Day 3 was pretty good. I hadn’t taken a pain killer in over 12 hours and I felt fine. Up til now I was anxiously awaiting every 6th hour as every minute that ticked by was filled with agonizing pain.
Today, however, I was able to get through the day with just few Tylenol for what were most likely caffeine headaches. I usually drink 2-3 caffeniated drinks a day and today marks my 4th day with zero caffeine.
So yesterday morning I called the doc to schedule a follow up appointment and was asked me to come in the afternoon.
Becky drove me over and we waited a few minutes to be seen. She got a chance to hear the typewriter I mentioned previosuly to others. The doctor decided to remove my pain pump. I’ve had a few people ask me what this pump is and here is a link with more info:
http://www.iflo.com/prod_onq_classic.php
He joked around a bit and asked what we thought it was going to be like under my bandages. I pointed at a 3D model of a human abdominal cross section and told him ‘that’.
Becky held my hand for a little bit until a few fluids started draining from my stomach. Then she had to sit down and take a breather.
I barely have a scar, it’s actually pretty amazing. There aren’t even any stitches. The wound is basically glued shut. [pic available upon request]
After my doctor finishes removing all the old bandages, guess what he uses to fix me up?
A bandaid ….
…. And a Maxi Pad.
He informs us that the original ‘maxi pads’ were created by surgeons because they were extra absorbant. Yay!
Yesterday was also my birthday so we celebrated by watching Eagle Eye (pretty terrible), and eating Taco Bell and delicious cheesecake (birthday candles and all!).
Becky still needs to help me with pretty simple things which has her feeling exhausted. I hope to be on my feet again soon so everything can return to normal.
Thanks for all the well wishes everyone!!!!
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2 years ago
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Holy cow. Day 2 sucked.
I don’t want to gross you out with the details but it was a rough one. I spent most of it asleep, however, the waking moments were hell.
My blood sugar was pretty low towards the end of the day and I had to chug a Bossa Nova and an apple juice to feel OK again.
I tried to eat a small amount of food but that just wasn’t happening.
I’ll skip all the ugly stuff and just mention again that without Becky I’d be in pretty bad shape. I’m so grateful for everything she is doing to nurse me back to health.
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2 years ago
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Yesterday, I had my first ever [hernia] surgery. First off I’ll say that the time spent worrying about the surgery is probably worse than the surgery itself.
Becky and I arrived at the hospital at 6:00am where I went to ‘pre-op admitting”. There I signed a few authorization and release forms. I was’t too nervous at this point but shortly there after I was walked over to the prep room. Here I changed into my hospital gown and was hooked up to an IV line by two pretty friendly nurses. They also covered me in super warm blankets that made me feel all toasty inside. After a few moments my doctor appeared and told a few corny doctor jokes to Becky and I. Somehow I found them funny- must’ve been the IV drip.
All of a sudden the doctor began to wheel me out and I didn’t get a chance to give me future wife a kiss goodbye, but I somehow was able to get up and yell ‘i love you’ from a few feet a way.
At this point I knew there was no turning back. I am wheeled into the OR and I can see those huge spaceship looking lights (which are off) and the room is filled with bright flourescent light. There is a energy in the room that is barely explainable. Everyone is very serious and commands are thrown around like seargant orders. Next thing I know my anesthesiologist has a breathing mask over my mouth and tells me she’s kicking in the anesthesia and it may sting a little. My eyes roll shut.
Next thing I know I’m in the recovery room being fed Jello. I somehow manage to ask the nurse how it went, and she informed me that I had trouble waking up. I was about an hour past my expected time. I was also intubated and had a hard time breathing on my own. Hooray for asthma!
After a few moments I felt awake and aware of my surroundings. The nurse helped me get dressed and they paged Becky so she could get the getaway car in place. I also realized as I got dressed that I had something called a ‘pain pump’ attached to me and slung over my neck. It’s basically a small ball in a pouch which has an IV going directly into my belly. This will basically aid in the healing of the wound and bio implant mesh that was used to patch me up.
Becky drove me home and helped me up a flight of stairs. The pain wasn’t too bad at this point and I could carry a conversation with Becky. I took a short nap and when I woke up I was supeerrr nauseous. I must’ve dropped the f-bomb a few hundred times. After taking a vicodin, I fell asleep and felt much better. However this cycle repeated a few times. The nausea would come back after a few hours. Towards the end of the night the nausea was pretty under control and I just felt some tightness and itchyness under the binder they put me in.
Becky is taking EXCELLENT care of me and I hope I get well soon so both of our lives can return to normal.
Apologies if there are lots of typos and things that don’t make sense in this post. I’m writing this from my bed whilst on pain killers.
Feeling a little tired right now so I think it’s time for another nap…
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2 years ago
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