Tuesday, December 20, 2011

POst Surgical Update


It’s been about a week since my surgery. And I am still here. I made it. The surgery was long and I am not going to lie the recovery is tough. But I made it.

I was at the hospital at about 5:15am in the morning this past Tuesday. As I changed and was being prepped by the nurses in the preop room, two family members were allowed to see me at a time. Each coming in a little more nervous than the next. My nurse was amazing. She kept me calm and allowed me to get watery eyed without making me feel ashamed.

The anesthesiologist came in several times to check in with me an answer questions. I didn’t have any. It was two hours before the surgery at this point and I didn’t know the point. It would just panic me.

The last thing I remember is being wheeled away and then I woke up.

The pain on the first night was unimaginable. Every time, I opened my eyes my eyes were spinning (literally they’re complications with my nerves). I could not stop vomiting. Everything hurt. To add to the nauseas they have you attached to all these machines that keep you moving to prevent thrombosis. The bed is moving slowly and they put these pads that massage your legs. Add a catheter and it’s a shit show and a half. I was in hell.

I had a panic attack the next night. I never felt my heart beat so fast. The poor residents sent to check on me did their best to calm me. But it was just too painful and uncomfortable.

Honestly, IT WAS ALL WORTH IT. I took me about a day to understand but after they told me they got all of it I felt like I won the lottery.  After about 24 hours after my surgery all my symptoms, while still severe, were at about half. This implies that most of my symptoms were from anesthesia. (Which is what my anesthesiologist, probably kind of knew, and why he kept on insisting on asking me questions)

I am getting back to life now. I cannot really hear out of my left ear. And my body is incredibly sore. My rib on my right side, the side I was laying on during my surgery, bothers me the most tonight. But it changes from day to day. Walking and light stretching (trying to touch my toes without letting my head fall) on the floor really really helps. They give you this lung machine to practice on the help defend against pneumonia and relief body stiffness but it sucks. Its really tiring and makes me loose my breath. I prefer the stretching. My vision has greatly improved. I sometimes don’t see double which is great. And I can read a couple pages of a book before I get too tired. Background noise is really nice but too much can be alarming.

This sounds kind of bad reading it back. But it feels so good to type it. I am functioning. And it looks like with time (I mean it’s only been a week) I will recovery quite well. And they got it all. Even if a small microscopic amount its left it will take a good 20 years for it to come back. And that sounds amazing.

The drugs they put me on are intense. I am on hydrocdone for the pain, dextromethropham for antiinflamation, prilosix to protect my stomach, and  miralx to keep me from getting stocked up.) I have been eating organic yogurt and it has been making me go famously.) The steroids are tough but really help the most with the pain, I feel. They make me very wiry, jittery, and sore. It’s hard to sleep. Most of the time I am too tired to get up but to anxious to sleep so I just lay there. Its seems to work. I feel rested after.

The hydrocodone puts me more to sleep than anything. It knocks me on the floor.
 Day2

 Day 5
I am getting tired. Here are some pics of my scar. Its incredible how fast its healing.

No comments:

Post a Comment