I can't take a shower until Saturday.
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I went in yesterday morning, no food or drink since midnight the night before, which for me meant 5pm the night before. We went right to the surgical waiting room and everyone there that day was there for gallbladder surgery. I saw my surgeon come out and talk to another family, she told them the surgery was done and they would have to wait about an hour and a half before their person would wake up from anesthesia then they could see their family member. On her way back through the door, she saw me and said hello. About twenty minutes afterwards they took me back, hubby had to wait in the waiting room. They did a pregnancy test, even though I told them I was starting my period. Then I had to take off all of my clothes and put on one of those stylish hospital gowns...
Then they brought hubby back and I gave him my rings to hold onto. (funny tidbit-you cant have nail polish on and I didnt remember until I was laying down for bed the night before. So I sat up and took off the nail polish, but right before we left that morning for the hospital, I looked down and realized that I hadnt taken the nail polish off my pinky finger of my left hand! So I had to run upstairs and do that really quickly)
They came in and put an IV in my hand, I hate IVs, I hate feeling the liquid enter my vein and I hate the needle. I am ALWAYS told that it is hard to stick me because I "am a redhead and redheads have bad veins" which is not helpful.
My nose started getting congested and I started to get a sinus headache. I saw my surgeon again, she came in and said "hi" and told me what to expect. She said that they were running on schedule and it wouldnt be too long from then. The time went by really quickly and about an hour later the anesthesia doctor came in and put an antibiotic in my IV. About half an hour after that a nurse came in and put a little blue hat over my hair. I said 'werent they worried they would mistake me for one of them?'lol
Hubby and I said our I love yous (and my mom did also) and she started wheeling my bed back. I of course started tearing up and by the time we got to the holding room I was sobbing pretty bad. The anesthesia doctor came over and gave me some "liquid courage" which helped in less than ten seconds. Then they wheeled me into the OR. I heard a nurse telling the anesthesia doctor that I didn't like to have the mask over my face and he said that he wouldnt even go that route then. They asked me to scoot over to the operating table and I did and the next thing I remember was waking up coughing in the recovery room with severe pain in my left shoulder.
Then I noticed the pain in my stomach area and that hurt. The nurse gave me as much morphine as possible and said the pain in my shoulder from the gas they use to expand the inside of the body so they could see what they were doing and that I would feel that on and off until the gas had dissipated.
After I woke up some more she asked if I wanted to go to my room and I could get a something to drink and see hubby, my throat was really dry but they cant give you anything to drink in that room. I told her to give me 20 more minutes, that I was enjoying the peace and quiet of the room since I would have 4 kids to go home to. She laughed and said ok.
They took my to my room and gave me some Shasta ginger-ale which is a lot bubblier than the Canadian dry I usually drink. Hubby and my mom came in. Once my mom saw I was ok she left to go home. I couldnt keep my eyes open at all. I felt cross-eyed and that made me feel sick. Hubby kept asking if I was going to go to sleep and I kept telling him no, I just didnt want to open my eyes. I was there for hours, I just didn't feel good at all. They wanted to give me two narcotic pills for the pain but I felt uneasy about that because I remember a time when I took some pain meds giving birth to my 3rd child and it made me hallucinate, my eyes cross, and nauseous And I did not want to go through that again. I asked if maybe we could just try one to begin with but because that would be changing the doctors orders, they had to call and get permission which took about a half an hour but they were able to do that.
It got to be about 4:30pm and I guess they close that particular wing, which is only for outpatient surgery, down at 5-5:30. So the nurse told me I could stay overnight but that they would have to admit me and move me to another room. Or if I wanted to go home, they would start the paperwork and take out the iv.
Honestly part of me wanted to stay, but then I remembered the awful experiences I have had staying over night at the hospital and the comfort of my own bed. And the fact that my littlest child was really having separation anxiety with me right now and how they would all be worried if I didnt come home that night. So I sucked it up and insisted that I would go home.
We got me into the van and had to drive by and pick up some prescriptions on the way home. I waited in the van while hubby went inside. I asked him to also get some more gingerale and to make sure he had the groceries he needed for himself and the kids for at least the next 48 hours. While he was in there I had a craving for the buttery crackers and the buttery cookies and thought that I would have to send him back in after he came out, the weather was really shitty, but he came back out to put the groceries in the van and said the prescriptions were not done yet but he wanted to make sure I didnt want anything else, HA!
When he came back out I asked for one of the cookies. The whole time he had been in the store, I had been trying to prompt myself to vomit. I figured if I could vomit then I would feel at least a little bit better, but it wasnt working.
I took a little nibble of the cookie, hubby started driving, and that was all it took! and I did feel better afterwards.
We got home, I showed the kids my bandages so that it would help get the message across that they can not jump into my side. They had lots of questions. I laid down on the couch for a bit. I tried to eat some rice but was only able to stomach about 3 bites before everything started hurting again and I started feeling nauseous.
Kids went to bed, hubby and I watched an episode of vampire diaries and then we went to bed.
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The hospital just called and asked how I was doing. I told them about the nausea and they said to wait one more hour and if it wasnt gone then to call my doctor for an anit-nausea prescription. They said they werent too worried about me eating but that I needed to be able to drink.
You're a trooper...Laproscopic surgery is "less invasive" but can definitely be more painful...You'll feel muuuch better after a day or 2...promise.
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