Surgery Posting, Part 2

Surgery Posting, Part 1
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I am told that I was wheeled into recovery around 5:30. I don’t know exactly what time I started to become aware, but the first thing I can remember is being in pain. I remember repeating “Pain” over and over. They must have given me some more pain meds, because once that wasn’t bothering me, I then realized I was thirsty. Now you have to remember, I haven’t eaten or drank all day. The nurse tries to explain to me in my sedated state that she can’t give me anything to drink. I kept repeating the word “THIRSTY”. I was going to get a drink!! Finally, she runs a swab in my mouth of cold water, felt wonderful, it was SO parched. I don’t know how long it was after that, but the next thing I remember saying was “I want my Grama!” So, I hear them say, okay, she is ready for transfer to ICU.
I guess it was around 7pm that I was finally situated and got to see my grandparents. Susan, my roommate, was there as well. I don’t remember much about the evening, I know I babbled a lot, but have no recollection of what I talked about. Not one word! I know at some point my grandparents went back to my house, and it was just Susan in the room, and I must have dozed again, the next time I woke up, she had gone home too. I believe it was around 11pm at this point. My bed that first night was in the ICU, doctor’s preference that all patients go there after surgery, it was not because I had complications or anything fun like that. I was however on oxygen initially because I wasn’t satting quite as well as they would have liked. I also still had
The rest of that night and into the morning, I was up off and on. I wasn’t on continuous pain medication, I had to push a button to get it, so as you can imagine, you get pretty uncomfortable if you went too long between pushes. You had to wait 15 minutes between pushes. I still to this day do not understand why for at least the first day or two, they can’t make it continuous, but that is a whole different tale. My nurse that was with me all night, was very nice, except that she had to give me a shot of heparin(twice a day so I don’t have blood clots). She also got me extra pillows and a blanket, and assisted helping me move around(couldn’t get comfy) since I was still a little woozy from all the drugs. She also had to take vitals several times, and of course, they had to do bloodwork to make sure all my counts were ok. I also had these air pump things attached to my legs, they would blow up and release every ten second or so. Was rather annoying feeling, so sleep wasn’t really on the agenda.
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Friday
By morning, a new nurse had taken over and most of the rest of my day was hellacious. The resident came in around 6:30 to tell me I’d be going for my swallow study(this is to make sure there aren’t any holes or gaps in my newly rerouted intestines) this morning and after he reviewed the results, if all was well, we could start me on the clear liquids. Little did I know, that their idea of morning and mine, differed by about 4 hours! I am still very thirsty as we are now into day two of no food or drink. I practically had to bribe the nurse to get a swabber to swab my mouth with ice water. I couldn’t drink it mind you and I was to use it sparingly because they don’t know if I can have liquids yet. I guess she assumed I was two years old and couldn’t follow directions because she was downright rude about it. It was 11:30 before they finally came to wheel me down for the test. I was NOT amused. I was trying to use the swab sparingly, but my mouth was DRY, it needed moisture. I am pretty sure the drugs they gave me have a side effect of dry mouth on top of not being able to eat or drink for nearly two days. My grandparents had come back that morning to visit and were with me up until I went for my swallow study.
So, going to do the swallow study required me being transferred from my bed to a transfer bed. This was not pretty, let me tell you. I was in a lot of pain at this point and they were asking me to do the impossible. Roll. Sounds simple enough, but when someone has been poking around in your insides, NOT SO MUCH! I was in tears by the time I finally got on the transfer bed. I was in a lot of pain, and noone seemed to really care! I get down to the x-ray room and again, I have to transfer. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? So, over I have to roll and slide to what I am now aware of is a tilt table. Again, in tears. They begin to take pictures and then I have to drink some contrast. They tell me it tastes bad, I actually didn’t mind it. Not sure if it was the drugs or if it really tasted ok, might of just been tasty because I hadn’t eaten or drank in two days. So after drinking a little bit of it, I had to sit for a few and then they tilted the table to get pictures of the liquid moving through my system. I have to keep sipping repeatedly while tilted so they get adequate pictures of it moving through to make sure there are no holes or cracks or leaks. So, you’d think being on a tilt table they could strap you in or something. Not at Mayo! I had to bear weight and hold myself upright on that table. At this point, I haven’t been out of bed except to transfer, certainly not any weight bearing exercises. My legs were like Jello and I was forced to stand for what seemed like forever and hold myself up all the while swallowing contrast. I was nearly in tears again when I finally told them if they didn’t put me back down, I was going to collapse. The tech looks at me and says, “oh come on, don’t be a baby!” OH REALLY! Should we change positions and see how you like it???? I proceeded to convince him that my legs lacked the strength to hold me when he realized I wasn’t joking and managed to “catch” me and put me back into a lying down position.