Tomorrow I will be 4 weeks post-op. What a ride it has been so far.

My surgery was not until late in the day and did not get back to my room until very late (well, it was dark outside so to my fresh from anesthesia mind it felt late). They could not get my pain under control in recovery. I remember waking up and for a second not knowing where I was and it felt like someone had ripped my left arm off! The pain in my left shoulder and my abdomen were very intense. They ended up "knocking me out" and my husband said they called him and told him that they were working on my pain level and I would be a while. When I got to my room, it was much of the same. I was up in my chair as soon as I got out of recovery. I didn't even let them put me in my bed because I read that getting up helped the pain and I assumed the pain that would be helped was what was in my left arm (not sure if it helped or not, but the staff was impressed that I kept getting up and moving). The poor nurse was in my room all night. They had to keep changing my IV pain meds and giving me boluses to amp up what I was already getting. At one point, my body hurt and I was so tired that I told my husband and the nurse that I would not get out of bed again; I would just pee right in the bed. I didn't care anymore. It hurt too bad to get up and it was not worth it. Then my IV came out. How did I discover this? Well, I hit the button for my pain meds and it set my arm on fire!! It took the hospital and hour to get someone up there to change it.

At some point the next day, I started to feel better (not good by a long shot). They had finally got me on the right doses of meds, but it was till excruciating to move using my core. Things were going OK and then they gave me a roommate! This poor girl. I don't know if I hated her or felt sorry for her. The hacking and spiting all day every few minutes. I could not get any rest and it was making me want to gag. Then my friend came to visit with her son so that my husband could go eat and get out of the room for a bit (he was so good to me as always, did not leave my side unless I was asleep). Lucky me that she is a music therapist! She could tell I was in pain and tired; she pulled out an iPod and headphones....she was prepared! It played beautiful piano music and it calmed me; I really slept for the first time since going in for surgery. Her, her son, and my husband sat and quietly chatted while I rested and they made sure I was comfortable. Again, I am lucky to have people in my life that love me.....especially after witnessing what happened next. The next morning came and the girl that was hacking ALL DAY AND NIGHT woke me up by yelling and crying to someone on the other end of the phone. This is where the feeling sorry for her comes in. She was talking to this person about not having anywhere to go. Her mom would not let you come home, her grandma would not let her come home, and they were going to call CPS on her and have her baby taken from her.....why? Well, because she would not have a second surgery!!!!! It sounded like the surgeon was the one that did not want that. She was in there and getting potassium (it was very very low) and then would be sent home. The MD said her body would not deal well with surgery at this point and she needed to get the potassium and go home and work on her tied first. The family was saying that she was not taking care of herself. So, she had no home and her baby was going to be taken away. (Have I said how lucky I am to have people that love me???) Social Workers, Case Managers, Nurses, and MDs were in and out with her all day; if they were not in the room, she was on the phone. I kept the headphones on as much as possible. I had to walk by her bed to go to the bathroom (I was sick of the BSC) and it felt so awkward. Maybe because I didn't know what to do to help her. I just wanted to go home at that point. Thank God they released me that evening with lots of high powered drugs and incase anyone was wondering, my roommates aunt came to get her. I don't know the story with the baby though, but the SW did say that her family could not take him/her.

Things were not too horrible if I stayed on top of my pain meds (2 types alternating every 2 hours and Tylenol every 4). I had very little nausea, but it was hard to get anything down more then a couple sips. I wanted to sleep, but the bed was uncomfortable. I could not find a good positions. Lying on my side was impossible and flat on my back hurt and pulled at the incisions. My husband propped me up on pillows and that was a little better. There were no rails like at the hospital to help pull me up and it took everything I had to do it. It hurt like hell and I tried to do it as little as possible. When I got up, I tried to stay up for a while.

As days passed, I was feeling better, but something still felt off. I was still having intense pain when I tried to move. By Monday (one week post-op) the biggest of my 6 incisions hurt badly and was red, hot, and raised. I tried to ignore it; I didn't want to seem like I was a baby and over reacting to nothing. I called the surgeon's office, but the nurse was off that day and she would have to call me tomorrow (even though I said the word infection....seems like that warrants a call from the staff that is covering for that nurse). My husband took me to the store because I really wanted out of the house for a bit. By the time we got back, the redness had spread by 1 inch al the way around the incision (about 1.5" around total). This was in just 4 hours (we took pictures of all of this....just in case)! I texted pictures to a nurse I work with and she replied "go to MD or ED NOW". My husband grabbed my purse and his keys and we were out the door. We went to the urgent care and the MD said "yep, that's infected". Starting double dose of Bactrim and some other antibiotic. He said he wanted to cover everything. By the next evening, it burst. It was so gross so I will spare you the gory details. I called the on call surgical staff and they said to go back to the urgent care or to the ED. Back to the urgent care we went. They cleaned it up a bit, took a culture, and bandaged me. The changed one of the antibiotics to a stronger one, Levaquin. I was on this stuff for almost 2 weeks! During that time I got Thrush and has to take Swish and Swallow (if you have never had this, count yourself lucky. It is a yeast infection in your mouth and it is miserable). The Thursday the surgeon's office insisted that I come in for them to look at it (more then likely because the nurse did call back on Tuesday morning and my husband gave them an ear full about ignoring an infection of a surgical incision....they were very apologetic). The cut open the incision and my husband (poor guy) had to learn how to pack and care for my wound. One of my nurse friends met us at home that night to bring supplies and walk my husband through the wound treatment again.

After 3 weeks, it is finally starting to close up! It feels much better now and I can sleep on my side and use my core to move. The Thrush is cleared up and I am off the antibiotics. I had to stop a lot of my meds and all of my vitamins during this time due to interactions and I can start taking it all again. I still have a lot to work on... getting enough fluids and protein, getting my exercise, etc. Everything is getting easier (I use that word loosely); I am on the mend and one day hope to look back on this and say "it was all worth it".

(When I put all of this down on paper, I see how very blessed I am to have the people I have in my life!)