ktchnconsult
Getting Ahead of Myself
Mar 18, 2010
Well...here I am and it's Thursday - tomorrow is a week since I officially became a Banded person...
What an interesting week this has been! Late Friday afternoon I was moved from recovery to a private room. The recovery room I was in (I BARELY remember that part) was the one they use for people who are being admitted. So, they move me upstairs and as we come around the corner there's a waiting room. In my doped up stupor I see my husband, my daughter and my girlfriend all with big smiles on their faces telling me they'll be in the room in a minute. Once they arrived, they told me that the doctor said everything went great and that I came through the surgery very well. OK - so, I want to go home!!!! Here I am in pretty bad pain (even with the pain meds) but I want to go home! I was able to get out of bed and hobble to the bathroom (with help from two other people.) I was able to use the bathroom by myself and get back up to come out again. They walked me back to the bed, though. Then I kept dosing on and off while I had a conversation going on around me. They were entertaining each other AND me, so if I dosed off they didn't mind - but I kept trying to get caught up.
The theme of "I want to go home!" continued for several hours. What a dope I was! Here I was in a comfortable hospital bed (well, as comfortable as you can get when you've just had surgery) with the best IV meds going through me, and all I could think about was "I want to go home!" Well this was the first time during the past week that I got ahead of myself!
Around 5:00 p.m. the nurse came in to tell me that I could have some clear liquids and that I could go home if I tolerate them AND if I feel up to it. My darling husband wanted me home, but he also wanted me comfortable, so he tried to convince me to stay in the hospital. I whined just enough about how great I felt that they allowed me to go home. This is why I said that I got ahead of myself! If I had this to do over - I would have stayed in the hospital for the one night and been much happier!
They get me home, propped on the recliner, and settled in - I'm extremely uncomfortable, don't want to stay in the recliner but I know by the pain that I won't be able to get up the stairs and into the bed - let alone sleep in the bed. Well - remember the theme here? Just guess what I did...I not only climbed up the steps (with a pillow on my incisions) but I tried to get in the bed - BIG HUGE GETTING AHEAD of MYSELF!!!
You see why I said this was a theme?!!!I made a few other mistakes during the week - like trying to go to bed again before I was ready, not taking pain meds until I needed them (and really needed them), and drinking too much water - but THANKFULLY, I have not thrown up!!! Almost - but not quite. I had a couple of gagging incidents in the first couple of days - gagging on my own stupid phlegm (YUK!) but managed to keep it to a gag because that hurt bad enough!
I got ahead of myself yesterday when I started doing a few little household chores and sat at the table to make some cards. I'm bored! I want to do some things, I want to get out of the house, I want to drive - but I don't really feel well enough to do that! I'm experiencing a lot of bloating, gas, indigestion and hunger pangs - so at least I didn't make the mistake of thinking that I could go out by myself yet. BUT I sat at the table for about 2 hours making cards yesterday and then I also did a few dishes, made some jello, some pudding and all of my shakes, etc. I just went from doing nothing but walking around the house in circles and making a few trips up and down stairs to activities that required me to stay in one place and work for lengths of time. Last night I wasn't feeling so great - I had some additional pain in my abdomen - DUH!!!
Oh, yeah - getting ahead of yourself - in order not to do that - make sure you have a back-up plan! My darling daughter was supposed to be here for 2 weeks - I thought a week longer than necessary, but I figured we'd have some fun the second week. After 4 days, something came up at home that required her to be there. She left here the next morning (only 4 days post surgery) and I was all alone all day until hubby got home from work. It's been that way the rest of the week and each day it becomes a little bit more OK - but still - it would have been nice to have a back-up plan just in case I needed someone to reach, bend or lift - or for some company!!!
All-in-all, this first week has been pretty good - but I'm anxious to get out, get moving and start DOING something....all in good time....I see the doctor a week from today - I don't want to be Getting Ahead of Myself, afterall!
