I’m Baaaaack

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Yes, I am still alive!

I went in for surgery last Wednesday morning.  I was very nervous, but everything was very hectic and busy that morning as I prepared to leave.  Hubby drove me to the surgery center located next to the hospital, I filled out my final paperwork, settled up with the financial department and then things really started moving.  I was taken back to a pre area where I undressed and got into a gown, then laid down on the gurney.  The pre op nurse was extremely soothing and friendly, which helped my nerves.  I was even watching Comedy Central and enjoying a few moments of alone time.  She drew blood, started my IV and then brought hubby back to sit with me until the next move.

Next thing I know, our pastor is there.  I swear, he should work for the CIA because we had not given him too many details, yet he managed to find us and then prayed with us. 

They transported me upstairs to another holding area.  I was in a curtained room alone since they dropped hubby at the waiting room beforehand.  I was waiting on the plastic surgeon to come and do my markings and time kept ticking by.  My parents wandered in at some point and then the nurses directed them to the waiting room as well.  Once the doc was there, I had to stand (completely nude, just my gown lifted all the way up) while he drew and drew all over my belly and hips and pubic area.  That part was weird.  The nurse was joking around and asking him if he had become a cartoonist or something.

Finally it was time to head to the OR.  For some reason I couldn’t remember how long the surgery was going to last, so I asked the nurse.  She checked the board and told me they had blocked out FOUR and a HALF hours!  That sent me into a slight panic!

The OR was cold and I instantly had a flood of memories from my two c-section experiences.  They moved me to the table, and after a few minutes gave me some meds and that was all she wrote.

I woke up in the recovery room in tremendous pain.  I have no idea how long I was in there as I kept fading in and out, but it hurt really badly and I remember the nurse saying she had given the maximum medication possible.  I knew then that I was going to regret this.

I was moved upstairs to my room and just lay there groaning.  I think they had given me morphine along with who knows what else.  They got my IV moving and gave me more drugs – again, I was in and out and don’t remember too much of the beginning stage.  My nurse was terrible.  She kept insisting that it wasn’t that bad and that I just needed to think good thoughts.  She would rub my arm and tell me to think about the ocean.  It was a really long night and my very calm, laid back hubby was in her face several times, which says a lot about how horrible she was.  She wasn’t giving me the meds on time, but instead waited well past their expiration before redosing me.

The tide began to turn the next morning when my new nurse came on.  She was appalled that the other nurse had been basically withholding the meds and even told us that she could have been overlapping 2 different medications and staggering them.  Once the new nurse started doing that and staying ahead of the pain, I felt tremendously better.  What a difference good nurses make.

It was definitely a back and forth process.  I would begin to feel better, then later that night I would relapse.  I had another horrible night that night, but a better nurse.  The bloating, gas and reflux were unbearable.  I felt like I would explode.  I kept thinking that I needed some sort of drain to release the pressure.  I had thought I would have drains, but did not. I also wondered why I didn’t have one of the self controlled pain pumps like I had with the c/s, but things just kept rising and falling.

By now it was Friday and they started me on oral pain meds.  The Percocet was much more effective than the IV med I had been receiving, but it seemed harder on my system.  I was doing great and the docs came in on Sat. morning with my discharge papers and I was all set to go.  At this point I got out of the bed for the first time my entire stay.  They had just removed my catheter (finally!) and I was able to sit in a chair for about an hour.  It made me dizzy and sick to my stomach, but I knew it was good to be up.    

Suddenly I was very nauseous.  I called the nurse and told them immediately.  When my nurse arrived in my room 20 minutes later, I was at my wit’s end.  She went back out to get some medicine (why didn’t she have it with her!?) but as soon as she left the room, I started vomiting.  That was the most painful experience I have ever had.  There is nothing like having your entire abdomen sliced, pummeled, stitched and THEN throwing up in that condition.  I thought my insides were tearing apart and that all the stiches were going to come loose.  Thankfully the Zofran worked fast and was very effective.

After that, I had several more bouts of nauseau.  We started just giving the pain meds with the nauseau medicine and that was great.   My binder was extremely tight and causing bruises along my hips where it was cutting into them.  I am getting more used to it, but it is definitely made for someone with a longer torso!

The rest of Sat. was up and down.  I was glad that I hadn’t gone home since I still felt miserable, but I was able to get up and walk a bit and FINALLY…

PASS GAS

WHOO HOO!  Let me tell you, that was relief like I have never experienced in my life.  Everything seemed to improve after that and my hubby was delighted at my condition.  He got me so tickled at one point that I had to yell at him to leave the room because it hurt so much to laugh.

Sunday morning I actually managed to eat a couple of crackers.  The docs rounded again and we all agreed I was ready to go home, armed with a handful of prescriptions.  It was interesting getting dressed to say the least and the ride home was not exactly comfortable, but it was so nice to be HOME.

My mom brought the children home today and it was so wonderful seeing them all.  They look like they have grown!  They are all being very sweet and attentive and trying their best to be gentle.  Tonight after dinner, R sat beside me and brought me his blankie and Buster and INSISTED that I hold them because ”your tummy huwrts”.  What a doll.

I go tomorrow for a post op check up, so hopefully everything is healing properly.  I can’t wait to see the end results, although that will be a good long while with all the swelling and such.  My incision is about three times longer than my c/s scar.  It looks like the Joker’s smile from Batman. It goes from one hip bone, down to the pubic area, then back up to the other hip bone.  The made that incision, peeled the skin back, fixed the hernia and the diastasis recti, then pulled the skin back down and removed the excess.  Did you want to know all that?  Ewww.  I know.

Ok, I’m exhausted now and I know this post was void of any real zip, but I needed to get it all down before I forgot everything.

Time for another Percocet!  Nighty night folks!  

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Filed under crappy nurses, plastic surgery