tedthelightbulbexpert
Recovery, Or "How I Learned to Hate Aspartame"
Jan 05, 2011
I'd intended to keep more timely progress of my post-op recovery, but I'm afraid that between the chaos of the holiday season, coupled with the levels of pain I was in and some all-around stress at home, that wasn't possible. But, I'm here now, and figured I should relate some of the past few weeks.The surgery went as it should have, I suppose. I was anesthetized, promptly knocked out, and woke up in the recovery room as the nurse anesthetist pulled the breathing tube from my nose. It was a surreal experience; I was in the blackest depths of unawareness, then suddenly I was in a room awash with light, in searing pain as they pulled the tube out of my nose. That was the worst of the pain, but fortunately it didn't last too long.
The next few days in the hospital were hit or miss. No food or water for the first 24 hours as they needed me to drink contrast and check the sutures. Dry mouth, cracking and blistered lips, feeling dirty and miserable, and in constant pain from my left side. I was on a hydromorphone drip, which spared me the worst of the pain, but at times not even the pain killers worked to abate the stabbing pains in my sides. My saving grace was a kind radiology assistant who carefully tended to me and helped make me as comfortable as she could. She was the nicest, kindest person I've met in medicine, and I actually looked forward to seeing her despite the pain of having to be transported there. I am eternally grateful to her for her compassion and kindness.
One of the worst aspects of the post-op recovery was sleeping; the breathing tube had ruptured and irritated my sinuses, filling them with bloody mucuous and making it hard to breathe. I'd drift off to sleep, snorting air through my nose and mucuous inevitably into my throat and lungs, which had to be expelled; i.e. coughing. Coughing was the bane of my existence, as doing so produced incredible bolts of pain, but I couldn't stop myself from doing it. It was only a few days ago that I finally returned to a point where I could actually cough without feeling too much pain.
The surgeon and the nurses also insisted that I try to walk as much as possible right after the surgery. With the patient-controlled hydromorphone, I was able to do so for a good distance and felt that my recovery would be speedy. Once they removed the PCA and instead gave me limited doses of hydrocodone (Vicodin), my pain levels became constant and where I could walk the length of the hospital wing twice before, I could barely go beyond 15-20 feet afterwards. I just had to stay in bed, as still as possible, to avoid more pain.
Hospital life gets boring quickly, so I was very ready to go home. My family came to pick me up, and I returned home to a warm welcome and a warm couch. Again, not a lot of moving around at this point as my sides and abdomen still hurt too much, I had to be assisted with nearly everything. Sleeping remained problematic for the aforementioned sinus/coughing problems, my back began to hurt from having to stay on it as that was the only comfortable position for me.
This was also the period of the liquid diet. Although I was pretty much on one in the form of Optifast two weeks prior to the surgery, the limited range of options ("clear" liquids) actually made this difficult for me. I couldn't drink beef broth because it made me queasy, chicken broth tasted too salty, etc. I tried eating sugar-free Jello as well, which ended up making me very naseeous and spending the night struggling not to vomit, so goodbye aspartame from my diet. I basically subsisted on the leftover packages of Optifast tomato soup and protein drinks, resulting in me apparently losing more than 30 lbs in seven days after surgery. I was pretty miserable, though. I wanted something with a bit of flavor, and took to sucking the salt off of sunflower seeds in order to sate my salty and savory cravings. Fortunately, the 'mushy' phase began a week later.
So here I am now, eating tuna fish and apple sauce. Not a combination I'd have considered prior to surgery, but its one I can appreciate now. Today was the first day I was able to go to work, a total of two and a half weeks on medical leave of absence. That suprised me and was a bit disappointing as I hoped to have a somewhat speedier recovery, but alas, my abdominal muscles had a number done to them and it took me a bit more time. I'm just glad I actually had the days off available, but now we'll see what the future as a slimmer man will hold.
