Post-Op

Just wanted to give a brief update on how I'm doing post-op.

Surgery started several hours late due to some random power outage that encompassed the entire hospital & surrounding area. Evergreen Hospital was totally on top of things and called us before we had planned on leaving so that I could stay at home and starve comfortably in my own living room rather than in one of their pre-op rooms! The power was back on by the time they called however the outage was followed by a bad car accident on the 405 that shut down several lanes so they were running about an hour-to-two-hours behind with their surgery schedule. They gave me a number to call prior to leaving for my new check-in time to make sure they were really ready for me. Second time around, they were.

I really like the way the surgical wing is run at Evergreen (this being my 2nd surgery there). They are very organized but also very caring. All of the nursing staff is incredible! My assigned surgical nurse turned out to be the same nurse as from when I had my hysterectomy 2 years ago! How funny is that?! And my anesthesiologist was awesome! He really put me at ease. He also assured me that he was going to stay with me in the surgical room until I was fully awake so that I wouldn't need to use my CPAP machine (even though he had it ready to go). I wasn't really cognizant of any of that portion~I became more aware of things when they had me sitting up in a recliner and were bringing in my Mom and Auntie Donna.

(This was pre-op when I still had a sense of humor!)

Now, even though I was out of it, I was aware that I was experiencing the most pain in my right shoulder rather than in the surgical area. My logical mind knew this was because of the air the surgeon put in under my diaphragm to give him more room to work in and that, because the diaphragm doesn't feel pain, the pain radiates to the right shoulder and neck, and that once the air worked its way out, the pain would also dissipate. However, my foggy mind wanted them to make it stop immediately!

Well guess what: It has been 4 days and the worst pain has remained in my right shoulder. To be fair, that was where I'd felt a lot of the gall bladder pain to begin with, but this just wasn't easing up! It was horribly excruciating! It hurt to take a deep breath. To move my arm. To turn my head. To sleep. To be awake.

And I am not a baby about pain! We fibromyalgia warriors handle pain that would cripple others, right?!
But this was killing me! My mom tried massaging me--I was urging her to push into the painful points as hard as she could...similar to pulling off a scab: hurts but you've gotta pull it off.

The tenderness where they operated was nothing compared to this pain in my neck and shoulder. I had slowly become convinced that someone somewhere had a voodoo doll of me with an ice pick stuck in its shoulder.  I was starting to wish they would just pull the arm off, that my arm would fall off and the pain would be less! Seriously!

Thanks Ro!!

But then my mom went to her water yoga yesterday and talked with a friend who had recently had surgery on a hiatial hernia and guess what her doctor told her to do???? Have someone burp her 2-3x a day for a week or so after surgery. Whaaaa????

So last night, my mother burped her 41 year old baby after having not done so for about, oh, about 40 years. And guess what??? This lil baby burped like nobody's business and is now relatively pain-free in the neck and shoulder area and can turn her head, move her arm, and breathe deep breaths!!! Hallelujah!!!

Of course, now I'm a bit more aware of the tenderness in the surgical area, but I feel sooooooooo much better over all!!! Yay for being burped like a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!

And a big huge thank you to my mommy for taking care of me! She is the best care-taker and I am so blessed to have her taking care of me. I seriously do not know what I would do without her!! She is incredible: my support & my friend....Really, what comes to mind is that old-fashioned word, "Companion." I love you, mama!!!

Thanks, too, to my many friends & family who have been sending texts & emails, checking in on me via facebook, and calling. I've felt so loved by you all!!!

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My sweet sister & niece came and took care of me on Wed morning while my mom went to the Y. When she left, Teagan left her 3 favorite friends to help take care of me:

Perry the Purple Mouse, Pinkie the Monkey, and

Baby Monkey. While she was here, she looked over

my wounds carefully, asked what happened, listened to my 

explanation and then pronounced me to be "very brave."

It's nice to be somebody's hero!