Surgery Done!
Back at home. 2 percocets and a flexoril later, I am good. But good is temporary, as I discovered earlier today. Meds can wear off fast, and the pain is quite significant without them.
I'm having trouble staying awake and focused. I want to write out the best account of my time as possible, as there is there possibility of me forgetting about it as time passes. Even now, yesterday feels like it was a world away.
I went into the hospital at 6:30 AM with Nick and Jeff. No food the day of. Gingerbread party the night before. Nervously waited in waiting room with them, then nervously went to take off my clothes. Bid farewell to my stomach. Waited for them to call me and take me away. They did, I went to the OR floor (all of this is really strange because I was a med student at this hospital, and have been in the OR a lot observing surgeries. Waited for surgeon, got drawn upon when he arrived. Anesthesia came by to say hi, put in an IV and gave me some sedation. They totally botched the local anesthetic before putting IV into hand, so they had to put it in elbow. It was more comfortalbe then, but it was annoying when I was wanting to bend my arm. I can't believe that they would use local for putting in an IV... never did that before. Anyway, sedation, wheeled in to OR. Didn't really feel sedated. Then they said they were giving me more, and then put a mask over my face and told me to breathe... and then I woke up in the recovery room.
It's an odd feeling, I vaguely remember dreams not about surgery, but they were so distant when I was waking up, totally gone now. I also seem to have been in the recovery room for something like 3 hours, 2 of which I didn't remember at all. But once I was conscious, I was me and felt fine and normal with my memory. No pain at all, I was surprised. Packaged up in my binder, wheeled to my room eventually, got a bed by window as requested. Still no pain. Came connected to pain pump, where I could push button and get pain relief. They made me test it out in the recovery room, drugs made me go woozly. In room, was greeted by the Jeff and Nick. Spent a lot of time zonked out holding Nick's hand. It started getting painful, pushed button. They wanted me to get up and walk that night, so lateish I tried. I got really dizzy and nauseous, not so good. They gave me IV nausea meds. Other random notes: throat was pretty sore from intubation, I sound scratchy still, and like hot and cold beverages. I am drinking tea now. I got some ice cream at the hospital.
Tried to sleep, neighbor in room, who had also had tummy tuck (but because of big babies and muscle separation) was having trouble with her drains and stuff. I don't envy her, one of her drains fell out. She wasn't the most coherent, and I guess neither was I. I still probably am not. Jeff took some pictures of me typing this up. I probably look well and thoroughly stoned. Listened to iPod, the music sounded SO GOOD and it also drowned out the terrible beeping of the monitors at the nursing station. Every time someone would come by the room and open the door, the beeping would wake me again. Not much sleep had by me, but Jeff nobly spent the night next to me.
This morning I felt shitty. Was up at 6AM when they came by for rounds, or maybe 5AM when they came by for vitals. Pain was bad because I didn't use the pump much overnight. Used it more, it did better things for me, but also made me very woozly. The goal of the day was to get me home, I had to walk around (which I had done) and to demonstrate that I could exist out of bed. They took my nice happy catheter out (oh, so nice to drink as much as I wanted and not worry about getting to the bathroom!). Fortunately, the toilet in the bathroom had awesome handles and was nice and high up. Not bad at all! Got a lot of painful gas cramps today. Those were by far worse than the surgery pain.
Switched to oral percocet and flexoril a very good combination! Found some food, finally that I liked enough to eat. When you're feeling bleh, a lot of foods strike you as not better than nothing. It is so very unlike me to be presented with free food and to go meh at it. Although the food was pretty bad, until lunch today, where everything exceeded my expectations. (Of course my expectations were about nothing at the time, I swear that hospital saves money by inviting its guests to eat out in chinatown). Sarcastic menu review pending. Hospital congee, really not good! Hospital low sodium chicken soup, tastes like what grandma used to make. A pleasant surprise.
Once I got the percocet/flexoril, I was leaping up from the bed (almost) and walking around! It was amazing, all the pain that I was having during the day was gone. Just like that. Very cool. I walked around the floor a little, (ow). Getting up and down hurts a lot, even with the best pain meds. Sitting is just some mild pain or almost nothing when drugs are maxed. The incision line burns a bit, and the places that were lipo'd itch a little and are tender.
I have two drains. They are currently putting out clear red fluid. Whee. They are annoying, like everyone says, because anything that moves them where they come out of the body hurts. I still can't believe that I had this surgery! Can't shower until next Monday. Jeff gave me a sponge bath in my hospital bed today.
Went home just as the first percocet/flexoril was wearing off. They gave me another one, but it was not a fun car ride home. Every bump hurt, and I was crying halfway through. Got home, got situated. We moved the chair to about 6 feet from computer display, increased font size, so now I'm ensconced in a recliner in front of my 24" display. I can read, but I have been randomly falling asleep while writing this post. Jeff has pictures, he thinks they are cute.
We took pictures of the incision when the doctor was checking it out today. Sweet! It looks really good. He said he took off about 5 pounds of tissue. And also that I did most of the work, IE it was mostly skin and deflated fat cells, and I couldn't have lost more weight to get rid of it.
Looking down at my figure with the binder on and I look so much smaller. And flatter, and straighter. Crazy. It looks like not my body! Another weird thing is that the skin that remains still retains its sense of position, IE the skin above my belly button hurts rather than the skin on my stomach, because that skin is gone! It's so strange! I think there might be some numbness south of the incision, although it might be the work of the anesthetic pump.
I can't believe I did it! I'm started to get really excited about what I'm going to look like in a few weeks...
I'm having trouble staying awake and focused. I want to write out the best account of my time as possible, as there is there possibility of me forgetting about it as time passes. Even now, yesterday feels like it was a world away.
I went into the hospital at 6:30 AM with Nick and Jeff. No food the day of. Gingerbread party the night before. Nervously waited in waiting room with them, then nervously went to take off my clothes. Bid farewell to my stomach. Waited for them to call me and take me away. They did, I went to the OR floor (all of this is really strange because I was a med student at this hospital, and have been in the OR a lot observing surgeries. Waited for surgeon, got drawn upon when he arrived. Anesthesia came by to say hi, put in an IV and gave me some sedation. They totally botched the local anesthetic before putting IV into hand, so they had to put it in elbow. It was more comfortalbe then, but it was annoying when I was wanting to bend my arm. I can't believe that they would use local for putting in an IV... never did that before. Anyway, sedation, wheeled in to OR. Didn't really feel sedated. Then they said they were giving me more, and then put a mask over my face and told me to breathe... and then I woke up in the recovery room.
It's an odd feeling, I vaguely remember dreams not about surgery, but they were so distant when I was waking up, totally gone now. I also seem to have been in the recovery room for something like 3 hours, 2 of which I didn't remember at all. But once I was conscious, I was me and felt fine and normal with my memory. No pain at all, I was surprised. Packaged up in my binder, wheeled to my room eventually, got a bed by window as requested. Still no pain. Came connected to pain pump, where I could push button and get pain relief. They made me test it out in the recovery room, drugs made me go woozly. In room, was greeted by the Jeff and Nick. Spent a lot of time zonked out holding Nick's hand. It started getting painful, pushed button. They wanted me to get up and walk that night, so lateish I tried. I got really dizzy and nauseous, not so good. They gave me IV nausea meds. Other random notes: throat was pretty sore from intubation, I sound scratchy still, and like hot and cold beverages. I am drinking tea now. I got some ice cream at the hospital.
Tried to sleep, neighbor in room, who had also had tummy tuck (but because of big babies and muscle separation) was having trouble with her drains and stuff. I don't envy her, one of her drains fell out. She wasn't the most coherent, and I guess neither was I. I still probably am not. Jeff took some pictures of me typing this up. I probably look well and thoroughly stoned. Listened to iPod, the music sounded SO GOOD and it also drowned out the terrible beeping of the monitors at the nursing station. Every time someone would come by the room and open the door, the beeping would wake me again. Not much sleep had by me, but Jeff nobly spent the night next to me.
This morning I felt shitty. Was up at 6AM when they came by for rounds, or maybe 5AM when they came by for vitals. Pain was bad because I didn't use the pump much overnight. Used it more, it did better things for me, but also made me very woozly. The goal of the day was to get me home, I had to walk around (which I had done) and to demonstrate that I could exist out of bed. They took my nice happy catheter out (oh, so nice to drink as much as I wanted and not worry about getting to the bathroom!). Fortunately, the toilet in the bathroom had awesome handles and was nice and high up. Not bad at all! Got a lot of painful gas cramps today. Those were by far worse than the surgery pain.
Switched to oral percocet and flexoril a very good combination! Found some food, finally that I liked enough to eat. When you're feeling bleh, a lot of foods strike you as not better than nothing. It is so very unlike me to be presented with free food and to go meh at it. Although the food was pretty bad, until lunch today, where everything exceeded my expectations. (Of course my expectations were about nothing at the time, I swear that hospital saves money by inviting its guests to eat out in chinatown). Sarcastic menu review pending. Hospital congee, really not good! Hospital low sodium chicken soup, tastes like what grandma used to make. A pleasant surprise.
Once I got the percocet/flexoril, I was leaping up from the bed (almost) and walking around! It was amazing, all the pain that I was having during the day was gone. Just like that. Very cool. I walked around the floor a little, (ow). Getting up and down hurts a lot, even with the best pain meds. Sitting is just some mild pain or almost nothing when drugs are maxed. The incision line burns a bit, and the places that were lipo'd itch a little and are tender.
I have two drains. They are currently putting out clear red fluid. Whee. They are annoying, like everyone says, because anything that moves them where they come out of the body hurts. I still can't believe that I had this surgery! Can't shower until next Monday. Jeff gave me a sponge bath in my hospital bed today.
Went home just as the first percocet/flexoril was wearing off. They gave me another one, but it was not a fun car ride home. Every bump hurt, and I was crying halfway through. Got home, got situated. We moved the chair to about 6 feet from computer display, increased font size, so now I'm ensconced in a recliner in front of my 24" display. I can read, but I have been randomly falling asleep while writing this post. Jeff has pictures, he thinks they are cute.
We took pictures of the incision when the doctor was checking it out today. Sweet! It looks really good. He said he took off about 5 pounds of tissue. And also that I did most of the work, IE it was mostly skin and deflated fat cells, and I couldn't have lost more weight to get rid of it.
Looking down at my figure with the binder on and I look so much smaller. And flatter, and straighter. Crazy. It looks like not my body! Another weird thing is that the skin that remains still retains its sense of position, IE the skin above my belly button hurts rather than the skin on my stomach, because that skin is gone! It's so strange! I think there might be some numbness south of the incision, although it might be the work of the anesthetic pump.
I can't believe I did it! I'm started to get really excited about what I'm going to look like in a few weeks...