Day 3

Aug 08, 2015

I'm slowly getting better. I haven't had any nausea or issues since I got home, which I'm super grateful for. I spent a lot of yesterday legitimately hungry, which was a good sign. I had broth, Jello, water, and diet apple juice yesterday, and I've discovered that diet apple juice is my favorite. Water is my least favorite, ironically--it gives me has pain even if I'm just taking small sips of it (which is how I'm supposed to drink from now on).

Sleeping has been a bit of a challenge--I have to sleep on my back because of my incisions. I tried sleeping upright the first night home, but that hurt my back pretty badly, so I slept flat last night, but that makes it difficult to get out of bed and also makes me a bit congested. My doctor encourages walking, so I've gone out to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to do that, and while we were there today, I picked up my new favorite thing--Mr. Wedge.

As you can see, Mr. Wedge is exactly what he sounds like--a giant foam wedge for me to sleep on. He's wonderful and I was able to sleep for a solid 3 hours today. He is also Stitchy approved:

The cats got the bum end of the stick in this whole thing, I must say--they can't walk on my belly at all, which is especially hard for Stitchy, since that's her favorite place to curl up. She somehow snuck onto my chest without my noticing while I was asleep, which didn't hurt, but then when Anthony shoo'd her off me, she stepped on my stomach, which hurt a little (but nothing awful). I've taken to sleeping with a pillow on my stomach so that, should one of them try to step on me, it won't hurt (or they won't try because the pillow is there; either solution works for me).

I feel a little better with every day's passing. Gravity isn't my friend right now, just because it pulls the muscular suture in my belly, but once I get up and moving, it doesn't hurt so bad. I've been practicing taking deep breaths, which also helps. There's also been a lot of burping to get the excess gas out of my system, which is completely normal. I go back to see my surgeon on Tuesday for my first follow-up appointment; hopefully he'll tell me I can move on from the clear liquid diet to a semi-soft food diet. Semi-soft consists of anything that has the consistency of applesauce--blended soups, mashed potatoes, applesauce, pudding, etc.

Not much more to say today, other than to once again thank everyone for all of the well wishes--you're reaffirming that this was a great decision and you're making my recovery that much smoother. Love to all!!

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