I lived!

After surgery I remember things in bits and pieces. I woke as I was getting hooked up the the monitors and they were changing my gown which was soaked with sweat and putting a cool air blower on me. That thing felt SO good. I had pain, but not as much as I expected, about a 4/10. I also had some nausea, but it was in the background. I didn't feel like I was going to throw up right away, but was definitely slightly nauseous. My first thought was "I lived!" and my second was "Half or whole?". They told me it was only half and I drifted back into oblivion, still making my best attempt to breathe deeply since I was dimly aware that my breathing was shallow and my O2 sats around 90%.

The next time I woke, Les was there and I was SO glad to see him. He looked exhausted, but he was a beautiful sight, and that kiss was the sweetest I've ever had. I noticed my arm hurt and saw that my IV had blown--I was sporting one impressive bruise on my arm where they had put the 18. OK, where is the IV now? To my surprise, it was tiny little 22 in my right hand. Great--its going to hurt to flush. I would have thought they would have placed a 20 though. Now I was aware that I really had to go pee, but wasn't yet in any shape to get up to go to the bathroom. I was asleep again before they could bring a bedpan.

The next few hours were a blur, but eventually they got a very wobbly me up to the bathroom and I was able to partially empty my bladder. Blessed relief. Les and I were then relocated to an overflow unit since the head and neck floor was full and didn't have a bed for me yet. What a nurse patient ratio! There were two nurses and I was the only patient. I gingerly sipped some juice, very welcome but slightly nausea provoking, so I kept it to a slow sip rate. My neck does hurt, but its very tolerable and it feels like they used marcaine or something to numb the area up because its distinctly numb. My throat isn't nearly as sore as I expected. I kept falling asleep again in between bathroom trips every 2 hours to pee. Finally the anaesthesia is wearing off enough that I can pee somewhat normally.

Les left around 4pm to get ready to work...another night shift on no sleep. I was worried about him falling asleep driving, but kept drifting off to sleep again myself. Around five pm my room was ready on the head and neck floor and they brought a wheelchair, asking if I could walk. I though he meant walk to the eleventh floor (I was on the sixth) and carry my pillow and bag of stuff! I was thinking that I wasn't in any shape to walk that far, not realizing he was asking could I walk to get into the wheelchair. *lol* Of course I could do THAT, I had been walking to the bathroom every couple of hours. They ended up transporting me by gurney because of the equipment they needed to bring, and in short order I find myself meeting my nurse Vanessa, the charge nurse, the aide (who calls EVERYONE Mamma) and respiratory therapy. The room has a nice view, and is a private room, though I can certainly hear all the other patients around me. Another potty trip (they are getting old) and a clear liquid dinner tray and I was lost in sleep again. Drug coma was actually pretty welcome at that point since I was worn out despite having done pretty much nothing. I'm having serious hot flashes, so the AC feels good as I drift off yet again.