Many, Many Thanks!

It's Thursday, two days after my surgery, and I'm home. While I feel like I lost two days to drugs and pain, all that is starting to fade as I feel better and better each hour. Thanks be to God!

Tuesday started out very early as I had to check in at the hospital at 5:15. In the morning! I'm NOT a morning person. All went well as they got me settled in a pre-op room and went through all the questions and unpleasantness. I think they asked me my name and birth date nearly 1,000 times I was there, "for safety reasons." No chance of getting the wrong meds or procedures at that place.  Good to know I suppose. One of the worst things was trying to get an iv started. I'm not an easy "stick" as a phlebotomist would say. When I've been fasting from all food and liquids for the prior 12 hours, I'm what they would call and "impossible stick!" It took 5 tries (from 2 different nurses on the iv team) to get a line started. I have the bruises to prove it. My hands and arms are all sorts of lovely shades of blue and black.  It wasn't their fault I was dehydrated.

The surgery went well. Or so I'm told. I was out.  In the holding area before they take you to the OR, they gave me something to relax. I don't remember anything after that. I vauguely recall an oxygen mask being placed on my face, but it's more like a dream than a memory. I also sort of remember a lot of nurses moving me into my room. Like making me slide off the gurney and onto the bed, and how dare they make me move! This hurts like you know what! After that they introduced me to the wonderful button I could push every 6 minutes to make the pain lesson. Which it didn't really until much later that night.

I wasn't an easy patient, what with my requests for pain meds that actually made the pain bearable. The doc finally gave me something more, and I was able to rest well Tuesday night (with the exception of the fever I got which made me get chilled and shake uncontrollably for 15 min.) Wednesday morning was another story. They took away the morphine, made me get up, and even showered. They kept having me rub my face with a cold washcloth because I kept dozing off when they were trying to talk to me. Drugs. It was the drugs. I was in pretty horrible pain and not happy that they seemed on evicting me from my room, but since they refused to give me the good medicine I decided I might as well be miserable at home.  Thanks very much to the insurance company for their kindness! (I know it's hard to tell sarcasm in a blog post, but that last statement is dripping with it.)

I was in a lot of pain on the way home, and into Wednesday evening. My family helped out a lot, and I watched a lot of tv. Fell asleep a lot too. I took a pain pill (of the low-dose variety) before bed and slept fairly well. Problem is I'm a stomach-sleeper, and have a hard time getting comfortable any other way. It was a challenge, but I did ok. I woke up today, a new person!

It's amazing how much better I feel. The nurse kept telling me once the anesthesia was out of my system and my body started functioning normally, I would feel so much better. She did not lie. I do feel better. My nurses would be so pleased to hear I'm drinking lots of water and reaping the um...effects of that, as well as allowing the gasses they pumped into me during the surgery to um...shall we say escape...the confines of my body. I guess I could be indelicate and say I'm finally passing gas and peeing like a race horse.  These are good things I'm told. At least days after major surgery.

I can't tell you how awesome it was to be a part of fb and twitter through this time! So many people wrote encouraging things to me and just let me know they were praying for me and thinking about me. That was such a huge encouragement to me! I cried today reading all of them. I was too doped up to really understand how many people care about me when I was in the hospital. I feel like I'm back among the living (at least as far as my brain is concerned), and I am amazed. God is so good to give me such great family and friends who care! Thanks to all of you who sent prayers up on my behalf, and for all the offers of help. We will be taking some of you up on that in the next week! I think the real challenge is going to be NOT doing anything. I'm feeling good enough today to have the thoughts of getting up to get myself something to eat. Then I remind myself my family is hear to help, and I have to let them. So, instead I ask for some iced tea, and sit while I'm waited on. So very strange to be in this position! Keep the prayers coming as these next 2 weeks I'm not supposed to do any stairs or lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk, and I can't drive either.  Patience will be needed for all who live in this house ;)

Comments

[Shellie (baylormum)]

The fam probably has a calendar somewhere in the house & are marking the days until you can't boss them around anymore with the excuse of surgery! They need to realize you are the glue that keeps them feed & clothed in clean clothes. Who is going to cook. And who will do the dreaded laundry? It had better NOT be you! Assignments, with no grumbling allowed! Hang in there. Glad you are feeling better today. Cough, too, and get all that junk out of your lungs. :)