Lower Body Lift Experience #2 - Four Days Out

The surgery was on Thursday. 

Friday I "slept"  a couple of hours in the hospital. Was discharged Saturday night.

Saturday night, I was exhausted and in pain so I slept in my recliner from about 1am to 6am, then again from 7 am to 11 am.

Saturday I didn't feel that well and just kind of sat in misery. I couldn't even concentrate enough to watch TV or distract myself. I ate some soup and drank a shake and started feeling better.

The doc prescribed me 12 Ambien, and I took one Saturday night and slept for 12 hours, which felt very good. If I can keep doing that I'll be healed faster than I can imagine. Just gotta keep protein up, and I'm not eating as much since I don't feel well overall. But Saturday I had 2 protein shakes with 15g protein each, some chicken soup, some toast, some skittles, some rice with cheese. Little servings of everything. I had to take my anti nausea med once, but I think it was because I took my antibiotic without eating.

Sunday, after that long sleep, I felt a lot better. Me peeing was almost back to normal but not quite. I still had some in there after I went.

It was time to shower. We decided to do it in our guest shower, farther away from my recliner, because the shower was bigger and we could both get in. I was walking better on sunday and was able to get up by myself. However, when we started peeling off the bandages, I started to get light headed and dizzy. It lasted for so long I thought I might black out. So I walked back to my recliner. Paul had already removed all the back bandages, and I just sat down. My recliner was covered with a sheet so it was ok if any crud got on it. I sat down and drank a shake while he removed the rest of my bandages. My legs were shaking, but they finally calmed down. When everything was better, I got into the shower and just let the water run over me. Paul helped me soap up above and below the incision while I held the drains. It was a quick shower and I felt so much better afterward. It had been 4 days since I had showered, and I'm a two bath a day kind of person.

Paul helped me put on the clean compression garment, the one that had previously had blood spilled all over it but that he had cleaned and dried. We buttoned it up to the pelvis then used non stick gauze pads to put all around the incision line. Paul said I had staples in the back, but I haven't seen them. When the gauze was in place, we pulled the garment all the way up. It's tight enough to hold the pads in place, and I haven't had any problems with them moving or any leaking of oozing.

Even though I'm in pain, it's kind of nice just sitting in my recliner and not being expected to do anything. I just finished my second semester of grad school and I was burned out. The surgery was literally the day after my last final. So not having to think about that til the 2nd week of January or so is a real relief.

On Sunday I wasn't in too much pain at all. There is this one section of the incision near my left hip bone, that hurts more than any other part though, and the pain comes and goes. If it wasn't for that part, I wouldn't have any other pain except for slight ab pain...like having just overly worked out to the point of not being able to move. But that little part of the incision which feels like it hurts along about 2 inches of it, when it hurts, IT BURNS. The nurses thought it was probably nerve endings, because some people have them in a certain place and the pain meds don't help them as much as everything else. Well I don't really feel like I have pain anywhere else, which considering I was sliced all the way around, is pretty good.

Sunday night I had a little more energy. I got up on my own and walked around the house. I got my own cup and poured my own drink. I picked up some mess with my finger-toes and passed them to my hand so I could throw them away. I was feeling ok, but could probably only walk around like that for 10 mins at a time before mr. left-hip incision starts to gripe.

Now it is Sunday. I took another ambien last night. I didn't sleep for 12 hours, but still got a solid sleep. When I woke up though, I felt a little sick. Probably needed to eat something, plus I'm always stiffer after not getting up for several hours. Paul is still emptying my drains regularly and I'm trying to make an appointment on Wednesday to see the doctor. He'd wanted to see me after a week, but Paul is going back to work on Thursday, so I need to do it before then. Hopefully we can get that worked out.

The surgery was on Thursday. 

Thursday night I "slept"  a couple of hours in the hospital. Was discharged Friday night.

Friday night, I was exhausted and in pain so I slept in my recliner from about 1am to 6am, then again from 7 am to 11 am.

Saturday I didn't feel that well and just kind of sat in misery. I couldn't even concentrate enough to watch TV or distract myself. I ate some soup and drank a shake and started feeling better.

The doc prescribed me 12 Ambien, and I took one Saturday night and slept for 12 hours, which felt very good. If I can keep doing that I'll be healed faster than I can imagine. Just gotta keep protein up, and I'm not eating as much since I don't feel well overall. But Saturday I had 2 protein shakes with 15g protein each, some chicken soup, some toast, some skittles, some rice with cheese. Little servings of everything. I had to take my anti nausea med once, but I think it was because I took my antibiotic without eating.

Sunday, after that long sleep, I felt a lot better. Me peeing was almost back to normal but not quite. I still had some in there after I went.

It was time to shower. We decided to do it in our guest shower, farther away from my recliner, because the shower was bigger and we could both get in. I was walking better on sunday and was able to get up by myself. However, when we started peeling off the bandages, I started to get light headed and dizzy. It lasted for so long I thought I might black out. So I walked back to my recliner. Paul had already removed all the back bandages, and I just sat down. My recliner was covered with a sheet so it was ok if any crud got on it. I sat down and drank a shake while he removed the rest of my bandages. My legs were shaking, but they finally calmed down. When everything was better, I got into the shower and just let the water run over me. Paul helped me soap up above and below the incision while I held the drains. It was a quick shower and I felt so much better afterward. It had been 4 days since I had showered, and I'm a two bath a day kind of person.

Paul helped me put on the clean compression garment, the one that had previously had blood spilled all over it but that he had cleaned and dried. We buttoned it up to the pelvis then used non stick gauze pads to put all around the incision line. Paul said I had staples in the back, but I haven't seen them. When the gauze was in place, we pulled the garment all the way up. It's tight enough to hold the pads in place, and I haven't had any problems with them moving or any leaking of oozing.

Even though I'm in pain, it's kind of nice just sitting in my recliner and not being expected to do anything. I just finished my second semester of grad school and I was burned out. The surgery was literally the day after my last final. So not having to think about that til the 2nd week of January or so is a real relief.

On Sunday I wasn't in too much pain at all. There is this one section of the incision near my left hip bone, that hurts more than any other part though, and the pain comes and goes. If it wasn't for that part, I wouldn't have any other pain except for slight ab pain...like having just overly worked out to the point of not being able to move. But that little part of the incision which feels like it hurts along about 2 inches of it, when it hurts, IT BURNS. The nurses thought it was probably nerve endings, because some people have them in a certain place and the pain meds don't help them as much as everything else. Well I don't really feel like I have pain anywhere else, which considering I was sliced all the way around, is pretty good.

Sunday night I had a little more energy. I got up on my own and walked around the house. I got my own cup and poured my own drink. I picked up some mess with my finger-toes and passed them to my hand so I could throw them away. I was feeling ok, but could probably only walk around like that for 10 mins at a time before mr. left-hip incision starts to gripe.

Now it is Sunday. I took another ambien last night. I didn't sleep for 12 hours, but still got a solid sleep. When I woke up though, I felt a little sick. Probably needed to eat something, plus I'm always stiffer after not getting up for several hours. Paul is still emptying my drains regularly and I'm trying to make an appointment on Wednesday to see the doctor. He'd wanted to see me after a week, but Paul is going back to work on Thursday, so I need to do it before then. Hopefully we can get that worked out.

Thanks! I never thought of it being the garment "uncompressing" but that makes sense. Next time I'll take it off and sit a while first. I thought I was mentally freaking out about the bandages/incision. Could've been a combination I guess. But I settled down easily once I sat down.

Thanks for sharing your story to even us future PS'ers.  It sounds like your progressing, just take it easy:) 

I'm a week further out than you- but I have had some of the exact same experiences recently, though I had a tummy tuck rather than a full LBL- I'm not exactly sure what all it entails. I had a massively hard, somewhat frightful, and painful first two days, and really the first four weren't pleasant, but things really got better after that. by day 8 I really felt much, much better, and as I would expect to feel if I had not had surgery except for the incision mostly. (Just in terms of pain, energy, and feeling. I know in reality my body is working to heal and I know I'm swollen, etc).

and as far as it being the day after your last final- I totally feel you on that. I'm a 3rd year law student, and I scheduled my surgery as close to my last final as possible (the final was on monday- surgery thursday, but I had two days of clear liquids and i could not have pulled off a law school final on that). its also several states away, so there was that.

Anyway, I hope that your healing turns a major corner in the next day or two. God knows it was very encouraging when that happened to me! and keep us posted

Ann