lyndaaaaaaa
My surgery experience (what I remember at least)
Mar 10, 2009
My surgery was done at Kaiser in Harbor City. I was supposed to be there at 9:30, but they called when I was on my way and said that if I could get there earlier, they would be ready for me. When I got there and went to check in, I was greeted warmly and told they were expecting me! Within a few minutes I was called back, changed into gown, vitals taken, and met with the anesthesiologist. My husband came back, they gave me something to "relax me" and that's about all I remember until I woke up !! My husband says I WAS awake until they brought me into the operating room, but I really don't remember being wheeled down there. When they were trying to wake me up in recovery, I was confused because I couldn't recall even being brought to surgery. GEESH .. as i think about it I don"t remember if i was in pain after i woke up it"s all a blur. Must have been some good drugs !
The first two days I remember discomfort and lack of mental focus. I, like most, had a morpheine pump. It took me about half a day to realize that the morpheine was not helping me. They switched me to dilaudid, and that helped a lot. Then it took me another almost day to realize i should be hitting that baby much more than I was. I don't think I realized right away that it was OK to hit it every 10 minutes. By Saturday night, I had that down, and every time I was awakened for "vitals" (every hour and a half approx.), I hit that pump and was put right back to sleep.
You want to know where/how it hurt. I know I wanted to know that before surgery. I also had my gallbladder out. So I kind of hurt where my stomach was as well as where my gallbladder was. It was manageable when the meds were working, painful when they were wearing off. If I was just laying still, it wasn't too bad... but when I had to get up, it was bad. I have NO stomach muscles and am not sure that would help anyway. Getting up puts pressure on the surgery site, so it hurts ... and still hurts today. I also cannot lay on my side ... it feels like it is pulling on my stomach when I do ... not good .. I am a side sleeper so I cannot wait until that gets better. Is it painful ? Yes, it can be. Unbearable ... nah. I have to say that my belly right now is UGLY .. LOL .. I'll have to have hubby take a picture. It is bloated, bruised, with 5 incision marks. It is also a little "rashy" but not itchy. I was given heperon shots in my lower stomach as a blood thinner... those areas are also bruised. There is an indentation where my stomach used to be... someone said it could be how the gas is in there, too. It's getting better each day.
I felt really foggy for a few days. That is getting better today. I stayed in the hospital 4 days. I still felt drained and in pain on Sunday morning when Dr. Zane came by, so he wanted to keep me another day. By late Sunday, I could have gone home but it was too late .. the drs. had left, etc. My husband had to pick me up after work yesterday (he's a teacher), so I got home pretty late because of that.
Today, I am doing OK with getting in the liquids. I've had some tea, and some water. I got this ProStat 64 stuff .. you get 30 grams of protein for 2 tablespoons .. it is a bit thick and sweet, but tastes like citrus. I should be able to get in one serving today, and at least 30 oz. of water... so not too bad !
I was sent home with tylenol 3 liquid, which is OK ... but I have darvocet, too. I cut up one pill into about 8 little pieces. It is ok, but hard to get in much "pill-wise". Just laying here with my laptop on my belly (yep), I feel fine.
So far, overall, not a bad experience ...!
