sucess. I'm drooling from the mouth and have a lot
of bleeding but getting better I think.

lortab sucks, a lot of pain, stayed an extra day in hospital due to swelling. Seeing doctor on tuesday for okay to
drive home to la.

i'm not well to say the least. i hurt very badly. i had the oriental icu nurse. she was not pleasant. millie was good
and thank god for her. i threw up a lot mostly blood.

it's four am and i am out.

Thanks for the good words. I thought maybe i scared away future mma's out there. It's not a pleasant deal. I have
a scar from the bone graf clear across my head. Many questions for my doctor and fellow Palo Altonians. My
wife have discussed the attitude of the people here and it is incredible. Mostly the nurses except for a few should
find other jobs maybe at jails.

Do you feel like this made a change for you? Let me know one way or the other. I'm tired of sugar coating the
truth....

12/16
I'm trying. Pain med just wore off and I am going throught routine of re-medicating. I am a little salty but I'm okay
with what has been done.

I took this on with the idea of being cured or as the docs are now saying is a 97% chance with mma. I know its
way too early for me to tell if I fall into the 3 % group or the 97 %. I just want to tell you that you and your spouse
should be prepared for continuous care in the first few days of care after leaving the wonderful care at the
hospital.

We're hanging in there and maybe have turned the hump. I'm pretty tough and have survived getting hit on a
mountain bike by a motorhome before this but this one does take the cake as it is face related and we tend to feel
moore pain there I guess.

Thanks for the advice about the uping the pain. I'll talk to my doctor in the morning.

12/16 cont..
Very sleepy today and have been able to suck down strawberry ensure that is ice cold. Thank god for this as it
feels like I have food in my stomach for the first time in a week. No bowel movements yet but no problem peeing and no need for a catheter. I woke up up with one and boy it was a trip when then they took that out. Be prepared for that little joy it quite a treat. I'm sure they do the same for the ladies, Hipurkat if you are out there you might want to provide your input on this for our female followers.

Be prepared for excessive drooling from the mouth and buy yourself a bulb syringe as it needed. The drooling is
actually starting to subside now but it is bad for a few days. In the hospital they have suction to suck this out but
the bulb or ear syringe is sufficent at hotel or home.

Riley did not wire me and I will find out why on Tuesday. I threw up pretty bad in ICU from swallowing blood and I'm afraid I might have jared my left side. Alamo Joe is this possible could I have thrown up so bad that I loosened screws? My biggest fear is that they will have to go back in and fix this. Has anyone heard of this?

I'll write more. If anyone has questions, fire away.

12/17 (five days after)
Thanks for checking in. I knew I could shag a response out of you. I needed it and as always your candor is appreciated.

Nurse Ratchet is something else huh. It was like I was bothering her or something while I was in ICU. She was to
say the least not pleasant. I might do some research when I get better and track her down and ask her why I remeber her so much. She is far from being a professional or a care giver.

How do you clean your mouth at this point? Baby toothbrush? The wife and the 5 1/2 month old are doing better after we made a 4 am call to the mother-in-law and told her to get on a plane and head out here to help. Life is a
little better to say the leaset.

I go in for x-rays tomorrow and see Dr. Reily on Tuesday. What do you think about the possibility of throwing up
so hard that I might have loosened some pins or something. Is that possible?

I look very much like Richard Nixon right now and along with Lortab thank god the Cuban Missile crisis is over. I
did sleep alot today and the drooling is starting to let up I think.

I have been trying to feed as much as possible mostly ensures and chicken or meat broth. Any ideas on something that I could do right now would be appreciated. I think I'm about a week away from Jamba Juice or that
thickness.

Once again, thanks for looking in on me.

12/17 cont....
Thanks for the feedback and writing me. You have been very helpful and straight forward.

I went to Reily's office twice today. The first time was just to take x-rays and I spoke with Reily in training, Dr.
Hester. I asked him about my concerns and he showed me on my x-rays that I was still together. I about broke down with relief. I have to tell everyone here that I was terrified that I did something and that I would have to do this again. This fear could be partially Lortab filled thoughts and just post op fears.

Went to the Hyatt in Palo Alto to hang out till tomorrow for my visit with Reily. We got a call around 3:00PM from his office and Reily actually came in and wanted to see me. So we picked up and made the trek back to Welch Street. I saw the King in street wear and he wanted to put some rubber bands on me to keep me more stablized. I have them in now and feel a little more comfortable with them in. I'll have some numbers tomorrow on how far I was advanced. It's amazing how much hardware is in there. It's incredible that people have the skill to do a operation like this.

My overall experience so far is this:

Reily & Powell to me equals Jordan and Pippen or Stockton and Malone.

Stanford ICU care-Any Veterans Hospital could do or in keeping with the basketball theme, The Wizards without
Jordan.

The oriental nurse in ICU-Should be hands down made to work in San Quentin. I have no problem saying that this woman should be fired. The gal Millie is a saint and she came through where the other gal did not.

Stanford Hospital C2 Level- Only did what cattle do when they are prodded.

Hyatt Rickey's Hotel- there is advance rate that I got way in advance. 83.00 a night which is good for this town.

As far as my pain level right now. I haven't taken a dose of Lortab at all today. I don't have excruciating pain but a
constant ache that so far as is somewhat managable. Having these rubber bands have helped with the pain I think.

We are hoping to make our trek home tomorrow after the King hopefully gives us the okay. It will be nice to be home.

Have a good night and thanks again for responding.

12/19 (Day 8)
I'm home. I'm home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was tough riding in a car for ten hours on Lortab but the family and I managed.

I'm still in pain and have swelling but things are getiing better. The drooling has stopped for the most part except
for the occassional spill.

I am attacking my hygine to the best that I can. I am a little weirded out about how I look right now. It's wild to
see yourself change after so long of looking one way.

I need to get my surgical staples out (22 of them) across my chrome dome. Riley advanced me forward a whopping 14mm. Can you beleive that? I find that guy truly amazing. He did a couple of things for me that I asked him to. He lowered my upper lip by cutting my upper jaw laterlly so I wouldn't show as much gum as I did and with the hope that I could close my mouth without to much effort when at rest. The second thing he did was to align my midface and what I mean by this is that he lined up the middle of teeth and bite with the middle of my face. As far as i can tell the King came through for me. Still alot of swelling to contend with but cosmetically getting better. I still would like everyone to know that the first and foremost task of this surgery was to correct the sleep apena anything else was done at my request and Riley's discretion and ability and how I was doing under anesthesia.

After seeing the x-rays of what Reily did in there I am truly humbled by what has happened to me.

I'll keep you all posted as time goes on here.

([side note from Marty on another subject:
I would consult Stanford or like instution and have them actually determine exactly what is causing the sleep
apena. Is it the tongue? I would rather do both at the same time (MMA) instead of putting myself through hell twice. I think some doctors love to do individual things one at of time because for the most part of billing.)]

[(Cost is a problem. I have a PPO and this was only covered at 70% because I was out of network. Are you a HMO or a PPO? If you are on a PPO then you can get a referral to Stanford by your current doctor, If it is an HMO then I suggest getting the hell out of that scenario as quickly as possibly as it will only cause you a lot of stress in the long run. I waited a year to save up enough money to pull this off (braces, 30% extra costs etc.)]

12/21
Thanks. I'm hanging in there. I have trouble at night time sleeping because I cough alot. I think the coughing is due
to the fact that I am still draining alot and from the breathing tube for surgery.

What I meant by a referral is that I found out about Stanford by a doctor that referred me there. I did not mean
that with a PPO that you need a referral. As we both know PPO is the way to go. HMO's consider sufficent care as the CPAP. Which caused me to go the PPO route because the HMO said that was as far as I could go.

Good luck and hope it works out for you. I'm sure there are plenty of people qualified away from Stanford. I would look for a qualified surgeon who speacializes in orthonathic surgery or maxialfacial surgery.
[[(side note from paster - I know of a very good one in IL - you can contact me if interested at the this e-mail address: smoked888@yahoo.com)]]

12/21 cont....
I having trouble sleeping at night, I seem to sleep okay during the day. I think it is from all the draining I'm having and the breathing tube that was stuck down my throat.

Has anyone else had this problem? Please advise...


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