5 days post-op

Feb 10, 2014

Today is Monday, I had my surgery on Thursday. It has been a whirlwind and a bit of a blur, so I'll try to capture the high points. 

Thursday - had to be at the hospital very early, as I was the first case. It was -12F. The operating room staff was very nice, the anesthesiologist gave me a "starter" and I completely lost my shit. I thought I'd feel something or remember something, but nope. They started to wheel me into the surgical suite and I was out like a light. That was about 7:00am.

They woke me up around 9:00am, I was groggy and my stomach hurt like hell. They asked me to do stupid things like spell and say my name, which was hard since I didn't have my bridge in place. They wheeled me up to my room and I crashed out for several hours. 

Around 11:00 they got me up for a walk to the bathroom, and I voided, which they were all very happy about. A quick trip to xray for some swallow tests, and I was back to snoozing in my bed. The xray trip was awful, fyi. 

The entire afternoon was up and down, pain meds via IV, several hours of sleeping, then getting up, getting respiratory treatments, and sipping on water from medicine cups. A blur. 

Friday was better, my wife came and took me home around 6pm. If Thursday was 0%, Friday was about 50%, and Saturday as about 75%. Today, Monday, I'm about 85%. I could do most things today, but I'm taking it easy on purpose. Mostly eating/drinking protein and sipping on water constantly. Also getting up every half hour for a walk. 

Biggest complaint? Wow. I hate Heparin shots. I have to do them 3xday for the next week and a half, and I hate them. They burn and leave little bruises, and now I bleed like a stuck hog whenever I do something stupid like stub my toe. 

Anyway. That's me for now. Not sure how much weight I've lost, probably not much yet. I'm not checking until next Friday at the Dr. It will be a big surprise. :) 

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