My fifth day on the loser's bench - an overview from surgery to now.

I've been meaning to write an update the past couple days, but between all the hospital goings-on and answering texts and such from friends and family (and naps and sipping, etc.), I'm only just getting to it.

I was sleeved early Wednesday morning, the 19th. That first day was rough. I remember being in that coming-out-of-anesthesia stage and being in a great deal of pain.  I have snippets of memories of moaning and crying and trying to reach for my abdomen but my arms being pulled away, and nurses and doctors telling each other crossly that they need to dose me quickly before I injure myself. 

I don't remember waking up a second time in recovery or being wheeled up to my room, but it must have happened, because at some point, I woke up in what was to become my home away from home for the next few days. Day one is already mostly a blur.  I remember my wife being there. I remember lots of pain.  Not just discomfort, not just aches -- pain.  Real live, bona fide pain.  Stabby pains, radiating stabby pains, and a whole world of soreness.  I had a lap appendectomy only a couple months ago, and it was nowhere near as difficult as this procedure.  But, everyone's experience varies, I hear.  At some point in the evening, I walked several laps around the unit and a whole lot of people came in to tell me important things. Bad idea.  I was glad to have my wife there to take notes. I was NPO the first day, so the rest of that night was pain meds, incentive spirometer, kisses, and naps.

Day two was a fair bit better. I didn't sleep through the night.  Sleep in the hospital was more like a series of 1-2 hour nap*****tuated by walks and sipping and talking to nurses and doctors. I started sipping the clear liquids and had no trouble with them.  A little burping, but no pain or vertigo or vomiting. There was still a whole lot of soreness and radiating pain that seemed to be coming from the surface area around my drain. But I was able to sip and pass gas and urinate (the nursing staff seemed to be most concerned with those three things in particular) and walk, walk, walk.  Prior to surgery, I thought walking would be supremely painful, but that was absolutely not the case!  I walked a lot, because standing and moving felt waaaay more comfortable than lying down or sitting. Day two, I had a few hours of gas problems.  Gas had collected in my left shoulder and under the bottom few ribs on the left.  Walking and using the incentive spirometer really helped, though, and by day 3, there was no more gas collecting in my shoulder.  And that experience was vastly different from the appendectomy.  Following the appendectomy, I had gas trapped in my right shoulder for about a week.  And it was very uncomfortable.

Day 3 was much better than day 2. They pulled my drain out, which was bizarre feeling. Really, that's the only word for it.  There were a lot more medical visits and conversations with people.  Lots of paperwork. And they decided to send me home. ^_^  I was in such a good mood at the prospect of going home.  Petting my dog.  Sleeping in my own bed.  Not that the hospital staff wasn't friendly or skilled- they were amazing!  It's just so much better to be home, yanno?

Got home Friday evening and was feeling pretty good.  Day 4, Saturday, was a bit hectic.  We needed to get my prescriptions and some more vitamins and things like sugar free greek yogurt and other things I discovered I liked while in the hospital, and I insisted on tagging along.  I shouldn't have.  I over exerted myself and felt extremely tired and weak the rest of the day.

Today, Sunday, has been pretty good.  Each day gets a little better.  Things are still sore.  But my drain incision stopped oozing, which means that I no longer have to wear gauze over the surgical tape!  That's pretty exciting for me, as I tend to react to to adhesives in an annoyingly itchy way. I didn't go anywhere today.  The most I did (other than walking) was a load of dishes. Aaaand I'm fine with that.

I'm not one for weighing every day.  I learned a long time ago that that is a pretty destructive habit. But for the sake of this post, I've been keeping up this week. 

Highest weight: 410+

Pre-op Consultation: 374

Day of surgery: 359

Day five post-op: 354

So, that's my update!  Tomorrow I might try to upload some silly hospital pictures.  But I'm due for my next nap right now.  =)

sorry your recovery was so hard but glad your doing much better

Nice job!  It sounds like you are doing very well.  This was a nice detailed report and I am sure will be appreciated by pre-ops.  

What a great post .. ty!

It's nice to hear the experiences of others, find out what worked for them so i have different options to try when it's my turn :) 

I'm glad things are getting better every day!  Go easy on yourself :)