Surgery

05/21/10

The surgery went great. The hospital time was MUCH better than five years ago. Seriously, what I remember from then is being terribly uncomfortable for three days straight, and really struggling to accomplish the number of steps required for them to release me. This time, maybe I had a newer bed or something, but I wasn't in any-pain-at-all when lying still. So, Monday was a blur of early morning drive to the hospital, TKO for the surgery, and waking up actually comfortable in my room number 2468 (what a great room number!). Tuesday I had two visits from the physical therapists, a few blood draws which have left my right arm and fingertips bruised, an appetite and gas (gas being a big requirement for discharge), two visitors with flowers, family visitors, lots of sleep, and hope for discharge the next day. Sure enough, Wednesday was all about getting the right people to sign off, and by 1:30 I was outta there!

Now, the thing about being home is, I need a caregiver on call 24/7 for a few days. Ideally that is my husband. He is a great caregiver--when he doesn't require care himself. And he has pulled through whenever I've needed him to, but he has his own back, sleep, and gout issues. The hardest thing for now is sleeping on my back. It's simply not comfortable, and no matter how hard I try to keep myself awake during the day, nighttime is still difficult to sleep through. I cannot get in and out of bed by myself yet, so any trip to the bathroom requires a "call" on the intercom to Audie, and maybe a follow-up call to make sure he didn't go back to sleep. At 4 AM today I just decided it was time to get up for the day--much easier than getting back in bed, ugh.

So, it is healing time. I'm on pain meds and antibiotics. Went to the doc today to make sure the seepage from my wound was nothing bad (it's soaking through my clothes). That trip wore me out. So, a nap, and now it is 10:30 PM and I'm not looking forward to getting into that bed......