Enduring Plum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
enduringplum) wrote2009-03-25 07:46 am
enduringplum) wrote2009-03-25 07:46 am
Entry tags:
Fare Well My Gallbladder, I Hardly Knew Thee
Well, it's finally out! I honestly have already noticed a reduction in my pain level, despite the discomfort from the surgical incisions (really, the only one that bothers me is the one on my solar plexus, which so far is discouraging me from standing up straight).
We arrived at University Hospital at five and after waiting in various waiting areas I was finally called back and prepped for surgery around seven-thirty. From my room I was wheeled back to the pre-surgery area, to be evaluated by the anesthesia staff and receive some medication through my IV. I was only supposed to be there about a half hour, but there must have been some complications with the surgery before mine, because I wasn't finally moved in to the operating room until nearly eleven. My surgery went smoothly and I had absolutely no recall from this one, so I know they must have medicated me heavily, and I woke up in the recovery area where the nurses doted on me like mother hens until I could breathe well enough to satisfy them; for a while whenever I would fall asleep my blood oxygen level would drop to less than ninety per cent, because I had a lot of phlegm in my chest that needed to be coughed up and suctioned - it was gross.
After that, they moved me back to my room where I must have slept for several more hours (I'll have to ask Carl to know for sure) while another nurse checked up on me periodically. I finally woke up well enough at about five to use the bathroom, which meant I could be released. The nurse was surprised by how mobile I was, but I knew that once the anesthesia wore off enough I would feel almost totally normal again; I'm just very sensitive to anesthesia and pain medications, so I'm pretty much a completely useless zombie until it clears up.
I vomited off an on from the anesthesia all day yesterday, but I had my handy, ergonomic, pink vomit bowl nearby, so it was okay. I had some intense pain in my upper back and shoulders last night from the gas (the gas used to inflate my abdomen during the procedure, that is) leaving my body, but I just had Carl rub my shoulders and back until it went away, so I didn't have to resort to taking the Lortab I was prescribed.
I feel exhausted and still just kinda out of it, but what bothers me most is the lingering nausea and sore throat. The pain from my incisions is constant, but it's just a low grade soreness, so I can deal with it without really being bothered. I'll be glad when I can eat totally normally again and, like I said, I can already eat without pain immediately afterward, so that's a big improvement. I'm also a little constipated, but that should clear up naturally as long as I continue to avoid the pain medication.
The only bad result of the surgery, so far at least, is that something was stuck to my head above my eye and when it was removed a third of my right eyebrow was removed with it! I absolutely love my eyebrows, so this was a blow to me. In any case, it means I'll be artfully adding on to my brow each morning until it grows back (which I hope it does quickly!).
Miranda and Conrad are still with my parents, so the house has been eerily quiet; the night before my surgery it was difficult for me to sleep without Miranda snoring softly beside the bed and Conrad snoring on the floor at the foot of the bed. Miranda should be coming back home tonight some time, but she'll either be going back to my folks in the morning or one of them will come here, because I'm not supposed to lift more than fifteen pounds for the next two to three weeks.
Today I'm just going to take it easy and enjoy the quiet and solitude (and hopefully not vomit!). I may do some knitting or some very light gardening, like planting the coleus seeds Triple_Phoenix gave me. Or I may just veg on the sofa all day if the TV doesn't nauseate me.
We arrived at University Hospital at five and after waiting in various waiting areas I was finally called back and prepped for surgery around seven-thirty. From my room I was wheeled back to the pre-surgery area, to be evaluated by the anesthesia staff and receive some medication through my IV. I was only supposed to be there about a half hour, but there must have been some complications with the surgery before mine, because I wasn't finally moved in to the operating room until nearly eleven. My surgery went smoothly and I had absolutely no recall from this one, so I know they must have medicated me heavily, and I woke up in the recovery area where the nurses doted on me like mother hens until I could breathe well enough to satisfy them; for a while whenever I would fall asleep my blood oxygen level would drop to less than ninety per cent, because I had a lot of phlegm in my chest that needed to be coughed up and suctioned - it was gross.
After that, they moved me back to my room where I must have slept for several more hours (I'll have to ask Carl to know for sure) while another nurse checked up on me periodically. I finally woke up well enough at about five to use the bathroom, which meant I could be released. The nurse was surprised by how mobile I was, but I knew that once the anesthesia wore off enough I would feel almost totally normal again; I'm just very sensitive to anesthesia and pain medications, so I'm pretty much a completely useless zombie until it clears up.
I vomited off an on from the anesthesia all day yesterday, but I had my handy, ergonomic, pink vomit bowl nearby, so it was okay. I had some intense pain in my upper back and shoulders last night from the gas (the gas used to inflate my abdomen during the procedure, that is) leaving my body, but I just had Carl rub my shoulders and back until it went away, so I didn't have to resort to taking the Lortab I was prescribed.
I feel exhausted and still just kinda out of it, but what bothers me most is the lingering nausea and sore throat. The pain from my incisions is constant, but it's just a low grade soreness, so I can deal with it without really being bothered. I'll be glad when I can eat totally normally again and, like I said, I can already eat without pain immediately afterward, so that's a big improvement. I'm also a little constipated, but that should clear up naturally as long as I continue to avoid the pain medication.
The only bad result of the surgery, so far at least, is that something was stuck to my head above my eye and when it was removed a third of my right eyebrow was removed with it! I absolutely love my eyebrows, so this was a blow to me. In any case, it means I'll be artfully adding on to my brow each morning until it grows back (which I hope it does quickly!).
Miranda and Conrad are still with my parents, so the house has been eerily quiet; the night before my surgery it was difficult for me to sleep without Miranda snoring softly beside the bed and Conrad snoring on the floor at the foot of the bed. Miranda should be coming back home tonight some time, but she'll either be going back to my folks in the morning or one of them will come here, because I'm not supposed to lift more than fifteen pounds for the next two to three weeks.
Today I'm just going to take it easy and enjoy the quiet and solitude (and hopefully not vomit!). I may do some knitting or some very light gardening, like planting the coleus seeds Triple_Phoenix gave me. Or I may just veg on the sofa all day if the TV doesn't nauseate me.