I had this great vision that I was going to rock this surgery. I was going to go in on Wednesday, be home by Friday, and taking long walks with Jack several times a day.
Reality is a little different. The surgery itself went great - no complications. It took about 3 hours, then I was in post op for another 3 hours. I'm guessing it was a drug induced dream, but my memory of the post op area is a row of beds, sort of like an old hospital ward. Weird...anyway, the pain was way more than I expected it to be. It seemed like no matter how much morphine they gave me, it wasn't touching it. The worst part of this area was that I wasn't allowed to see Jim. They didn't let me see him until the moved me up to my room.
My room...that's kind of a misnomer. My hospital room was huge and the bathroom was the largest I've ever seen in most homes, let alone a hospital. It was so big that it had sliding doors on it! If I weren't hurting so bad, I would have loved having a room like that!
Wednesday was horrible. I was on a PCA for pain, but again, nothing was touching it. Finally one of the nurses brought in to consult mentioned that if I had been on pain killers for any length of time in the past (I had, for my back) that it would take a much larger dose to touch my pain. Would've been nice if someone had mentioned that WAY ahead of time. They doubled the amount and that seemed to help.
I was supposed to come home on Friday, but I woke up Friday morning with a migraine. I haven't had one like that in probably 10 years. I dry heaved most of the day, which didn't sit well with the pain my stomach was already in. I admit it, I cried like a two year old for most of the day. I almost want to go back and see the nurses and say, "See? I'm usually a normal person!" Unfortunately, that would be a lie; I'm not normal at all.
I've been home now for almost a week. The pain is worse at times that at others. Slowly I am emerging. I didn't update for so long because it hurt too bad to think.
I've been on clear liquids this whole time. It has been way easier than the pre-surgery liquid diet. I don't crave anything because even a few sips of water make me full. It's actually hard to get in as much liquid as I am supposed to, because I am not hungry and get full so fast. Today is my post op appointment, and I expect to be moved to full liquids. That would add in milk, smooth yogurt, Cream of Wheat (which oddly, I LOVE), and creamed soups. It doesn't look so great when looking at the list, but trust me, to me it seems like a feast!
I just wish it didn't hurt so much.
And, we still have a mouse in the house. A clever mouse - I haven't seen him yet, but his ability to steal the food out of traps while not setting them off is impressive. I am starting to think of him as a pet. Drives Jim nuts! :)
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