Alison B.
9/24/09 - Surgery and Week One Recovery
Sep 23, 2009
9/15/09 – Tuesday – 4:25am
I’ve been up for an hour with a bunch of thoughts juggling through my mind. Each moment of nervousness is then eclipsed by my excitement.
I’m actually doing it. I have a nasty habit of never seeing anything through, and I’m finally making a life-changing decision.
I’m worried about whether or not I’ll wake from surgery, but that’s just my normal thought process. I don’t like to depend on someone and give them my trust and I’m doing the extreme version of that with the surgeon.
I completely trust my doctor. He is going to help me change my life.
9/16/09 – Wednesday – 2:30pm
Well I did it! The surgery is done and I slept through most of the day. I’m exhausted. It’s very painful and walking has been difficult.
9/17/09 – Thursday – 8:25am
I spent yesterday trying to do my laps and had difficulty with it until later in the evening when I caught my stride. I’m able to do a lot more now. I can get up out of bed without issue and can get myself to the bathroom. Mom and Dad are going to do a split shift today. Dad’s coming over early and Mom’s coming late. She’ll stay until I can leave the hospital.
9/18/09 – Friday -
Caught the scent of pickle today and really wanted one. I whined “I wanna pickle!” and my Mom replied “they’re in the fridge”. It made me laugh because I had to remind her that I couldn’t eat anything. Had my first at home protein shake today… it sucked. I made some Jell-O, so hopefully I don’t have to worry about just water and protein shake. I’m a little sleepy.
9/19/09 – Saturday -
Dilotid is my safety blanket. I’m kinda surprised that with just carrying it around, I’m okay with the pain. I constantly feel like I’m overheating, but my temperature hasn’t hit above 98 degrees. I had my first BM since surgery and I was so excited! I know, how lame is that? It’s funny. If you go close to a week without one and you start assuming there was something wrong with your body after surgery, like intestines were missed.
9/20/09 – Sunday -
Jamie and Ashley came over and kept me company. I noticed all the bruises on my arms. I haven’t had those in years. One was from the nurse blowing out/missing my vein in my arm to put the IV port and the other was from the phleb having drawn my blood in the hospital. She didn’t hurt me at the time, but I was on heparin – an anticoagulant. They administered that several times to prevent blood clots. They did a lot of things to prevent them. There were inflatable shoes on my feet, regular heparin shots, and I had to walk 16 laps a day around the nurses station.
9/21/09 – Monday -
Went on a drive with mom. I felt a little restless as we drove the entire time. Mom wanted to get out and walk on the beach, but that was very daunting to me. I’m okay on pavement, but introduce loose sand and I’m afraid I’ll take a tumble. Right now, that’s not an experience that I want. After that we went to IKEA and the walk around was so hard to do. We left shortly after I started sweating.
We got home and Jackie, Joy, and the Peanut came over. A 17 month old is most definitely exercise. I was running around with her while my parents and two friends had (*sigh*) pizza.
9/22/09 – Tuesday -
Woke this morning to the phone ringing. The pain is much lower than I thought it could be after a full week of recovery. I noticed four more bruises where they hit me with the heparin shots. Mom and I went out to the store and I got back home and had a yogurt. That and the ice pops are the highlights of my day. I miss solid food a lot, but only specific things. I miss the crisp and satisfying snap of a kosher dill pickle. I miss rolling peanut butter around on my tongue with the occasional crunch of an uncreamed peanut.
It’s okay though… I’ll be able to taste those again.
I’ve been walking a lot. Mary called during one of my jaunts and we caught up a little bit.
9/23/09 – Wednesday -
Slept in a normal bed last night for the first time since surgery. The past few days I’ve been crashing in a reclining chair and taking pain meds so I’ll fall asleep. I found that the best thing for me (as I never sleep on my back) is to arrange to sleep partially on my back and using a pillow to prop up the other side of my back. I started on the stained glass project with mom in addition to walking three times outside. The third was my biggest venture thus far… The entire neighborhood that my parents live in is shaped like a B. I’ve typically stuck to the lower loop or walked to the higher loop, but that third walk was each loops. We stopped at a friends house so I could sit for a few minutes.
I was unable to stomach any of my protein shakes today. I took a sip and then felt like I was getting a cold sweat, needed to lie down, and needed to use the bathroom all at once. The feeling passed after about five minutes. I decided to try again. After five attempts total and thirty minutes of my morning feeling like crap… I gave up.
9/24/09 – Thursday -
Walked the full B with my dad this morning, then went to the mall with my mom and returned two jugs of protein shakes to GNC. The best part about that store? Yeah, they are expensive, but if you open a jar and test it and don’t like it, you can return it to the store and they will reimburse you. I was so happy because the one that I had tried made me nauseous.
I was able to stomach the protein today. I guess it’s normal for my body to reject something one day then accept it the next, but I don’t know. I will definitely talk to the doctors aide next Friday.
I am so tired of wearing these stupid DVT stockings. Yes, I know they prevent blood clots so I’m wearing them.