It's the night before surgery... · 1:37am Sep 8th, 2021
Well, folks--it’s almost time. For those who are curious, I’m getting a midline glossectomy tomorrow to reduce the size of my tongue, and thus, its blockage of my airway during sleep. And yes, it’s every bit as fun as it sounds. 
My surgery prep starts now; I’ll be taking a couple heavy drugs at bedtime in the form of a strong steroid paired with an equally powerful narcotic (Valium). The former is to prevent inflammation tomorrow and the latter is to help me sleep and relax. I’ve actually had that combo once before, the night before my jaw surgery in 2013. I seem to recall the overall affect was that I couldn’t sleep but didn’t care.
Ah well. It’s just something I have to get through. I wish there would be somebody around to take care of me after, but I live alone, so it’s up to me. I laid in my food supplies today, from my initial clear liquid diet (water, clear broth, Jell-O, smoothies) to soft but more substantial foodstuffs (yogurt, pasta, eggs).
Am I nervous? Not really, only because I’ve done medical procedures (in this same hospital, no less) ten times now, though this is certainly one of the more major ones. But even there, nothing will ever be as bad as jaw surgery back in 2013 was, so this shouldn’t bother me too much except for a couple weeks on soft foods as I recover. Just have to get through it, spend a night in the hospital, and then hopefully be released the next day to start my convalescence at home with plenty of painkilling drugs and little to do but follow the example of Chris, Tara and Marco in Feathered Hearts—take it easy, eat soft foods and watch movies.
And most hopefully of all, the surgery will have the desired effect of eliminating my remaining sleep apnea. It’ll be some time before I know, since this is going to result in a severely swollen tongue, which will have the ironic initial effect of making it worse, not better. But my hopes are high. The 2013 procedure, for the record, knocked out about 70% of it. Now I’m going after the remaining 30% so I can sleep on my back again without issue.
What all this means for my writing remains to be seen. The next Feathered Hearts chapter, this one a heavily edited and updated version of Chapter 4 from the original story, is ready. However, I’m waiting on word from the mods to post it. They’re discussing whether I’ll be allowed to publish it to my new story, or whether I still have to keep it and the rest of the updated chapters offsite on Google Docs.
I think I made a good case for why I should be allowed to post them to my new story, but ultimately, it’s up to them. So I will not release the new chapter until I get word. If, as I hope, they grant me permission, then I will publish all the updated chapters from Google Docs to the main story. If not... then, to Google Docs it goes. Once I’m home from surgery, that is.
After that, it’s time to shift gears to Unleash the Magic, but that might have to wait some days until I’ve recovered enough to have a little libido again--you’ll understand that having surgery doesn’t exactly lend itself to feeling frisky as your body has to spend pretty much all its energy and effort on healing. If I simply can’t get in the mood to write it for a while, then expect more Feathered Hearts in the meantime.
I will post another blog when I can; probably in a couple days when I’m back and not too hiked up on opioids. Until then, wish me luck, and hope my American readers had a good long Labor Day weekend.
Damn... That will be a very tense waiting for your return! See you later!
Best of luck! Here's hoping for a routine surgery and quick recovery.
I hope this wil solve your apnea.
May your recovery go well!
I can see why the mods are being so careful about allowing this kind of thing as it can be president setting. On the other hand, in this specific case, you have massively expanded the story as well as the author having both abandoned it and the site, and maybe the internet at large.
Sounds rough. Hope it will go swiftly and your recovery will be quick. Best of Health.
good luck and a speedy recovery!
Man, I'm really glad my sleep apnea hasn't required surgery so far.
Hope you have a speedy recovery.