I am a Spleenless Lady Now

Hello Everyone!

This is Ryan because María is unable to type at the moment but she wanted me to update you all (I'm mainly just typing while she tells me what to put down for her). First and foremost, she would like to thank everyone that has reached out to her before, during and after surgery. She appreciates all the kid messages and prayers. Thank you to everyone that has donated and helped us out with the Go Fund Me page. It has been very successful and we are forever grateful and it has and will relieve a lot of stress for us during this time. So thank you again for all your help! Here is the link for anyone that has missed it or still wants to support us.

 
I had the surgery on Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 19th), and everything went really well according to the doctors. I AM A SPLEENLESS LADY NOW! (Whoop whoop) The surgery ended up being much bigger than expected due to the continuous growth of the spleen, however they were able to remove the spleen as a whole with minimal bleeding. The incision ended up being a lot larger than what they had planned for, but they did everything they could to sew it from underneath for it to hopefully heal nicely. 

The doctor said that my spleen had still been growing and the day of surgery, it was taking up the whole left abdominal wall (I have no idea how it fit in there! but goodness, no wonder I wasn't feeling great!) and it weighted almost 2kg (4.4 lbs). 

Done and awake :) Forever a Spleenless Lady now! 

Sorry for the graphic photo, but this is a picture of the incision the night after my surgery. From now on, this will be my worrier scar! ;) (I have only had one moment so far where I had a little panic about how large it is, but I am going to keep trying to look at it as a sign of strength)

The first couple of days after surgery I was in a lot of pain and feeling very sick. I was in and out of sleep most of the time. I struggled with very low blood pressure, so the first two times trying to go to the bathroom, I almost passed out. Due to that, they started me on IV fluids and had me drink water to get my blood pressure up so I could start moving more. Getting up to go to the bathroom was extremely painful due to the incision as well as the air they blew into my belly during surgery. When the air starts moving around, it causes pain in my stomach, chest and moves to my shoulders. The only way for me to get the air out is to move but in the beginning, I wasn't able to move due to my low blood pressure. Things got a little complicated but the IV fluid helped almost immediately. On the evening of the second day after surgery, I was able to get up and do a short walk. It went well but I had to start very slow. 

On day three, I was hoping and expecting to go home but due to a slower start post surgery and other complications, the doctors told me I would need at least one more day in the hospital to observe me and to make sure things were going in the right direction. That same day I met with the PT and he was able to recommend how to start moving safely and improve my endurance to keep moving the air out of my body. 

Overall, that day was a very good day. I felt a lot of improvement both in walking and the nurses also had found a better system for my medications to reduce my symptoms such as nausea and pain. In addition, I started having a little more appetite (until then, I had only been doing fluids after surgery). 

This is picture of me and my favorite nurse! She took such good care of me the whole time I was there!! I am forever thankful for all of her help.

On day four I was DISCHARGED in the afternoon!!!! Don't get me wrong, I'm still very sick and have a long road to recovery but I'm excited to finally be out of the hospital and be around my people! I had spent 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital and felt pretty isolated and ready to get out of there. I do really appreciate all the staff on my floor, they took really, really good care of me and made the best out of the situation. The day of discharge, I just went through the medication lists with the nurses and doctors to make sure I was ready to continue my recovery at home with Ryan and my family. They also had me shower for the first time after surgery which was a big test to make sure I was ready for discharge. That all went well thankfully. The nurses and the staff helped me pack all my stuff (I had accumulated a lot of things during this long hospital stay). Within and hour later, Ryan had picked me up from the hospital and it felt so nice to finally be able to hug him and just be around him. At the same time, he picked me up from the hospital, my parents arrived in Iceland (they live in Norway). 

Due to my long stay in the hospital and recent surgery, we are trying to be careful with Covid, therefor Ryan did take a Covid test the night before picking me up from the hospital. In addition, my parents took a test before leaving Norway and again after they arrived in Iceland. The next few days while I'm still feeling pretty sick, we are going to try and limit exposing ourselves to others due to high Covid rates in Iceland. I'm just really glad and happy I can be with Ryan and my parents. It helps a lot mentally. 

What to expect next?
Next is to wait on the doctors to reach out to me when they have the results from my spleen biopsy. Which hopefully will be later this week. Depending on what those results will be, we will know better what the next steps are. As of right now, we don't have any idea of what caused my spleen to be enlarged. The biopsy should be able to tell us what caused it to be enlarged and what is required of me for future recovery. I might need additional treatment, but I also might not. I'm hoping for the best but unsure on what to expect. 

Until I hear back from the doctors about the biopsy, I'll be focusing on getting some steps in, resting, and managing my symptoms. Today, I'm already feeling a little better than yesterday which is a great sign. I am trying to stay positive and take one day at a time and hopefully I can keep improving day-by-day. 

So sorry for later update than expected but I needed more time to build up the energy to update everyone. 

Thanks again for everything, I wouldn't be able to do this without any of you. I will make sure to update you all after I hear from the doctors. 

Have a wonderful day ♡

María.