The Immediate Aftermath of Surgery

I promised yesterday that I would find time to post about my experiences at the hospital after surgery. I woke up in the recovery room feeling pretty lousy but mostly really sleepy. As soon as I opened my eyes, they asked me my name and birthday. Once I got those questions right, they figured I was aware enough to have Jon in the room. Jon came in the recovery area and sat with me, but I wasn't really good company. Mostly I slept.

When I opened my eyes a bit, Jon told me what the doctor had said about my surgery. It took longer than expected, two hours instead of an one-and-a-half. My insides were pretty messed up. I had many adhesions. Basically my ovaries, uterus, bladder, and even bowels were all stuck together in places. The doctor said that it was very obvious why I was in such pain. He said that some of it could have been caused by scar tissue from my c-section, but that there seemed to be more going on than that. When I first saw my doctor the next morning he told me that they almost had to literally blast my left ovary out. He emphasized that he was serious. I look forward to my next office visit to hear what he has to say about all that.

Anyway, I was in recovery and mostly sleeping a lot. They didn't find me a room for 6 hours, until almost 10pm that night, so I stayed in the recovery area. It was annoying for Jon, but it didn't bother me. I was sleeping and didn't care where I was. They eventually let my dad and sister visit me in the recovery area since they felt so bad about taking so long to get me into a regular room. I vaguely remember them coming in to see me, but I mostly slept.

Once I got into a room, Jon went home for the night. I slept. Not soundly, though. I watched the clock a lot, and the night seemed to last forever. That entire night and almost all of the next day are really a blur in my mind. I remember meeting nurses as they came on shift. I had a button to push to give myself pain meds. I know that I wasn't pushing it enough at first (I was sleeping), and that I was in a lot of pain, but I felt less pain once I started pushing it regularly.

Once morning came, I was allowed to order a liquid breakfast. I ordered Ensure, jello, and tea. Unfortunately the nausea was really bad. My doctor came in at around 7am and told me to start eating and walking around when possible. Jon came by several times and tried to help me up to walk. I just could not stand up because of the nausea. I also could not eat at all. When it was time to order lunch, I had Jon pick something because I couldn't stand to look at the menu. I never even looked at the lunch when it came. They called my phone to ask for my dinner order, and I just said "spaghetti" off the top of my head, but I never looked at it either.

The whole day was spent feeling really sick to my stomach and tired. My dad came to visit, and I threw up in his direction (thanks dad for cleaning things up!). My mom came to visit, and I almost don't remember her being there at all. My brother came to visit, and I tried to be friendly but had to ask him to leave when I knew that I was once again about to throw up all over the place. He didn't come back, and I hear he was still white as a ghost when he got home (sorry, Kenn!). Jon came a few times and kept trying to get me to stand up, per doctor's orders, but I just couldn't do it. I spent most of the day asleep and unaware of what was going on around me.

After I had to have all my bedding changed after the second episode of throwing up, the nurse finally took my nausea seriously and gave me a big shot in the leg. It helped fairly quickly. By the time Saralyn came to visit, I was able to have her help me stand up to attempt a trip to the bathroom. I am so glad that no one had a camcorder to record my first attempts at walking. I am pretty sure that I resembled a drunk penguin, a really drunk penguin, lugging along an IV. I was thankful that my roommate at least pretended to look the other way when I walked by.

By morning I had made several short walks to the bathroom, all drunk penguin style. I had yet to eat anything, but I was feeling up to trying some breakfast. My doctor again came at around 7am. He wasn't pleased that I hadn't really done any walking or eaten anything. I was supposed to be off my IV by then, but I guess the nurses left it in since I hadn't eaten. Nevertheless, he gave the orders for me to go home once the 48 hours had passed. I was able to eat a little oatmeal and flip through some magazines that morning while I waited. I never was able to walk farther than to the bathroom, but I dressed myself and was ready to go home.

I got my staples taken out once that magical 48 hour mark arrived at 2pm. My nurse had never taken out staples before, so she had another nurse give her pointers. Luckily I can handle pain and don't mind being a guinea pig (that reminds me that I signed a waiver allowing people to watch my surgery, student nurses and such. luckily I was out before I found out if anyone was was there to enjoy the show). My nurse wasn't too good at taking out the first few, but she was a pro by the last one.

Jon went to get the van, and I walked myself (with a nurse escort) down the hall to the elevator and then out the lobby to the parking lot without any trouble. I was less like a drunk penguin and more like a regular one at that point.

Overall, I would say that I didn't feel as much unbearable pain as I expected. I think my body coped by barely being conscious for most of the time I was in the hospital.