Recovery

Today is technically Sunday but it's only 12:03 AM so I'm going to call it Saturday. Recovery has gone by so fast for this surgery! I stopped taking percocet today and I've only had 2 doses of ibuprofen all day. I am amazed that my body could forgive me this quickly for the abuse. I am now independent again, meaning now that I'm off the woozy pills I am able to drive again. I felt like I was jailed not being able to go out and do things, even though I wasn't feeling that great. Let me give you a run down of how things went chronologically.

Tuesday morning the hospital called me and asked me to come in early. I had no problem with that! Get it over with sooner right? My poor mom worked the night shift the night before so she missed out though, and said the waiting room during surgery had a big talkative family that prevented any rest. Anyhow, it ended up being one of those hurry up and wait situations, and wait we did, for about an hour until I was ready to go to pre-op. The pre-op nurses were really nice and were very efficient- the IV nurse got my vein on the first try! Kudos to her! I felt like the steretypical patient with her butt hanging out of a gown during that part but I made special care not to flash anyone during my trip to the bathroom!

They got my IV antibiotic started and wheeled me over to the operating room. I remember getting onto the operating table and lying in a weird position (so they could intubate me), then I started praying that everything would run smoothly during surgery... then I woke up. (Maybe they thought I had fallen asleep because I was hoping for the "count backwards from 100" spiel.)

I woke up in the post-op in a lot of pain and extremely groggy. The first thing I remember saying to the nurse was "Uh, I really have to pee!!!" Classy. She kept saying that no, I did not have to pee, I just felt like it because apparently they put in a catheter before surgery but took it out before I woke up. I'm really glad I didn't remember that part. The nurse also kept saying that my lungs needed to stop being lazy. (My O2 stat was 82% for a while.) I was thinking "Hey nurse, don't dis on my lungs!" But of course being as drugged up as I was, I couldn't articulate my point. She kept repeating things to me patiently and after a while let my mom in. They moved me over to the CDU (Critical Decision Unit) to recover a little longer before I could go home.

So at the CDU I got some bad news. Apparently while I was still knocked out, the doctor visited my mom and gave her the update, but didn't visit me. I was hoping he would while I was awake but he didn't. My mom broke the news to me that the doctor says I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, PCOS. As soon and she said that I started sobbing, feeling empathy for my friend that has this disorder and is trying so hard to get pregnant but hasn't had any success yet. I cried because I felt like that could be me when I get married, and I truly felt the pain that my friend has. My tears made my mom cry. She reassured me, and said "There's always adoption." I'll have kids someday, one way or another.

I was in a lot of pain, not just around my surgical area but also around my shoulder. Apparently the gas used in laparoscopic procedures travels up to the shoulder and it's very common to have pain there. I had really gnarly shoulder pain for 4 days. Anyhow, I was also very nauseated, but the nurse said I was maxed out on anti nausea meds so I just had to deal with it. I was in the CDU for 3 hours but it didn't feel that long at all. I was still nauseated when they said I could go home, but I really didn't want to move until I could get the nausea under control. I felt kind of pushed to go home. We ended up waiting almost an hour to get my mom's car brought up from the valet service, and I was sitting there in a wheelchair not feeling well at all during that whole time. The ride home was barely tolerable, but I made it through. I got in bed and hunkered down for an hour. My mom brought me some food, which I ate a little of, then unfortunately vomited. I took another anti nausea pill and went back to sleep. My mom woke me up every so often to have me take meds and I'm so glad she did so my pain was under control.

Too soon it was time for my mom to go home. I liked having her around. I set my alarm and woke myself up for meds. I got sick again but thankfully made it into the bag before it was too late. Later that night, I got a terrible pain in my side that made it hard to breathe. I called my mom crying, telling her how bad it hurt and how I couldn't take deep breaths, and she decided to come over and take me to the ER. One of the possible complications of any surgery is PE- pulmonary embolism. Basically it's fancy medical speak for blood clot in the lung. I went to the ER, got a special scan, got an IV dose of pain meds, and went back home. I'm glad I went to the ER and nothing was wrong. Better safe than sorry.

Thursday rolled around and I was feeling better. I even did light housework- dishes and laundry. My shoulder was still hurting really bad in between doses of the percocet though. I got a visit from a friend and that was really nice. She brought me gerber daisies and a cute get well card. So sweet! Later that day I posted a blurb on facebook about how I hoped to get "jail broken" and get out of the house and do something. My brother said he would but he was drunk. Nice. My friend said she would get a hold of me the next day, and that she did! She picked me up to go to Fred Meyer's with her and her two sweet little kids that I love. It was just a plain old Freddy's trip, but it felt so nice to get out and have company. I took a nice long nap after that. Another friend texted me asking to get together and I said of course.

We decided to meet up with my brother and go get something to eat. (I wasn't counting points this week until today...) We went to this new high end burger place and it was great. Waiting an hour was not, and as soon as I had my diet pepsi on the table I took half a percocet! I was hurting from standing around for so long. I got the bbq chicken wrap and it was great, but the servings are huge so I ate half of the wrap and a few of the fries and felt full. I saved the leftovers and gave them to my dad since we stopped by there for a minute.

My friend, my brother, my brother's friend and I all watched Twilight and New Moon together. Although my friend pretty much slept, poor thing was so tired from working all day! I successfully petitioned my brother to take me to Wal Mart and buy me Eclipse on DVD. Everyone went home after the Wal Mart trip. It was so late then that I didn't watch the movie but watched a few special features then fell asleep.

Today I went to a lovely baby shower. I felt pretty good so I didn't take any percocet, just ibuprofen. I went home and went to clear the fog off my glasses as I was coming inside, and my glasses snapped in two! I blame the really cold weather and the really warm heater in my friends car. That was a challenge. I went to church tonight pretty much blind. I did find my contacts, all dried up. I put warm water in them hoping to resurrect them, and thankfully it worked! I won't be blind for a few weeks until I get enough money to buy new glasses. I'm wearing my old glasses now and let me tell you, it's very disorienting. Almost like I'm taking percocet for recreational purposes. (PSA: Kids, don't do drugs!)

So this week has been a challenge for sure but I'm glad the hard part is over and my body is recovering nicely. In my next post I'll tell you all about my delicious soup I made tonight that is so low in points but so nutritious and so good!