Surgery went fine and was done by about 10AM this morning. Dr. Burnes was great and told Jared everything went fine, there were no surprises and this is going to make talking so much easier and nicer for me (when I can talk again.) Jared was SUPER excited to hear that I'll like talking MORE. :-)
Coming out of surgery wasn't much fun, I don't think it ever is. I was worried that my fist instinct would be to talk, because last time I had general anethesia I came out yelling. I did much better and haven't talked at all, but I did moan a couple of times. The hospital staff was really good at reminding me I couldn't talk. A number of hospital staff thought I couldn't hear as well. I had to keep reminding them that I could hear, they didn't need to write things down! I think maybe they just liked my marker board.
The wierdest thing about not talking are the sounds I make without realizing I am making sound. The noises I don't even conciously think about. The first sip of water they gave me felt so good, I went "mmmm," which of course I shouldn't do. It's a lot more than just not talking, which isn't as hard as not making the little noises.
Using the white board worked well at the hospital, but at home it's just too slow. I've been using the text to speech software on my mac. I type, and when I am done, the computer reads what I wrote. it's a lot better than trying to convey myself in a couple of words on the white board. I also used Google + to video chat with my parents, they talked and I typed via Google chat. It actually worked pretty well and will probably be how I get a lot of work done when I am back at HubSpot.
The only bad thing is I have a killer sore throat and half my tongue is numb. I got down a milk shake earlier and some mashed potatoes, but eating is hard and I don't have much appetite. I think I am going for another chocolate milk shake for dinner. If that's my biggest complaint, I'm doing pretty well.
I'm off for the night, hopefully tomorrow the sort throat will be feeling much better and I can start eating some real food! Thanks to everyone for all the thoughtful wishes, emails, texts and messages.
(Photo Credit: waitscm)