Apparently I said "ouch"

Thankfully - when I got the call for my surgery time, they told me I was Fuzz's first of the day - I had to report at 6am, surgery scheduled for 7am. We went in, had a nice chat with the anesthesiologist about my bad experience the last time I went under, and he promised that he'd be very explicit with me in what he was doing, and let me have control of some of the mask pressure (which he did - I need to get his name and write to the dept. chair and thank him).

Apparently the first thing I said when the Man walked into my room post-op was "Ouch" and passed back out. I suppose that was succint!

Doc says that everything went really well, no concerns or complications. Obviously I felt like I had been hit by a truck, but they had me initially on an acetaminophen product and morphine, so I was also quite stoned, and slept most of the day immediately post-op. I did get up and walk part-way down the hallway and back.

Things you don't think about #392: For women at least, you have to relax a lot of muscles to pee - you don't think that it would hurt to do that, it took a lot of concentration to be able to relax the right ones.

Overnight Tuesday, my pain levels had gotten pretty high - and the lortab they switched me to (vicodin and tylenol) was really only taking the worst edge off it, and not relieving much, so they switched me to oxycodone. That knocked me back out, but it made getting up harder, as being settled in the same position too long made the gas move around worse when I got up. The hospital had incredibly dry air, so between cotton mouth from not drinking much, I also had painfully dry sinuses to deal with as well. I was allowed 2oz of 50/50 diluted grape juice an hour, so that didn't do much to help the mouth, let alone hydrate me elsewhere.

I was a good patient and walked the halls a much as I could, and was definitely doing better at it by early Thursday morning. Fuzz came and saw me about 9am and said he would discharge me, and the residents would be around a bit later to remove my drain (something they glossed over) and get all the paperwork done. Finally about 2pm they came - and the resident removed the tape around the drain, then asked if I was ready - after nodding, he pulled - and the Man says I got a look on my face like "the alien is eating me alive from the inside" - because the dude pulled out nearly TWO FEET of drain tubing. I had no idea - and will definitely be suggesting that people be prepared for that. Yikes!

We got home about 4pm Thursday - and unfortunately the Man went on a wild goose chase trying to fill the liquid oxycodone prescription for me - nobody had it in stock, at least anywhere near the quantity prescribed (yes, I know it's a highly trafficked drug, particularly in pill form). But, we'd filled the post-op prescriptions before going in, so I had the hydrocodone at least, and have been relying on it until we can get the oxy (should I still need it by the time it comes in to our pharmacy).

Being at home on the sleep number bed has been much more comfortable than the very stiff hospital bed, but the head tilt feature there was certainly nice. The Man has been awesome in taking care of me  - getting my meds every 4 hours, making sure I have water in my sport-top water bottle, and generally making sure I'm comfortable.


He helped me take a shower yesterday afternoon, which while it felt good, apparently took a lot out of me, as I didn't feel well enough after to be upright, so I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in bed.

Today I've been up and sitting on the couch with a tray table with my laptop and my knitting since about 9am, which is definite progress. I'll probably lay down again shortly (next pain dose is due in 15 minutes), but be up again for "dinner". Yesterday I struggled with yogurt as part of my "full liquid" diet, but today so far I've had a protein shake, and have finished about 3oz of yogurt without too much complaint from my new stomach. Should be able to get the 2nd shake in, we'll see about anything else - as long as I get that protein, I'm not going to push myself for sugar free jello chemicals.

So many of my knitter friends have been wonderful about checking in on me and offering kind words of support and encouragement - I love you all. I'm definitely going to take things slowly, and work on doing what's best for me over the next 5 weeks while I'm off work.

Oh - the Man has decided that the scale is possessed - it says he weighs 15-20 pounds more than normal (he's not overweight, fluctuates only with a 5 pound range). So he'll be getting new batteries, and we'll likely be getting that new mechanical balance scale I wanted, so no updated weight report, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm down in the 2s when we get me on it.