Arch Bars Gone!

On Friday, I had surgery to remove my Arch Bars (yay!) and get my port scar on my chest revised.  A surgery that was only supposed to take 1 hour took 3.  Although I was under heavy sedation, I kept waking up during the arch bar removal because it was incredibly painful.  It felt like the surgeon was ripping my teeth out.  Afterwards, my mouth and the insides of my cheeks were so raw because of the numbing medicine, but I was thrilled to have those ugly and painful bars out of my mouth.  Seven weeks of arch bars is plenty.

The scar revision took the majority of the surgery time because he was very meticulous when revising.  After we left the doctor, it was already 4 pm, so my dad and I decided to stay another night in Denver.  I lied down on the hotel bed to FaceTime with my mom, and when I sat up to show her my scar it started gushing out blood.  It looked like a crime scene.  I called the emergency line for the doctor and he advised me to keep ice and constant pressure on it until it stopped bleeding.  Finally, after 3 hours of pressure, the bleeding stopped.  This morning (Saturday) I met the surgeon at the office at 7:30 to make sure everything was fine.  He said a blood vessel most likely popped which caused the bleeding.  Unfortunately, I got blood on the hotel bed, and ended up throwing away some of their towels, but at least I am ok!

Physical therapy is still going well, and I am making progress with recovery.  School starts in a month, and I am hoping to be much better by then for my first class (Neuroscience).

Here is a before and after picture of my arch bar removal!