Hey everyone,
First, I would like to Thank Susan for making this website and everyone who has come on here to help and share their experiences and guide people into making the best choices! This site is a great resource and I want to give back by sharing my experience.
My name is Alice! I am 29 years old. I had the Triple scheduled with Dr Haben in October of 2017. I paid $6743. 3500 to Haben and 3243 to the hospital. We'll all things changed a month before in September 2017 when I got really sick. I was sent to the hospital because I was having DKA. My sugar was over 700. After learning about blood sugars, I was surprised I was still alive with it that high. I ended up being in the hospital for a week. I was diagnosed with Type 1. Diabetes does not run/nor does anyone have it in my family so that was kind of shocking. After I left the hospital, I got blood work done and found out my A1c was 12% (normal is 5.6). Doctor Haben also received this information and personally called me himself and told me with an A1c level of 12% the anesthesiologist would not do the surgery because of the risk of me not healing. Dr Haben said I want to do your surgery, but your just at a high risk right now. Dr haben suggested we wait a few months and get my blood sugar stabilized and a1c in a better spot. That was pretty depressing, but I understand.
Fast forward to January 2018. I had blood work done again, and my A1c was a 4.7! My family doctor was extremely impressed. I worked really hard between September and January on eating right and keeping my sugar in a good place. A few months went by, I called Dr Habens office in April and scheduled the triple for June 20. 10 days after my birthday! I thought it would be a nice birthday present! Everything was good to go! The beginning of June came around and Unity Hospital pretesting called me to get everything ready. They also needed updated blood work. They sent the forms and I went to get my blood work. My A1c was 5.7! It was right where it needed to be! That was a good feeling.
2 Weeks Later, I'm heading up to Rochester NY. My wife and I drove about 4h 50m from where we live in PA. My appointment was for 1:40pm Tuesday 19th. We got there a little after 12 and decided to get something to eat and then head over to his office. We got to his office around 1:10. The people were quiet but nice. They had me fill out paperwork. Once that was all done she called me back and we waited for Dr. Haben. Dr Haben came in and introduced himself. He went over everything in great detail. He said my natural voice was in the middle of the male range. He said he would be able to get my voice in the middle or slightly below the middle of the female range. I was happy with that. After the appointment we went to check in at the Marriott hotel(which is provided by the hospital).
Day of the surgery. I was so excited and nervous. I tested my blood sugar the morning of the surgery. It was 187. My surgery time was scheduled for 9AM. We arrived at the hospital at 7:10. They want you to arrive 1hour 30mins before you surgery time. We checked in with registration and I was immediately taken back to get prepped for the surgery. They had me put on a cute yellow gown with white compression knee socks. I looked like alice in wonderland. It was cute lol. The nurse put my IV in and started getting everything ready. She took my blood sugar. It was still around 187. The nurse also brought my wife back and we sat their until around 9. Dr Haben and the Anesthesiologist came in to talk to me and made sure everything was good and had me sign a paper. After all that they took me to the OR and put a mask over my face and I passed right out lol. I don't remember anything. While I was in surgery my wife got all of my medications from the pharmacy. It cost us around 60 dollars. Dr Haben went out after my surgery while I was asleep and told my wife everything went smoothly. When I first woke up after the surgery I was a little groggy but I felt ok. They had a clipboard with pen and paper. The first thing I wrote was did everything go ok? The nurse said yes. After that I went to the restroom. The pain was about a 6. It only hurt when I swallowed. It was tolerable. They gave me cold water and saltines. I was able to drink and eat them. The cold water felt really good on my throat. They also gave me an icepack for my neck and told me to keep this on a much as I can for the first 3 days. My wife came back and we than waited for Dr Haben to come back to give us the ok to leave. Dr Haben came in talked briefly and sent us on our way! He also gave us a packet of information on all the medications and instructions we need to do. We went back to the hotel relaxed for the rest of the evening. I checked my blood sugar. It was around 220. We ate some dinner. Dinner was easy to eat as long as I took small bites and drank cold water with it. I brought sugar free halls cough drops with me. I was eating those with cold water like candy. I took some insulin and checked it later that night. It was over 300. I ended up taking a little bit more insulin.
The next day I woke up the pain was similar to the day before. It was pretty tolerable. I felt back to normal besides having a sore throat. I checked my sugar and it was around 370. I nervous because it was not going down. My appointment for DR Haben was around 9:20. We got there at 9:10. We got called right back. He came in and looked at everything. He said everything looks great. We asked him about my blood sugar and he said its from the steroids. He said to talk to your primary doctor about adjusting insulin levels. Everything went smoothly and we went on our way. We made it back home. No issues at all. Im constantly still drinking cold water and eating cough drops.
It is now June 26th. It has almost been 7 days since my surgery. For the most part I feel pretty good. Most of the pain went away in my neck around day 4. My ear started to hurt like I had an ear infection. I read online that pain can be deferred to other places. The pain in the ear comes and goes. My throat and neck feel normal. I don't really have any pain and its easy to swallow. The not talking part has been pretty easy so far. I don't talk a lot to begin with so it wasn't really hard for me. I have been using a text to speech app when I do need to talk. The hardest part of the surgery for me was being put on the steroids. They really affect at how well the insulin works. It was very hard to control and keep my sugar in a safe spot. My sugars were from 280-400 while I was on the steroids. My last day on steroids I manage to get my sugar to 145. I was really happy about that. One thing I will stress if you have diabetes TRY TO EAT AS FEW CARBS AS POSSIBLE to keep your sugar lower. My diet is pretty good overall but with being on steroids it made things difficult. I had a few scares at times because it just felt like my sugar was not going down. Also try to get out and go for a long walk. Exercise helps night and day with blood sugar. Just don't do anything overboard since you just had surgery.
Sorry for the long post but thank you for taking the time to read =) I will continue to update this post as my recovery goes on
