thistlechaser | Surgery, recovery, home from the hospital

This might get long-ish and potentially will be TMI (medical stuff and period), so cutting it.

My period made things really, really miserable. I would have been naked under the gown (which would have worked perfectly well, it was a big, comfortable gown), but because of my period, I had to use their underwear (one size fits all, ha) and their pads. The underwear did not fit, wouldn't even come up over my butt, and the pads are for after women give birth (so they're thick and giant). Plus cramps. This was the first time I had really been grumpy and annoyed after arriving at the hospital.

From about 5:15-7:15 was all prep stuff and a lot of waiting. Lots of questions confirming who I was and why I was there (making sure I knew). When they were ready to take me into the OR, they sent my mother to wait in the waiting room. They gave her a six digit ID number for me, so they could list my progress on a screen without using my name.

The OR was scary. They didn't knock me out before going in, so I moved onto the OR table myself. It was seriously cold in there, plus so much medical stuff and stark whiteness. I remember thinking people with medical kinks are crazy, heh. :P

I remember them giving me something to relax me, and nothing after that. Next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room. I had a good deal of pain at that point (high in my back, surprisingly, not my stomach/front at all) and I was having a hard time communicating. I remember thinking that this whole surgery thing was a bad idea.

Eventually they moved me to my room. I was still kind of out of it, but I think my mother was there waiting. I had a pain pump thing (I could give myself painkiller up to once per five minutes) and used it for a while. About 5 PM (~6 hours post-surgery) I used my last dose of it and haven't used any since. I'm really surprised at how little pain there is.

That night I had to use the CPAP machine, so of course I got no sleep (maybe 45 minutes total). I was pretty tired and miserable.

They were ready to release me early that morning, but the surgeon didn't have time to write up my discharge notes until 12 hours later, so I had to stay basically a whole extra day (sigh). At least they took the foley catheter out in the morning, that was the second worst thing after my period (goes into your bladder so you don't have to pee on your own). It's VERY uncomfortable, like having something stuck up inside your vagina as you try to sit, move, walk, whatever. Very uncomfortable.

We got home late-ish (like 9:30?), we had to stop at the pharmacy on the way home. I fell into bed and sleep (kind of broken) until about 7 this morning.

Unfortunately I'm allergic to something, and I have a rash from my chin down to my ankles. Very very itchy, it's driving me crazy. (Same thing happened when I was in the hospital with my leg back in December.)

The nurses use those self-inflating blood pressure cups, and I believe I got some kind of injury from them. They used them on my forearms, and the only real pain I have is my hands, wrists, forearms, and elbows. I've been icing them, but the pain is pretty bad.

So, all in all, everything's going good. I had two-thirds of a protein shake for breakfast and I'm sipping water as much as I can. No weight loss since going into the hospital, but I'm really not worried about that right now. I'm very happy to be home.

I have felt hunger twice, but it was mild and fleeting. Hopefully it won't happen again.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! And thanks for all the well-wishes on previous posts. :)