Today is finally the day of my operation
The First Day of the Rest of My (hopefully extended) Life !!!
What I Expected
By now I will be back in my room settling down for a hopefully uneventful and pain free couple of days of recovery.
What Actually Happened
Checked into my room by 3:00PM (in time for Judge Judy 🙂 ).
Got connected to a whole array of machines and equipment
Heart rate monitor measures heart rate as well as blood oxygen levels (should be around 97%)- Drip – for hydration and nutrition, also with pain medication and anti-nausea medication added every few hours
- Oxygen – warmed/hydrated oxygen
- Air Bladders on legs – constantly inflating.deflating to “massage” legs and minimise risks from blood clots
I also had a remote control to call nurses, turn on/off lights and TV and control TV Channels/Volume… and an array of switches to raise/lower/adjust the bed.
Lots of nurses coming and going checking blood pressure and blood sugars every couple of hours. I had to page them a couple of times to disconnect me from everything (except the drip) so I could go to the loo… and on each occasion I took the opportunity to do a couple of laps around the ward.
Throughout, I had virtually no pain, just a little discomfort… which just really felt a bit like gas in my stomach/intestine… It this felt better each time I went for a walk.
I also felt like burping more than usual… but fought the urge a bit, not knowing what it might do to my stomach… probably shouldn’t have because later on when I had a bit more confidence burping helped with the discomfort.
Just 5 small dressings (little bigger than a standard bandaid) on my belly to prove that I even had an operation… maybe they forgot to do it. 🙂
Phoned my sister to let her know all was OK and she had already had an update form the surgeon and knew more about it than I did. I wasn’t feeling nauseous at all, but partway through the call I suddenly had to throw up (you know what little sisters are like). Didn’t have anything to throw up into, but managed to hold it (mostly) in my mouth until a nurse (who was handy) gave me a container… It was pretty much all blood… which is apparently pretty normal… Threw up again an hour or so later – just bloody liquid this time though… felt a LOT better after I had thrown up each time 🙂