6 day post op update - 11/11/08

Mar 03, 2009

Post Date: 11/11/08 7:54 am
Hi All -

First off - thanks everyone for your warm wishes, prayers, lizards and thoughts.  It makes it a lot easier knowing that I am not alone!  Big hugs to Ocean, Sandy and Lisa for making the trek to visit me in the hospital - it really lifted my spritis.

I know Lisa posted some updates but here's the straight scoop:  immediately post-op I spiked a fever (I think the highest reading was ~103.3), went tachycardic, hypotonic-BP.  It was kind of ironic, since in recovery Dr. Crookes visited me and told me that I was such an easy beautiful surgery, he didn't think there were any problems.  Because of the low blood pressure (like 80/55 low!) they reduced my epidural, which was controlling my pain just fine, but potentially the low BP culprit.  So, my pain increases at the same time as my fever is going up.  Dr. C ordered at CT which involved drinking lots of horrible contrast which hurt.  And let me tell you being moved from the bed to the CT table was just awful - that was THE worst experience, pain-wise, of my life - I was screaming my head off.

They also did a nuclear study of my insides and neither test found a leak or anything wrong.  They re-upped my epi, and my pain was fine, my BP stayed fine.  I still had a fever and occasional tachy.  (Both my pre-op EKG strips showed tachy too so they chalked that up to just my having a crazy heart rate.)  They cultured me for everything, didn't find any infection, but gave me several bags of antibiotics anyway.  My fever finally got down below 100 on Saturday.

I came home yesterday!  Whee.  My fever came back though yesterday afternoon, but my kids were playing with the thermometor so I don't know how much it is.  My hubby is off buying a new one.  I can also hear bubbling in my chest area, which I have never heard before - it's like phlegm moving as I breathe in and out just below my neck area. 

I have a severe case of the weird smell thing - I can't even stand the smell of myself right now!  Everything is sooooo gross.  The loratab stuff just digusts me and makes me nauseaus just smelling it so I'm taking children's tylonel for pain, which is okay.  Not great, but okay.  And doable.

Last night I started having diarhea, which Dr. C told me might happen because of the contrast I swallowed, although my first 2 bms in the hospital were soft - this stuff is yellow water (TMI, sorry!)

So that's me - I am taking plenty of liquids in - I really enjoy chewing on ice.  I'm still only doing a bite or two at a time of "real" food - pudding, yogurt etc.

Now for the BIG WOW!

Prior to surgery, I was taking nearly 200 units of insulin daily  - 90 in the am and 90 at night.  This was barely controlling my diabetes.  Barely.  Without insulin my blood sugar readings were in the 400 ranges.

My blood sugar readings now are in the 230-s.  I'm taking about 18 units of insulin a day now.  It is only going to get better! 

Things are rough right now, but I know that this was worth it!

Thanks for reading this far!

Aimee :)

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