Whew! This sure was more than I bargained for. I thought a 45 minute surgery , in and out, no biggie compared to what I’ve already been through surgery wise. Boy, I should have known nothing is ever as simple as it’s supposed to be. My surgery ended up taking nearly 3 hours instead of 45 minutes and instead of fixing the little (2 inch or so) incisional hernia I thought I had I ended up being cut from breast bone to belly button. I wasn’t alarmed because I didn’t already have this scar from my original DS surgery but because it means more pain and recovery and was totally not what I expected. The hernia was quite a bit larger so he had to open me all the way back up and had to cut out a bunch of adhesions that “weren’t looking good”. My 1, overnight, in the hospital turned into 2 and almost 3. Doctor wanted to keep me 3 days but I said I needed to go home because I was exhausted and could NOT sleep in the hospital so he agreed. They disconnected my pain pump and stuff for about 4 hours to ensure I could control my pain with oral medications and after that I was released. The time there was a nightmare.
Nobody put in an order for my “diet” so I didn’t end up getting any food the whole time. The Dr. thought the nurse did it and the nurse said the Dr. needed to do it. Anyway, by the time it got worked out I was going home. Then, the lady I shared a room with was 95 and sick so she was freezing and had the temp cranked. The room was 86 at 1 point when I looked and instead of complaining I stuck it out and was miserable. Try sleeping in that heat!! Uggg…then her daughter comes in the next day and has the nerve to complain to me. Everytime someone would walk into the room they’d remark at how hot the room was (I thought who are you telling?) and after a nurse did this for the umpteenth time the daughter peers around the curtain and says, “No offense to you but I don’t know why they’d put a 95 year old lady in a room with a young person when they know they are going to have different needs on heat”. I understand that but damn…nothing like trying to compromise here lady?! They could have lowered the temp a bit and brought her warm blankets or something but whatever I didn’t have the energy to go on about it.
After I got home I was sent with Vicoden Xtra strength which made me dry heave all night. This clearly was not a good thing with sore ab muscles and such. I kept tabs on my temp and all the good stuff and got the Dr. to call in something else in the AM. I tried the Vicoden with crackers and such but just couldn’t stomach it; literally. He called in Darvocet and it worked well. I’m down from about 2 every 4 hours to maybe 3 or 4 a day. I’m moving more and sleeping less at a week out. I guess I was lucky in that I didn’t have to have drains and all that but was just side tracked because I expected it to be much less involved than it ended up being. I’m just glad I took the appropriate time off work. I’ll go back Monday (9 days off total) and think I’ll be ready; slower than usual but joining the real world is important for recovery I have found. So overall the surgery went well with no major complications but just a surprising turn to have to be opened up all the way. All my stitches are on in the inside and he said he didn’t end up having to use mesh and was able to pull everything back together like a shoe lace ties a shoe with stitches inside and tape holding me on the outside that will eventually fall off on it’s own. It’s been 1 week and 2 showers later and it still hasn’t started to fall off but I haven’t been fussing with it either. It took a few days to get my tummy right and be able to eat more normally and now that I can I need to get back on my vitamins since they made me stop taking them before surgery. That will no doubt help get me back on the right path and feeling more normal as well.
Thanks to everyone who helped me in the beginning and explained what I might expect with regard to the surgery. Your advice and friendship is very much appreciated even if I can not be as active in the forums as some. I do read all the time just don’t post much since it seems easier to be a bystander sometimes in that forum. Peace and blessing to you all. Be in touch soon.
BTW: I hear people talk about fluid retention. I gained 5 lbs in the hospital from the surgery and have lost all but 3 of it 1 week out. I have no doubt though it’s still working it’s way out since my tummy is still swollen and funky. Some parts of it have gone down and some haven’t so it’s looking pretty gnarly. 😉
Mandy
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