Surgery Posting, Part 3

Surgery Posting, Part 1
Surgery Posting, Part 2
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So, the tech goes to look at the films, comes back in the room and pronounces that I can go back to my room. Let’s start the transferring. Needless to say, it is still painful, and I cried again from the tilt table to the transfer table. When I got back to my room, Laurie, Kersten and Jess were waiting to visit, but they had to leave for a minute while I got resituated. Upon getting in my room, I noticed that two of my work buddies had swung by to visit me(they left a note on my whiteboard) while I was down for my swallow study and this caused me to be even more tearful because all I wanted at that point was someone who cared about me to be with me and I had missed them. I was already in tears from the transfer down in x-ray and of course cried again when I realized the disappointment of missing my friends, and from the transfer to my bed, so Kersten was concerned. I tried to put on my brave face, but she is too smart for her own good and new that her “Mamie” wasn’t herself(red, puffy eyes couldn’t have had anything to do with it!). Jess on the other hand, loved all the hoses, tubes and wires sticking out of me! He had a blast checking me out. Kersten finally did give me a hug to make me feel better. Unfortunately, they had come while I was gone and had been there awhile already, so couldn’t stay very long, so once they left, I cried some more.
The witch of a nurse still wouldn’t let me drink anything because the doctor hadn’t seen the report yet, so I continued to swab my mouth with ice water. Not too long after Laurie and the kids left, my friend Angela and her two littlest girls came to visit. PEOPLE! People who like me! Oh it was so good to see them! They stayed for awhile until my friend Rebekah showed up. Rebekah will forever be my hero. She made what was a miserable experience in the ICU, be somewhat tolerable. I went for my first walk around the ICU nurse station at this point. I asked to do it. Getting out of bed this time, wasn’t quite as bad as those morning transfers, still painful, but not enough to make me cry at least!
So I figured the results from my swallow study should be ready by now, its about 2pm, but I continued to wait. Patients are supposed to get transferred to the regular surgical floor that first day. Little did I know, they had cancelled my transfer order. It was 6pm before the resident came back to tell me the results of the swallow study, I was fine and could start on clear liquids. HALLELUJAH! Well, so then I asked when I was going to be moved and they said they cancelled it, it was too late. It is now 6pm. At this point, I have had one of the worse days of my life and now they are telling me I am stuck up here ANOTHER night!!! I begged. I won’t lie. So, the resident, bless him, called in a transfer order and within the hour I would be moved. Meanwhile, my first “meal” arrives. At this point, its time for me to get moved to my new floor. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I haven’t eaten or drank in two freaking days and now its time to move!? Seriously people. So, all my stuff gets packed up and down to the new floor I go. Rebekah is still with me, thankfully, so I was able to cope a little better than if I had been on my own.
So we get in my new room, we get me situated, I meet my new nurses. Right away, I know I am going to like them. They have a sense of humor and are willing to please! Thank you Jesus!
I finally get to have my first taste of liquid, I had one ounce of chicken broth and one ounce of cranberry juice. It took me an hour, which is the way they wanted it. Take small sips, see how it goes. Take my time. So right now, every hour I can have two ounces of liquid. I was up late! And Rebekah, being the sweetheart that she is, offered to stay with me. I am forever indebted to her because my horrific day in the ICU left me very traumatized, and while I was pretty sure things would be better on this floor, I was still not quite ready to let “my people” leave me. My grandparents did come to visit again that afternoon and stayed one more night at my house. Susan also came to visit.
The rest of the evening was mostly uneventful, I drank my liquids, I watched TV, I chatted with Rebekah. I also did two more walks up and down the hall. Gotta keep the blood in my veins moving, we do not want clotting. The nurses did vitals checks and of course had to give me the dreaded twice daily heparin shot. I also still have to wear the TED stocking and the dreaded air pumps. I think it was close to midnight when I finally felt tired enough to doze off for good. Little did I know, hospitals are LOUD. I had read something about this and thought how bad could it be, I mean, they know we are all trying to sleep, right? They don’t care. They do whatever it is they do with no concern for how loud they might be. Mayo supposedly did a study about this in order to address it, but I guess they missed the floor I was on. And for the life of me, can you figure out why they need to draw blood at 3:30AM?? They wake a blissfully sleeping patient to draw blood. For heaven’s sake!
It is at this point that I realize I am awfully itchy. My whole body was itchy, but my nose was the worst. I couldn’t stop touching it. Literally! The nurse comes in to check on me and notices my constant itching and wiggling. She is not sure, but she thinks I might be experiencing a reaction to the morphine. Having never had morphine before, how could I know that it’ll make you itch until you peel your skin off? So, she gets the doctor to switch me to Fetanyl and adds Benadryl to make the itching better. So I try to go to sleep, but am still itching and wiggling………..was not very successful.