Hospitals don't scare me quite as much now.
Well..... I think I'll make this one mildly brief because I'm needing to go lie down again.
Keith and I went back to the hospital on Sunday morning because they told me to do so if I didn't feel 100% better in the morning, which I did not (much to my chagrin). We sat at the hospital for about 2 hours, during which they prepped me for a CT scan. I endured said CT scan. When the results were in, I appeared to have appendicitis. Joy!
So, lots of hospital-related red tape was navigated and I spent a total of over 10 hours at the hospital on Sunday before I even went in to surgery. The doctors and nurses had great senses of humor, though, despite the fact that they were all on call that weekend except one or two of the nurses. I was especially amused by one of the surgeons, who, when he found out I spoke Spanish, continued to drop a random Spanish word into his instructions here and there. When they put the mask on me to knock me out, he told me to count to three, then breathe normally. I said, "Onnnnnneeee..." and he said "Unnnoooooo...." and so on. I probably took about two normal breaths when I heard him say "Adios amigo!" and I think I might have gotten in a "Good luck guys!" before I was out like a light.
I came out of the anesthesia well and slept most of it off. I woke up at 4:30 or so in the morning with an incredible urge to pee, but had to call the nurse because I was hooked up to this eerily Johnny 5-looking IV pump that had to go into the bathroom with me. The result of this endeavor was an Austin Powers-esque marathon urination experience and my first feelings of pretty intense post-surgery pain. I discovered after that that I hadn't had any pain medication since right after the surgery, which had been 6 hours before. For those of you who haven't had this procedure, they have to pump gas into your abdomen in order to do the surgery laproscopically. The plus side is that doing so laproscopically means tiny incisions in 3 places instead of a big ol' open flap. The minus side is the gas that is left in your belly causes all kinds of pain in your shoulders and shortness of breath, which I got my first dose of after that morning visit to el baño. Thankfully, the nurse gave me something intravenously to dull the pain, and as soon as that kicked in I was able to fall back asleep.
During my post-surgery loopiness and at about 1am this morning, Keith left the hospital to get some sleep at home. When I woke up a second time at about 7am, he was already back and resting in the chair next to me with his hand on mine. This little journal interjection brought to you by my extreme gratitude for an amazing fiance.
Anyway, I got my first substantial meal in almost 3 days for breakfast today - some surprisingly delicious French toast with margarine and syrup. There were Cheerios, too, with soymilk of course. They told me that if I ate the whole meal without throwing up or other side effects, I was free to go. After Keith very kindly cut up the toast for me and buttered each square (instead of the quicker route of buttering the toast and THEN cutting it up, ha ha), I pretty much wolfed it down. Took a break and dozed, then doused the Cheerios with soymilk (the "Very Vanilla" kind - I don't recommend it because it tastes like the milk that's left behind after you've eaten a big bowl of Lucky Charms) and inhaled them as well. Throughout this time, different nurses and and doctors are coming in to make final checks and such, and I'm told I can leave as long as the food stays down. After a lot more waiting for discharge paperwork and pain pill prescription, they rolled me down and out of there and Keith shuttled me home.
More on the food note: I've never gone so long without an actual meal before, and had some pretty disturbing dreams Saturday night about food. The most disturbing of these involved my sticking to the doctor's recommended clear liquid diet but caving when some scrumptious granola was placed in front of me. When I returned in the dream to the hospital, though, they made me confess and shoved a clear plastic tube all the way down my throat so I had to watch as they vacuumed the contents of my stomach out. I even saw the raisins come up....I know, I know - totally gross!
I'm trying to get whatever I can done that doesn't involve moving around. Steph brought my laptop to me at the hospital yesterday and even stuck around until I came out of surgery, so I'll have a little station set up in the living room to work on things from there. I'm not allowed to drive while I'm on the pain meds, so I'm kind of at the mercy of my fiance.... But that's okay, because he has taken great care of me thus far and I honestly have no desire to go anywhere, anyway. The school sent flowers and so did Steph, which I was completely surprised by but very grateful for. I had an English muffin and a cut-up nectarine this afternoon (can't remember the last time anyone cut anything up for me, and now I've had it twice in one day, ha ha!), but I think I might do a little batting of the eyelashes and see if a certain someone won't pick up some sushi take-out for me this evening for dinner. All day Sat. and Sunday I had flashes of the Subway sign or some sort of sushi creation every time I closed my eyelids.
So, that became much longer than expected. Oh well. Not like there is much else for me to do at the moment. I was momentarily peeved that I would have to have surgery in the middle of one of my last weekends before school starts, but all in all.... It's good that it happened now and not next weekend, or - heaven forbid! - in a few weeks.
Keith and I went back to the hospital on Sunday morning because they told me to do so if I didn't feel 100% better in the morning, which I did not (much to my chagrin). We sat at the hospital for about 2 hours, during which they prepped me for a CT scan. I endured said CT scan. When the results were in, I appeared to have appendicitis. Joy!
So, lots of hospital-related red tape was navigated and I spent a total of over 10 hours at the hospital on Sunday before I even went in to surgery. The doctors and nurses had great senses of humor, though, despite the fact that they were all on call that weekend except one or two of the nurses. I was especially amused by one of the surgeons, who, when he found out I spoke Spanish, continued to drop a random Spanish word into his instructions here and there. When they put the mask on me to knock me out, he told me to count to three, then breathe normally. I said, "Onnnnnneeee..." and he said "Unnnoooooo...." and so on. I probably took about two normal breaths when I heard him say "Adios amigo!" and I think I might have gotten in a "Good luck guys!" before I was out like a light.
I came out of the anesthesia well and slept most of it off. I woke up at 4:30 or so in the morning with an incredible urge to pee, but had to call the nurse because I was hooked up to this eerily Johnny 5-looking IV pump that had to go into the bathroom with me. The result of this endeavor was an Austin Powers-esque marathon urination experience and my first feelings of pretty intense post-surgery pain. I discovered after that that I hadn't had any pain medication since right after the surgery, which had been 6 hours before. For those of you who haven't had this procedure, they have to pump gas into your abdomen in order to do the surgery laproscopically. The plus side is that doing so laproscopically means tiny incisions in 3 places instead of a big ol' open flap. The minus side is the gas that is left in your belly causes all kinds of pain in your shoulders and shortness of breath, which I got my first dose of after that morning visit to el baño. Thankfully, the nurse gave me something intravenously to dull the pain, and as soon as that kicked in I was able to fall back asleep.
During my post-surgery loopiness and at about 1am this morning, Keith left the hospital to get some sleep at home. When I woke up a second time at about 7am, he was already back and resting in the chair next to me with his hand on mine. This little journal interjection brought to you by my extreme gratitude for an amazing fiance.
Anyway, I got my first substantial meal in almost 3 days for breakfast today - some surprisingly delicious French toast with margarine and syrup. There were Cheerios, too, with soymilk of course. They told me that if I ate the whole meal without throwing up or other side effects, I was free to go. After Keith very kindly cut up the toast for me and buttered each square (instead of the quicker route of buttering the toast and THEN cutting it up, ha ha), I pretty much wolfed it down. Took a break and dozed, then doused the Cheerios with soymilk (the "Very Vanilla" kind - I don't recommend it because it tastes like the milk that's left behind after you've eaten a big bowl of Lucky Charms) and inhaled them as well. Throughout this time, different nurses and and doctors are coming in to make final checks and such, and I'm told I can leave as long as the food stays down. After a lot more waiting for discharge paperwork and pain pill prescription, they rolled me down and out of there and Keith shuttled me home.
More on the food note: I've never gone so long without an actual meal before, and had some pretty disturbing dreams Saturday night about food. The most disturbing of these involved my sticking to the doctor's recommended clear liquid diet but caving when some scrumptious granola was placed in front of me. When I returned in the dream to the hospital, though, they made me confess and shoved a clear plastic tube all the way down my throat so I had to watch as they vacuumed the contents of my stomach out. I even saw the raisins come up....I know, I know - totally gross!
I'm trying to get whatever I can done that doesn't involve moving around. Steph brought my laptop to me at the hospital yesterday and even stuck around until I came out of surgery, so I'll have a little station set up in the living room to work on things from there. I'm not allowed to drive while I'm on the pain meds, so I'm kind of at the mercy of my fiance.... But that's okay, because he has taken great care of me thus far and I honestly have no desire to go anywhere, anyway. The school sent flowers and so did Steph, which I was completely surprised by but very grateful for. I had an English muffin and a cut-up nectarine this afternoon (can't remember the last time anyone cut anything up for me, and now I've had it twice in one day, ha ha!), but I think I might do a little batting of the eyelashes and see if a certain someone won't pick up some sushi take-out for me this evening for dinner. All day Sat. and Sunday I had flashes of the Subway sign or some sort of sushi creation every time I closed my eyelids.
So, that became much longer than expected. Oh well. Not like there is much else for me to do at the moment. I was momentarily peeved that I would have to have surgery in the middle of one of my last weekends before school starts, but all in all.... It's good that it happened now and not next weekend, or - heaven forbid! - in a few weeks.