My surgery went well otherwise. The staff at my hospital were friendly and supportive. The anesthesiologist put an oxygen mask on me, gave me some medicine in my IV, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in Recovery. As soon as I woke up, I decided to go right back to sleep, because I was feeling nauseated. There was a nurse sitting at a computer right beside me. After several times of waking up/going back to sleep, the nurse happened to notice when I woke up and spoke to me, and I told her I was nauseated, and she gave me medication. That helped, somewhat. Before they transported me to my room, I asked for more medication, because I was fearful the moving and bumping would make me more nauseated. I had gone into surgery at around 10:30am, and I got to my room around 3pm. Vital signs were taken. My RN removed my oxygen, but I was still dozing off/on and an NA put my oxygen back on when she noticed that my oxygen sats dropped into the 80's while I was sleeping. I also had a urinary catheter in place, and IV fluid running into the same IV that they'd placed prior to surgery. They had given me some Ceftin in that IV during surgery and recovery, and now I was getting Tylenol (yes, IV!) and either lactated Ringers or Normal Saline. I also had a Morphine pump with a button that I could push every 6 minutes for a small dose of morpine. I used it a bit for that first night in the hospital. There was pain, but it was mostly in my shoulder area and I think it is from the air they use to poof up your abdomen to do the surgery. It's still there, 2 days later, but not as bothersome. I needed help to get all my tubes and IV lines squared away so that I could walk in the hallway, which I did twice on that first night. I was a little dizzy the first time when I stood up, but it went away quickly, and I didn't walk until it passed. Mike stayed with me until 4:30pm, then he left to make the hour drive back home to feed the animals and lock up the chickens. He came back at 7:30pm and then left again at 9:30pm when we both agreed that the staff was taking good care of me. I pushed my morphine button and went to sleep, woke up briefly around 2am, pushed the button and went back to sleep, woke up when the lab came to get some blood at 5:30am, then dozed off again until 7:30am when my surgeon came in and looked at the incisions and asked how I was doing. She told me that I would likely be going home later that day, and we briefly discussed the hiatal hernia and fatty liver. I dozed off again, and Mike was there. The staff brought in sugar-free sorbet, sugar-free protein drink in fruit flavors, broth and water. My RN wrote on the board in my room that I was to try for 30 mls an hour x 2 hours, then 60mls an hour x 2 hours, then 9 mls an hour x 2 hours, and finally 120mls. I could only comfortably do 60 mls. I can STILL only comfortably do 60 mls today. If I drink more than 2 sips every 10 minutes, it feels very uncomfortable and full and the pain in my shoulders gets worse. They wished that I would pass gas, and I STILL haven't! I do burp frequently. Yesterday was pretty much a blur of drinking, drinking, drinking. I walked again. My daughter Jess came and helped me with the drinking and braided my hair after Mike left to prepare for an event he is cooking for tomorrow. After a couple hours, she went home, and I napped again. I discovered that broth did NOT taste at all good. At about 2pm, the RN came in and said that my surgeon said it was ok for me to go home. I was able to reach Mike by about 4 pm, as he was in the store and his phone didn't work until he got out of the store. Meanwhile, the RN insisted I take a dose of oral Lortab for pain before my trip home, even though I didn't really have that much pain. I was worried it would take up too much room in my new stomach, but she reassured me and it was ok. I took off my hospital gown and put on my jeans and T shirt (jeans were not a good choice, and I'd recommend sweat pants or yoga pants instead). I packed up the hospital stuff: basin, emesis basin, protein drinks and water bottles, Blistex for my lips, little toothpaste tubes. They throw this stuff out, and I figured I could use it for something. When Mike got there at around 5pm, we called for Transport and they put me on a transport chair and whisked me out to the Durango. I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to the staff. It's a busy floor, and they were all off helping other patients.
The drive home was unremarkable. Mike chose the least winding route, which probably helped a lot. I was entirely comfortable. When I got home, I walked a little bit around the house, found a bottle to put my drink in, and mixed up a batch of protein drink. Mike had the kitchen and dining area pretty much filled with stuff for his cooking event, and I figured that was enough excitement for one day and went to bed with my protein drink. Every time I woke up, I went to the bathroom and rinsed my mouth out, then drank two sips of protein drink. At about 2 am, my mouth was really yucky and after I rinsed it I drank 4 sips of water, and my stomach protested immediately. I walked a little, burped, and went back to bed. Mike came in around 7am, and I asked him to fill the vaporizer, as I think that makes it easier to breathe and my mouth doesn't get as yucky. Sure enough, by 9 am I didn't feel nearly as congested and my mouth wasn't so horrible. I got up, checked Facebook briefly and posted that I was alive, made my day's worth of protein drink and another bottle of water, and began sipping. Took a nap between 11:30 and 1pm, then came back to the computer to post this. All in all, I feel like I've been hit by a truck, but it's not necessarily PAIN. The soreness to my belly is entirely tolerable. The worst of it is not being able to drink much. I rinse my mouth a lot, which helps. I think I'll feel much better when I'm able to either pass gas or have a BM. My goal for the rest of the day is to finish my protein drink, check Facebook, and maybe stuff some dates for Mike later if I can tolerate that. Even looking at food is hard, to be truthful. Although yesterday I did have some thoughts about refried beans, which won't happen for weeks. I did try sugar-free Jello in the hospital, and it tasted fine but didn't seem to leave the pouch well, so I'm sticking with protein drink and water for now.
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