Author: HQH
Released: May 19, 2001
Updated: September 9, 2004
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Friday, March 30, 2001
The time has come. Friday had arrived. So I gear up and arrived at George Washington University Hospital at 10:30 AM and do
some paper work. After paper work, I had to change my clothing to the hospital patient gown. Waited in my assigned bed for so long,
my surgery was scheduled at 1:45 PM, but I didn't go anywhere until 2:15 PM or so. After Dr. Caputy arrived (that's who I was
waiting for and the whole team of his was), I am strolled into the operation room. I had to swap beds. They spread my arms apart.
They then hook up a tube into my arm. After that, I went to sleep unexpectedly. My eyes just shut off just like that. I had no clue
when I fell asleep. Surgery length was more than 2 hours or so. It should've been shorter, but I guess Dr. Caputy and his team took
their sweet time or something. It was around 5 PM something, close to 6 PM when I woke up. The first thing when I was gaining
consciousness was that I was shivering and was very cold. Once I was awake, but didn't open my eyes, I said, "I'm cold" and the
nurse that was looking out for me gave me an extra blanket (actually a towel) to warm me. After I got warm enough to stop from
shivering, I had gas that I needed to burp, as it was hindering my breathing. Also, to tell you, I was breathing short breathes.
So the nurse got me Ginger Ale and I drank a little bit of that and I burped up the gas and it was all better, but I was still
breathing short breathes.
The hospital staff finally found a room for me to stay in overnight. It turns out that I am in a "private" room - only by
myself. I'm lucky that I don't share with another person in the hospital. Only complaint was that George Washington University
Hospital doesn't carry cable TV (or just probably my room). I met up with my parents and Dr. Caputy and told them that everything
was fine. I don't even sweat anymore! What a pleasant gift. Dr. Caputy was describing to my parents that when he was operating on
each side of my chest, after they cut the nerves, he said that he can feel my hands weren't sweaty and that they were warm. He also
told me that after surgery was successful, I had some air in my chest, which is kind of bad, which makes it kind of hard for my
lungs to expand and for me to breath correctly, so it was important that I should start working on my breathing so that I can push
the air out of the way or else I'm going to stay for an extra night if I can't breath on my own. My parents told me that the surgery
was taking so long that they were getting worried, since I told them that the operation shouldn't take more than 1 hour or so. They
then left me to go home and the doctor departed.
I then had dinner, but I was unable to eat anything. So I just drank soda. The nurse told me not to drink a lot or I'll throw
up. Hehehehe. Silly me, I just drank (not a whole lot though) and well, I threw up. =) It wasn't that I didn't drink a lot, but it
was the soda's gas that made me threw up. It was too much pressure on my weak stomach, so I threw up. It wasn't much that I threw
up, because all that came out was the soda. After that, I told her about the gas giving me too much pressure and that I'll prefer
water now, since soda gives me a hard time. Some time later on, a guy comes in, and talks to me about this breathing machine that
I have to use from tonight on into tomorrow. I don't have a picture of it, but I'll try to describe it to you (update: pictures
included below). There's a tube that I blow air into. The air travels in the tube and then into this big cylinder container where
there's this light object that is suppose to go vertical. How much I blow into the tube, the object goes higher and higher. On the
outside of the cylinder are markings of how much air I'm blowing into. It is measured in liters. The cylinder is measuring up to 4
liters, but measurement intervals are in 500 ml. Great. Just great.
Here are a couple of pictures of the breathing tool that I had to use:
This breathing machine will determine if I get to leave the hospital tomorrow. The guy said that I must get as much as I can,
because at the time, I was only hitting about 500 ml or so. He told me that I would have to do much better than that in order for me
to leave the hospital. This is because they want me to be able to breath on my own, and preferable breath a lot more air or else
they're going to hook me up to an actual breathing machine, and it won't be fun as he told me. They have to poke more holes into me,
which I don't want. So much for happiness after surgery. One additional thing that I was puzzled was that my chest and my triceps
area were feeling kind of numbness sensation. It's hard to describe, but I believe it was numbness. So the nurse called a doctor in
to check up on this. He said not to worry about this, and that he'll report this problem to Dr. Caputy. That was it for the night.
I wanted to go to sleep about 10 PM. It took me longer than that. I ended up going to sleep around 11 PM.
Saturday, March 31, 2001
I woke up at midnight. Just a short 1 hour sleep. Just great. So much for good rest. I then got up and practiced walking around,
trying to get my lungs to get more air capacity and using the breathing machine to try and expand my lungs. I got to a good number -
2.2 liters of air. Then at 1 AM, I watched the Late Friday show. Very funny. =) About 2 AM, I went back to sleep and then woke up
again about 3 AM. It was very noisy, because across from my room, there is this closet door that makes a huge noise when shutting
the door. I told the nurse to close my door, thus, I went back to sleep and not hearing that door slam as loud as when the door was
open. Woke up about 5 AM or 6 AM and the nurse took my vital signs. Dr. Caputy stopped by around 7 AM to check up on me. My mom then
shows up around 10 AM, I believe. From 5 AM or 6 AM, I've been using the breathing machine to get my lungs to expand more, so that
I'll have a good chance getting home and not get stuck at the hospital more than what I really wanted to stay. I couldn't hit 2.2
liters, but below 2 liters. They had to take one final x-ray of my chest to make sure that I'm well enough to be discharged. Had the
x-ray done while I was in my bed. Wow, a mobile x-ray machine. Very slick and nice. Nervous about the x-ray result, because if the
doctor finds out that my lungs aren't well enough, I would have to stay for additional week and have some breathing machine stuck
into my body somewhere, and breath for me. Hour or so later, results came out good. I am able to leave the hospital. My mom and I
both waited until 1 PM, when I finally got discharged from George Washington University Hospital.
I'll tell you one thing after leaving the hospital: the trip on the way home was very unpleasant especially Washington D.C.'s
streets. They are filled with pot holes everywhere. Not very good for me, since every dips and bumps the wheel takes, the car jolts
up and down and it gives me pain (where I had surgical incisions) for such quick movements. So much for a smooth ride home and
painless.
That late afternoon, I had to call the neurosurgeon place to ask for directions how to take care of the bandaged incisions. It
turns out that I just take a shower and can get it wet. I can remove the bandages 48 hours after surgery. That means tomorrow
night, I'll be removing it after taking a shower.
When evening came around, I was very hungry. Good thing I was able to eat, because I couldn't eat dinner yesterday and
breakfast this morning. But dinner time came and I ate without any problems.
Time to take a shower. Did not have one more than a day. Hehehe, stinky me. ;) One thing to note when taking my shower: I was
getting very cold than usual when I took off my clothes. And then the water felt like it wasn't warm enough for me. I had to turn it
all the way to hot, and it only feels like it's mildly warm.
When night time came, there was no way I could sleep on my bed. Believe me, the recliner chair was my best friend. This was the
only place that I could sleep without giving myself pain for any positions that I lay down. I couldn't lay flat and straight on my
bed. Too much pain. That's why the recliner chair was so good. It was at an angle, and pain was tolerable on the recliner chair than
my bed.
Sunday, April 1, 2001
Don't remember much what happened today. I believe that I noticed very little sweat coming from the hands and feet, but it was
roughly dry.
After taking a shower that night, I was able to remove those 3x2 inch bandages. Underneath them are 5 strips of 1 1/4 x 1/4
inch. Incision spots looked okay, no infection.
That night, I attempted to sleep in my bed, but no go. It would still hurt my chest when I lay flat on my bed. Sleeping in the
recliner chair once more.
Monday, April 2, 2001
Went back to college. Walking to my class, I noticed that I have shortness of breathes and I was walking slower than usual,
taking smaller steps. I noticed that when taking notes, for some strange reason, my fingers were developing some little sweat. For
the first time, taking notes without sweating that much, close to nothing and not making the notebook papers curl!
Later that day, my hands and feet started to sweat more. It sweated almost to the point where it was just like prior to surgery.
It seems that my hands and feet sweat because extreme heat that my hands/feet produced or my body was overheating. At this point, I
was thinking that the surgery didn't work at all. But to keep myself positive, I remembered that I read somewhere on the website
that there was something mentioned about a phenomenal like this happened temporary from 3 to 4 days after surgery and lasts half a
day. I found it mentioned at http://www.sweaty-palms.com/sidefx.htm
. But from time to time, I kept doubting myself that this surgery was a wise choice. But the problem was that I started to
sweat again, and that increased my doubts that surgery was worth it only to find out that it I'm sweating again.
Again, tried to sleep in my bed was still no go. I couldn't lay down as my chest still hurts. Recliner chair time! This time,
morning came through and family members started to come down and use the kitchen. Bugs me and I can't sleep anymore since the place
is so active and noisy.
Tuesday, April 3, 2001
The sweating dropped down to lower levels, unlike Monday's. Sweat was very little, but noticeable. Today was much drier. For
once, I took a test and didn't sweat like crazy and the paper didn't get wet and curled due to water.
Night came. Attempted to sleep in my bed. No go. Recliner chair time. This time, I woke up around 5 AM in the morning
(Wednesday). Before things repeat like Monday morning, I went up to my bedroom and slept in my bed. This time, I could bare the
pain sleeping in my bed, as it wasn't as much as the past few days.
Wednesday, April 4, 2001
After coming home from school and stopping by McDonalds, I was going to buy food and decided to pay by coins that I have in the
backpack of mine - $2.11 all in coins. For the first time ever, I can hold coins and not sweat. I did manage to get nervous and I
sweat from my lower back down to my legs, but my hands were dry! Sweet!
By the way, that website that I visited on Monday turned out to be true. It was a temporary sweating occurrence. My hands and
feet stop sweating like it use to. Now my hands and feet are dry. Hooray! Surgery did it! I'm cured!
Sometime of this week (not specifically Wednesday, but I don't remember)... I just got a notice report (almost like a bill) back
from my visit on Thursday. They are charging my insurance company $179 for just visiting Dr. Caputy on Thursday, March 22, 2001! I
only had to pay a co-fee of $15 though.
Monday, April 9, 2001
Coming home from a very warm day, around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, my car's 4 windows all rolled down. Didn't want to use the A/C.
Wow, my back was sweaty all the way down to my legs. But my sole feet and palm of my hands were dry! I also didn't have any facial
sweat either.
By now, my lung capacity is about back to normal. It's been reduced ever since surgery, but now it's all good and I'm breathing
normal.
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Time for my 2 weeks checkup with the doctor at 12 PM noon time. Went to college for my first couple of classes, I had to miss
one later on, but oh well. Went up to the doctor and it turns out that my appointment was somehow scheduled at 10 AM, not at 12 PM
noon time as my dad told me. They got that straightened out, cause there was an open time slot. That's a good thing. Met up with
the doctor, told him about couple of my problems - numbness and sensitive to cold. He said that this should wear off in about a
couple of months.
Tuesday, April 17, 2001
This morning, when I went to the bathroom, I noticed that there was a heap of dead skin on my clothing. I was thinking to
myself, is that dandruff from my head? So I scratch my head/shuffle my hand through my hair. Nope. It can't produce that much...
Moments later, when I lifted up my shirt, my chest/abdomen's skin was dry and shedding. This isn't much of a surprise, because my
arms for the past few days ago is dry. So I took care of this problem with lotion. Well, time to apply lotion to my dry shedding
skin to my arms & front body.
Thursday, April 19, 2001
5 strips on the left lower side of my chest were taken off. The first strip accidentally came off. The remaining 4, I decided
to pull them all off since they're bound to fall off some time soon. The incision part doesn't look very big at all and it looks
small. Saw the stitch's thread.
Friday, April 20, 2001
My dad called the insurance company (Aetna) for another case matter, and so at the same time, he asked (I presumed) how much my
surgery cost them. Well, my dad told me that it cost them $7000. It was around $69## something, so almost $7000. Just have to wait
for the notice to arrive in mail sometime sooner or later. I am going to assume that they're going to cover the entire surgery.
Sunday, April 23, 2001
Decided to pull all the strips off (3 spots remained). Took a shower first to get them soaked so that they'll be easier to pull
off. Afterwards, it took a while to get all three strips off. Decided to hop back into the shower to rinse off the adhesive residue
from the strips. The strips were dirty and collected a lot of dead skin and other dirty stuff. When I got back into the shower, for
some reason, it stung on the left side. Continued showering, although I was puzzled why it stung. On the right side, it didn't
stung as much as the left did. Got a lot of the sticky residue off of my body, but a little still remains. Dried myself and found
out that on the left side, it looks like that when I pulled off the strips, 4 of the 5 strips in one spot took off more than just
the strip itself - it took some skin layer and got enough to let blood escape and bleed. Although the bleeding is very minor, I put
some alcohol just incase of any infection might try to get me.
Monday, April 24, 2001
Taking those strips off completely felt much better. Didn't restrict my movements as much as when they were on. I was moving
more freely without worrying if I were going to do something bad to the incision parts.
Wednesday, May 19, 2001
As I was going through the list of my links, it looks like my HMO (Aetna US Health Care) changed their policies and added new
ones (#310 - old,
#504 - new). Good thing I had my surgery before they
changed it. It seems that they have added a couple of additional steps to be followed before having surgery to disable
hyperhidrosis.
Saturday, June 24, 2001
When cutting the lawn in the morning, before noontime, I noticed that man hands were sweating a little bit. Strange. It
shouldn't be sweating. Although I think that it was a very warm day (not entirely hot), and I was rubbing against the rubber
handles too much, creating too much heat in my hands to cause it to let out some little sweat.
Evening time came around. I decided to jog with my brother 1 mile. I managed to jog 1/2 mile with my brother, but more than half
way through the first 1/2 mile, my hands started to sweat a little. Jogging produced heat that I can feel throughout my body, and
especially my palm of my hands.
Today, it made me think that in case of too much heat for long period of time, it makes my palms sweat. I guess I thought my
hands were immune to sweating, but I guess not from extreme and prolong heat. I guess this is the beginning of the summer to really
stress out how much I could sweat, but this time, my hands will not sweat like last summer. My hands are still relatively dry
though. I'm not worrying too much, although I'm having a thought that maybe perhaps the nerves are beginning to reconstruct itself
after being spliced and diced. That could be a possibility, but this fast after nearly 3 months? I highly doubt it.
Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Sitting in my warm than usual room, my left hand exhibit some very small detectable sweat. Went and washed my hands. After that,
it remained dry. Don't know why it should be sweating, but I'm thinking that my left hand had been prolonged to heat.
July 2001 - December 2001
I noticed that about after three months and thereafter surgery, things started to happen:
- Extreme heat were to build up in my arm or my hand, palm of my hand will sweat briefly until I cool down my arm or hand.
- If I eat a hot heated meal, sour or spicy food, my forehead will sweat.
- Some rare cases, I can't sleep on my side. Sometimes little pain will give in, so I sleep on my back.
- If I were to be in a hot room (can't really say how hot), I can start to sweat, including my palm of my hands and feet. I
guess this is normal to normal people, except that my palm can sweat now (but briefly and it'll dry back up).
- If I were to drink a cold beverage, say a cold glass of milk, after drinking it all, I feel cold. My body will then feel
cold, so I go put on a sweater or at the time, I have a sweater on already.
Basically, if my body were to be extremely hot, my body will start to sweat like it should with normal people do, which is fine.
I would expect that palm of my hands wouldn't, but I guess the surgery won't block off sweating 100% to it. At least it doesn't
sweat any other time other than my body getting hot. If my body sweats, all I have to do is get into a cool place and the sweat will
dry up quickly, including the palm of my hands. Thank goodness it won't keep sweating like it would if it weren't for surgery.
I'm still happy with the surgery, although some of these side effects may get annoying, but it is much preferred than having my
palm of my hands and feet sweat non-stop and uncontrollably. The numbness has worn down a lot since then. Now if I were to poke
somewhere in my upper chest, I get this weird tingly feeling, but it's definitely not numb any more. But it's slowly wearing off
hopefully. If not, it's not causing any distraction or harm. It just feels weird if I were to run my fingers around my upper chest
and get a weird tingly feeling. Can't describe the sensation, but it just feels funny and strange. I'm also still sensitive to
coldness. I still get cold easily (not sickness, but temperature wise). I can't say if this condition is wearing off, and I want to
say that it's wearing off just a little bit, but I can't really say.
I have yet to receive the notice from my health insurance company about the surgery billing details. But I did receive something
else from the insurance company. It was a copy of the letter sent to Dr. Caputy stating that the insurance company wasn't going to
pay parts of the surgery that Dr. Caputy performed. I don't know what part that the insurance company doesn't want to pay, but the
decision can be appealed.
Surgery Analysis
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