Recovering
Hello all! I finally feel up to posting again. It's been a rough couple of weeks, but things are improving.
We woke up to a nasty snow/ice storm on Tuesday morning. My son's school was canceled, which was a good thing since it meant no conflict with my getting to the hospital. Hubby drove us and dropped us at the entrance, and I went to the check-in unit while he parked the car. It wasn't too much after he joined us there that I was called back to get ready. It's an all-too familiar routine for me, and because of that things went quickly. The worst part of it was having the IV line put in. The first nurse hit a nerve when she tried, and if I wouldn't have been laying on the stretcher already I would have fainted. Fortunately she didn't try again, and the next nurse had success with another spot. Then my husband and son were brought back to the room to sit with me until I went to the OR, which was a couple hours after I arrived there. I was wide awake until I was situated on the operating table - love chatting with the OR staff - and then it was lights out.
I woke up several hours later in the recovery room. I didn't have a whole lot of pain - my doc did a nerve block while I was asleep, and my abdomen was rather numb for the rest of the day. I stayed in recovery for a few hours, and then was finally moved to my room. Because the hospital was a bit full, my room was in the pediatrics section. I joked that the doctor must have taken several years off of me when he operated. Of course, we had to explain to my son that I didn't have a baby because he didn't understand why I was in pediatrics.
Anyhow - they got me out of bed already on the first night. I will say that was rather painful. I managed about 10 minutes before having to lay back down.
I wasn't allowed to eat more than a few sips of clear liquids until Friday, but by then I was doing well enough to go to a full clear liquid diet. I also was able to sit up most of the day and take a few walks. The bandages were removed and I got a good look at the incision - it extends from about 3 inches above my belly-button down to my pubic bone. They also removed the drain that had been put in because things looked so good.
On Saturday I was allowed to eat a light solid diet and on Sunday I finally came home. I spent 6 days in the hospital, and was incredibly well taken care of. It was a big difference from the way I was rushed out before.
Last week was spent pretty much doing nothing. I would get up and walk around every now and then, but mostly rested on the couch or in bed. My staples were removed on Wednesday, and steri-strips were put on until the incision has completely healed. Things look very good though. And the lab results on the mesh that was removed showed I had a raging chronic staph infection - so if I wouldn't have had it removed I would have continued to become ill and it may possibly have caused permanent organ damage or worse.
So now I have one more week at home - I'm returning to work on Feb 7th. I actually feel pretty good considering I'm just under 2 weeks out from the surgery.
In other news, I think I need to change my LJ layout again. I'm not real fond of this one now that I've been using it a while.
And just out of curiosity, why do some people make being a BNF their main goal in life?
We woke up to a nasty snow/ice storm on Tuesday morning. My son's school was canceled, which was a good thing since it meant no conflict with my getting to the hospital. Hubby drove us and dropped us at the entrance, and I went to the check-in unit while he parked the car. It wasn't too much after he joined us there that I was called back to get ready. It's an all-too familiar routine for me, and because of that things went quickly. The worst part of it was having the IV line put in. The first nurse hit a nerve when she tried, and if I wouldn't have been laying on the stretcher already I would have fainted. Fortunately she didn't try again, and the next nurse had success with another spot. Then my husband and son were brought back to the room to sit with me until I went to the OR, which was a couple hours after I arrived there. I was wide awake until I was situated on the operating table - love chatting with the OR staff - and then it was lights out.
I woke up several hours later in the recovery room. I didn't have a whole lot of pain - my doc did a nerve block while I was asleep, and my abdomen was rather numb for the rest of the day. I stayed in recovery for a few hours, and then was finally moved to my room. Because the hospital was a bit full, my room was in the pediatrics section. I joked that the doctor must have taken several years off of me when he operated. Of course, we had to explain to my son that I didn't have a baby because he didn't understand why I was in pediatrics.
Anyhow - they got me out of bed already on the first night. I will say that was rather painful. I managed about 10 minutes before having to lay back down.
I wasn't allowed to eat more than a few sips of clear liquids until Friday, but by then I was doing well enough to go to a full clear liquid diet. I also was able to sit up most of the day and take a few walks. The bandages were removed and I got a good look at the incision - it extends from about 3 inches above my belly-button down to my pubic bone. They also removed the drain that had been put in because things looked so good.
On Saturday I was allowed to eat a light solid diet and on Sunday I finally came home. I spent 6 days in the hospital, and was incredibly well taken care of. It was a big difference from the way I was rushed out before.
Last week was spent pretty much doing nothing. I would get up and walk around every now and then, but mostly rested on the couch or in bed. My staples were removed on Wednesday, and steri-strips were put on until the incision has completely healed. Things look very good though. And the lab results on the mesh that was removed showed I had a raging chronic staph infection - so if I wouldn't have had it removed I would have continued to become ill and it may possibly have caused permanent organ damage or worse.
So now I have one more week at home - I'm returning to work on Feb 7th. I actually feel pretty good considering I'm just under 2 weeks out from the surgery.
In other news, I think I need to change my LJ layout again. I'm not real fond of this one now that I've been using it a while.
And just out of curiosity, why do some people make being a BNF their main goal in life?