Saturday, August 23, 2014

Four Days Post-Op

On Tuesday I arrived at the hospital at 8:30 and got checked in fairly quick. Mom and Dave took me, and Mrs. Paulus (my choir teacher from high school) came as well. By a little after 9:30 I'm being wheeled away to the pre-surgery area where I would get my IV and something to relax me. 
Getting the IV in was a hassle! They tried the top of both of my hands, my wrists and eventually got one in on my left arm near my elbow, this is where blood is usually drawn. After that I had to go to the restroom one last time, and eventually the anesthesiologist and my surgeon came by to discuss what was going to happen and to see if I had any questions. I was given my sedative and then wheeled away into the operating room.

Last thing I remember is laying on my back and having my arms spread wide, not entirely sure why I was arranged this way, then I woke up a couple hour later in recovery and felt very disoriented, which is normal I suppose. 

Mom and Dave hung out with me for a bit but seeing as I kept passing out on them they went home to get some rest themselves. Later Caitlin and Jeff came by but I repeated my performance of passing out on people during a conversation.

The next day was better, though I just slept most of the time. They had me on a morphine pump where I could give myself a 1mg shot of the stuff every ten minutes and that definitely helped regulate the pain. Wednesday night however I was taken off the morphine, and that's when I decided to go home asap. Might as well be at home if I'm just gonna be on the same pain killers I have at home.

I ended up going home on Thursday afternoon, I was so happy to have the IV removed; as it was on my left elbow I pretty much had to keep my arm straight for the duration of my stay. This became problematic as I'd move my arm in my sleep.

When I got home my forearms started to hurt big time. It took a while to figure out that they were sore from lifting myself up in the bed with the bar that was over me. They're still sore. I've found that heat helps but going back and fourth to the microwave with the heating pad is getting tedious. Now I am eagerly waiting for my friend Lisa to bring me an electric heating pad tomorrow. 

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