afterthoughts
wow so who even uses lj anymore really? but I need a place to put this up that can handle things that are longer than a handful of words, and lj is still vaguely accessible in that regard. so here it will go until lj finally shuts down.
Essentially, I spent almost a week in the hospital having a 7cm endometrioma (chocolate cyst) removed from my left ovary. This was my first surgery, and these are a handful of observations and thoughts about that time. Warnings for tmi, bodily functions, hospital stuff, blood, and probably other stuff. It's not graphically detailed but I don't really leave too much out.
I checked into the hospital at 10am on Monday. I wasn't really sure what to expect outside of them wanting me there while I fasted and such. I'd packed my bags and made sure I had all the paperwork and things that I needed the day before. I'd actually managed to get some sleep, which was good. All in all, I was pretty nervous, but that was to be expected. THIS PARAGRAPH IS BORING AND NEWS TO NO ONE
When we checked in, I was put in the HCU which was surprising because I'm an idiot hahahhaha. Then I had to go and talk to the nurses who were handling my post-surgery stuff, and they asked me a lot of questions that were already answered on the forms that my boss and I had filled out. They were really nice and tried to help me understand the terminology (medical Japanese sucks, truly it does). I had two, one was an in-training girl and the other was her supervisor/shadow. They also had a handout that basically explained the breakdown of the next few days and the checklist of things that would happen before the surgery. They went over the basic procedure - I'd done some research of my own on laprascopic surgeries like the one I was getting so it wasn't a huge surprise or anything. Some final signing and then all of the paperwork was finally completed. I was to have one final meal - lunch - and then I would begin fasting. There were a couple things I had to get at the hospital shop for later... a package of fundoshi (loincloths, basically), some super-sized pads and clean wipes. After that, my boss left and I set up my stuff and got into bed. My last meal wasn't terribly exciting at all (I don't actually remember it, that's how unremarkable it was). I got out one of the books my coworker had given me as a gift and started to read, send a couple emails, and that was about it. A lot of what I was doing was just trying to keep relaxed about things. There were various checks throughout the day: blood drawn, blood pressure, temperature, standard stuff. I met my surgical assistant, and she explained a few more things about the next day and the actual procedure, and even my anesthesiologist, who was an awesome old duded who spoke really good English. Supper came, and I got to stare at everyone in jealousy. I wasn't super hungry but I knew that I would feel it soon enough. I took my last shower till who knows when. That night was the last night I got to have fluids too, though I was only allowed to have tea and water which was fine. I was brought my cup of laxative to drink, and told to nurse it over the course of an hour, so I did, and that was generally unpleasant as to be expected, as were the next couple hours. I was surprisingly tired, considering what was going to happen, and so I ended up going to sleep around 8pm.
I woke up the next morning at 5am and felt very rested, which was good. It was hot in my room, a trend that would continue on for my entire stay - the overall temperature was hot and my thermometre readings kept coming back as near-feverish. My total fast had begun, and because it was so hot I was really parched. I was allowed to take a little bit of water just in case, and I took a little sip and rolled it around in my mouth for a while to loosen things up. More toilet adventures. Being jealous at people getting breakfast. Then, bright and early, came the enema. I had never had an enema before, and I truly never wish to have one again. I was still a bit loose from the laxative, and literally as soon as she was done I had to run to the bathroom because it was all over. Not painful, but just... unpleasant. After that I changed into my hospital gown and put out my pajamas and underwear for the next day. I put my hair into pigtails to keep it out of the way like they'd asked. I read for a little bit to pass some time. Then I had to put on my compression stockings, which was not fun as they're quite obviously tight. After that, I got my first IV put in... my veins were having none of it that morning and it took the nurse a while to find one. She ended up putting it on the outside of my arm, which was rather odd but it worked. Then more reading... I was mostly trying to keep myself from thinking about it and getting nervous or worked up. It worked well enough, because when the lady came with the developer for anesthetic I was ready. I was not ready for having a shoulder shot thought. It felt like a horse needle, it was incredibly painful and probably one of the worst needle-related pains I've ever had. At that point there was only an hour left. My boss came since she had to sit in for me, and she brought me a present that the kids at school had made. We talked for a little bit, and then it was time. Off went my bed, which was really odd, watching things moving around while laying down. There were a lot of people moving around it seems, as it took three tries to find an elevator that didn't have someone else's bed in it. Finally we got to the surgery prep area, where they had to coach me on what to say to the surgical assistant since you have to state clearly your name and what you're there for as verbal consent. I was a little out of it but managed well enough. Then we went into the actual surgery itself. I had to shift over from my bed onto the little table that they used (it was literally just big enough for a person, with little flaps on the side that they raised up for arms). They helped me take off my underwear and then loosened my robe so that they could hook up the monitor. My anesthesiologist just sort of popped into existence, I didn't see him coming at all, and he explained what he was doing and told me to breathe. The mask he put on me was just oxygen to start with, and so I was breathing, and then I heard them turn on the monitor and I could taste the anesthetic - chemical, basically - and that was it.
When I woke up, I was told it was 5pm, and I can't really describe how I felt. There was a lot going on at once, a lot of sounds and sights and sensations. My limbs felt really heavy and my head was fuzzy. I know my boss was there, I don't really remember what we talked about except that everything had gone okay. I basically kind of went in and out of consciousness constantly, sleeping it off, waking up whenever the nurses came to check on me. I remember thinking I was part cyborg because of all of the things I was hooked up to at once. I had a blood pressure cuff that would automatically check my blood pressure probably at certain intervals. There was my monitor that my sleep-addled mind decided was named Koko-chan (I don't know why to this day), though it was muted and turned away from me so that the lights from the display didn't bother me. I had massage bands on my legs in order to help prevent thrombosis (this was also what the compression stockings were for if anyone was wondering). I still had my oxygen mask, which was really warm and moist. I had a catheter, which I'm very glad I was unconscious for the insertion of. And I had a full IV pole, that they'd managed to get in the crook of my elbow somehow. It was really hot and vaguely painful? Most of the pain was muted. My checks generally involved them undoing the loincloth, checking the suture site, checking for bleeding on the superpad, then doing the loincloth back up. In that order. It's sort of weird phantom sensations now because of how etched in it was. When they had to change the superpad they'd help me lift my butt up enough to get a new one under me. They're about the size of a sheet of paper so they're very big, don't think like one of those little ones for your period. These are heavy duty surgical pads. Every now and then someone would have to empty my catheter and I really didn't like when they touched the line, it wasn't painful but it was just wholly unpleasant. At one point they had to take a blood sample, and they could barely find a vein , and even when they did it was super slow going. Normally I don't watch because of habit (always getting told to turn your head from shots when you're a kid), but I was too tired to care and have a very striking memory of the blood slowly oozing along down the line into the vials.
It was Wednesday morning before I was properly coherent again. No breakfast, obviously. The nurses fussed over my IV, apparently it wasn't going fast enough. They took it out, and put it back in, and I guess that was okay? They stopped the oxygen and took off the mask - I was really glad as it was kind of annoying because of how hot I had been and how sweaty around my nose and mouth I was. I began my de-cyborgification then. They stopped the monitor and took off all of the electrodes and finger clip. The massage cuffs were off, though I had to keep the compression stockings on for another day. I was super glad when the catheter came out, there's another experience I would rather do without. The IV stayed in, and I don't remember when but I ended up naming the thing Taka-kun because it was tall and I was tall and we were Team Tall! Go team go! The blood pressure cuff went after one final test, and I was glad to see it go because that was really uncomfortable now that I was properly conscious to enjoy it. They helped me take off my hospital robe and gave me a wipe-down, which was really hard because I had to roll onto my side so they could get my back. Once that was done, they helped me put on my underwear and pajamas and a normal pad in case of bleeding. With that taken care of, I was told that I couldn't stay in HCU anymore because my surgery was over, so I had to go to my proper room where I'd be staying for the rest of my hospital time. And it was time to learn to walk again. Getting up was absolutely awful and took a combination of a few tries and a lot of tears. I really don't remember how I did it, but I managed to stand up and sort of wobble around. They showed me where the bathroom was, and I went and sort of sat down and didn't do anything and then got up - all those bars and handles on wheelchair bathrooms are a godsend, let's just say. While I was staring at the wall they'd moved all of my stuff into the new room, so I sort of tottered in and they helped me back into bed. My new goal, outside of getting in and out of bed myself in order to go to the toilet, was to get my digestive system functioning properly again. I was going to start getting food again, with an assistive IV, and my goal, as though I had control over it, was to digest it properly so that my gut flora could do their thing. Read: I had to be able to fart by myself. Truly the most noble of missions! I didn't think it would be that hard, really. Bodies know what they have to do after all... my stellar liquid lunch was less than inspiring, though. It was all liquid, obviously, as I wouldn't be able to handle anything solid. Okayu with the rice strained out, something that the nurses called "sayu" and I'm not sure what it was, some sort of soup. A treat, a box of banana juice. I was actually hungry, which I took for a good sign, and ate it all. And then... the magic began? The medicine in my IV and bodies doing what they do... it was really odd. My stomach clearly had no clue what was going on and was really oddly inefficient at things because it's never felt like that before. I slept on and off throughout the day still, waking up for when the nurses came to check things. They were frustrated because my IVs were taking a long time. My elbow was a bit of a bad place to put it, as if my elbow wasn't completely straight then the drip would either go really slowly or not at all... and when I slept sometimes my arm would curve just enough that it wouldn't go at the proper rate. I managed to figure out how to go pee. It's weird, things you never thought you'd have to consciously think about suddenly becoming things. That wasn't so bad, though it was a little painful for the sitting down and getting up parts. Supper came and it was more of the same: rice-less okayu, dashi broth with the tiniest dab of miso in it (minimal particles), hot milk, and a box of vegetable juice. Sadly, efforts for the day were in vain, as I had yet to produce any sort of gas. I could feel it, though. My abdomen was this roiling mass of things trying to figure out how they worked. There was definite pressure, but no release. I went to sleep around 9, I was already halfway there when the nurse came in to turn off the lights.
The next day I woke up feeling a lot better. There was less pain, and I felt more alive. Getting up was a bit easier, and I could move around a bit easier. I had a rather pleasant (haha) surprise too, as when I went to go to the bathroom I had a massive fart. It was amazing how good it felt to get rid of all of that pressure. My nurse was ecstatic when I told her about it. I was a bit behind where I was supposed to be, but at least things were back on track. I was given some medicine to take, one for my stomach and one antibiotic, for after meals. I will never get the hang of taking powder medicine... sigh. Breakfast was a treat, since I had managed to complete my mission. I got a bit of solid food. My okayu had a little bit of rice in it, my miso had boiled onions, and I had pumpkin and boiled into submission carrots in a sort of dressing... and a little dish of some sort of agemono, I don't remember which one. And a carton of milk. The pumpkin was really rich, and I ended up not being able to finish everything. It was a lot for my poor stomach. It gurgled mercilessly all day with the effort of trying to digest this new difficulty level. As I was feeling better, I began to look for things to do. I'd brought my computer in order to watch movies, but as there was no wifi my plan to stream something was dashed. (The hospital I was at when I had pneumonia had wifi, leave me alone) I finished my books, and was looking for something else I could do with one hand - I had to hold my right arm straight so that the IV would flow properly, after all. I had played a bit of Abyss 3D, but I had to hold my arm at such an odd angle to play that it was fruitless. I looked through the other games I'd brought, and decided to play Pokemon Soul Silver. The last time I'd played it had been when I had pneumonia, why not. It wasn't an intense game, I could take my time. Then when I found out that you could map the A-button functions to the left shoulder button that was it. I had something to do for most of the rest of my time in the hospital. I ended up having to change out of my pajama bottoms because they'd gotten blood on them thanks to my bleeding, and I did so by myself which was a big thing for me. Lunch was okayu, soup with cabbage and potato, a sort of western-style salad and salmon. Oh, and yogurt. I also got orange slices! I didn't sleep as much on thursday, just one main nap after my ultrasound. I'd been having consistent bleeding and was worried about it, and after having told the nurses they got me scheduled for a surprise ultrasound. It was... not pleasant, but I really don't like ultrasounds at all to begin with. The pressure, the position... at one point they opened up the curtain so that I could see the monitor and I had to sort of lean over, not nice. So there wasn't any sort of problems, they thought maybe it was my period, and if it hadn't cleared up in a week I needed to call. Then they... I don't know, I think they washed it out? It was worse than the ultrasound. Stop filling me with random fluids, Japan! After that I sort of staggered back into bed and slept it off. Thursday was also a turning point because my intestines finally got their act together and I managed to poop. Good job, intestines. It was really bizarre because I found out it was a completely different set of muscles that weren't connected to the parts that were hurting at the time, which was what I had been afraid of. Once I got that sorted out, it wasn't too bad at all. Things were finally coming together. Supper was really really good. My okayu was mostly rice, soup was... soup, nothing special (I think onions again?), bean sprout salad, apple jelly, and a sort of mabodofu with a white sauce instead of a red one. It was super flavourful and probably my favourite meal of my time there. It was a fairly quiet evening, and I felt tired enough when it came for lights out. However, for some reason, I just couldn't get to sleep. I ended up having to ask for sleeping medicine because I just wasn't tired enough and I knew I needed sleep for my body to heal.
I woke up at 5:30ish, so I figure I got about five hours. Not too bad. I did feel better, though. Things were a lot less painy. Breakfast was super-thick okayu again, with umeboshi, soup, broccoli and... something else (maybe enokis?) and onions in a very fishy sauce. And a banana! Yeahhhhh. Not much really happened. I played pokemon, I walked around a bit more to help my digestion. Slightly less painy than before. Today I was going to see the doctor after lunch, get the bandage on my belly button taken off and my incision inspected. If things were okay, I'd be able to go home on Saturday. There wasn't a lot going on. I was on my last IV, waiting for it to finish. My stomach was noisy and gurgly but mostly compliant. It was just a waiting game, really. Lunch was chicken, I remember that. Actual chicken. Diced tomato salad. Soup. Normal rice. Yaaaay. I don't remember the specifics. It was the biggest challenge yet. I took it on and succeeded. Yeahhhhhhhhhh. I got to finally say goodbye to Taka-kun... alas my constant companion was finally gone. A bit of a relief, toting it around was really inconvenient the more mobile I got. My visit with the doctor was fairly quick. The bandage hurt the least out of all of them, thankfully - some of the ones on my arm when they were taking the IVs out were awful - and the process was fairly quick and painless. Tape was put on to hold the suture together, since I found out later that the stitches were under the skin layer and are the sort that dissolve naturally over time. With that taken care of, I was finally able to shower again. Nothing feels better than having a shower after surgery and days of recovery and laying in bed. I finally felt alive after all of that. It was a bit tricky to get used to having my incision exposed to the air without the protection of the bandage holding my belly in place. Naturally, it was drying out too, and so there was a bit of different sort of pain. I was way more concerned about pulling the stitches and tape. I didn't really do much at all after that, just layed around and played pokemon like a lazy sack. I'd gotten a clean bill, I could go home on Saturday when my boss was able to pick me up. Supper wasn't terribly exciting, it was some kind of fish. Rice. Soup. Salad. Basic set meal. You can tell I was getting tired of it. That night was really weird. I was having trouble getting to sleep, I'd start drifting off and then would keep jolting awake. When I did get to sleep I'd have bizarre nightmares. It was very jarring and I probably should have asked for sleeping medicine again, but I didn't want to get reliant on it as I'd soon enough have to sleep by myself. It was a long night and I didn't rest as much as I should have.
I don't have a writeup for Saturday because really not much happened. It was a lot of waiting, since I had to wait for my boss to come and sign me out and take me home. The main point of the day was talking to my doctor, which took a couple hours. Talking about things that I should and shouldn't do at home, and then the long-term treatment options for my endometriosis. After the operation and seeing what was going on, how many adhesions I had, the depth and quality of the cyst, my condition was pushed up to stage 4 endometriosis. After I finish recovery from the surgery it's likely that I'll start into a hormone therapy, because really there's a good chance that something like this will happen again. I'd rather not have this sort of surgery again for a very long time if I can help it. My next check-in is in about two weeks, so we'll see what happens from there.
Essentially, I spent almost a week in the hospital having a 7cm endometrioma (chocolate cyst) removed from my left ovary. This was my first surgery, and these are a handful of observations and thoughts about that time. Warnings for tmi, bodily functions, hospital stuff, blood, and probably other stuff. It's not graphically detailed but I don't really leave too much out.
I checked into the hospital at 10am on Monday. I wasn't really sure what to expect outside of them wanting me there while I fasted and such. I'd packed my bags and made sure I had all the paperwork and things that I needed the day before. I'd actually managed to get some sleep, which was good. All in all, I was pretty nervous, but that was to be expected. THIS PARAGRAPH IS BORING AND NEWS TO NO ONE
When we checked in, I was put in the HCU which was surprising because I'm an idiot hahahhaha. Then I had to go and talk to the nurses who were handling my post-surgery stuff, and they asked me a lot of questions that were already answered on the forms that my boss and I had filled out. They were really nice and tried to help me understand the terminology (medical Japanese sucks, truly it does). I had two, one was an in-training girl and the other was her supervisor/shadow. They also had a handout that basically explained the breakdown of the next few days and the checklist of things that would happen before the surgery. They went over the basic procedure - I'd done some research of my own on laprascopic surgeries like the one I was getting so it wasn't a huge surprise or anything. Some final signing and then all of the paperwork was finally completed. I was to have one final meal - lunch - and then I would begin fasting. There were a couple things I had to get at the hospital shop for later... a package of fundoshi (loincloths, basically), some super-sized pads and clean wipes. After that, my boss left and I set up my stuff and got into bed. My last meal wasn't terribly exciting at all (I don't actually remember it, that's how unremarkable it was). I got out one of the books my coworker had given me as a gift and started to read, send a couple emails, and that was about it. A lot of what I was doing was just trying to keep relaxed about things. There were various checks throughout the day: blood drawn, blood pressure, temperature, standard stuff. I met my surgical assistant, and she explained a few more things about the next day and the actual procedure, and even my anesthesiologist, who was an awesome old duded who spoke really good English. Supper came, and I got to stare at everyone in jealousy. I wasn't super hungry but I knew that I would feel it soon enough. I took my last shower till who knows when. That night was the last night I got to have fluids too, though I was only allowed to have tea and water which was fine. I was brought my cup of laxative to drink, and told to nurse it over the course of an hour, so I did, and that was generally unpleasant as to be expected, as were the next couple hours. I was surprisingly tired, considering what was going to happen, and so I ended up going to sleep around 8pm.
I woke up the next morning at 5am and felt very rested, which was good. It was hot in my room, a trend that would continue on for my entire stay - the overall temperature was hot and my thermometre readings kept coming back as near-feverish. My total fast had begun, and because it was so hot I was really parched. I was allowed to take a little bit of water just in case, and I took a little sip and rolled it around in my mouth for a while to loosen things up. More toilet adventures. Being jealous at people getting breakfast. Then, bright and early, came the enema. I had never had an enema before, and I truly never wish to have one again. I was still a bit loose from the laxative, and literally as soon as she was done I had to run to the bathroom because it was all over. Not painful, but just... unpleasant. After that I changed into my hospital gown and put out my pajamas and underwear for the next day. I put my hair into pigtails to keep it out of the way like they'd asked. I read for a little bit to pass some time. Then I had to put on my compression stockings, which was not fun as they're quite obviously tight. After that, I got my first IV put in... my veins were having none of it that morning and it took the nurse a while to find one. She ended up putting it on the outside of my arm, which was rather odd but it worked. Then more reading... I was mostly trying to keep myself from thinking about it and getting nervous or worked up. It worked well enough, because when the lady came with the developer for anesthetic I was ready. I was not ready for having a shoulder shot thought. It felt like a horse needle, it was incredibly painful and probably one of the worst needle-related pains I've ever had. At that point there was only an hour left. My boss came since she had to sit in for me, and she brought me a present that the kids at school had made. We talked for a little bit, and then it was time. Off went my bed, which was really odd, watching things moving around while laying down. There were a lot of people moving around it seems, as it took three tries to find an elevator that didn't have someone else's bed in it. Finally we got to the surgery prep area, where they had to coach me on what to say to the surgical assistant since you have to state clearly your name and what you're there for as verbal consent. I was a little out of it but managed well enough. Then we went into the actual surgery itself. I had to shift over from my bed onto the little table that they used (it was literally just big enough for a person, with little flaps on the side that they raised up for arms). They helped me take off my underwear and then loosened my robe so that they could hook up the monitor. My anesthesiologist just sort of popped into existence, I didn't see him coming at all, and he explained what he was doing and told me to breathe. The mask he put on me was just oxygen to start with, and so I was breathing, and then I heard them turn on the monitor and I could taste the anesthetic - chemical, basically - and that was it.
When I woke up, I was told it was 5pm, and I can't really describe how I felt. There was a lot going on at once, a lot of sounds and sights and sensations. My limbs felt really heavy and my head was fuzzy. I know my boss was there, I don't really remember what we talked about except that everything had gone okay. I basically kind of went in and out of consciousness constantly, sleeping it off, waking up whenever the nurses came to check on me. I remember thinking I was part cyborg because of all of the things I was hooked up to at once. I had a blood pressure cuff that would automatically check my blood pressure probably at certain intervals. There was my monitor that my sleep-addled mind decided was named Koko-chan (I don't know why to this day), though it was muted and turned away from me so that the lights from the display didn't bother me. I had massage bands on my legs in order to help prevent thrombosis (this was also what the compression stockings were for if anyone was wondering). I still had my oxygen mask, which was really warm and moist. I had a catheter, which I'm very glad I was unconscious for the insertion of. And I had a full IV pole, that they'd managed to get in the crook of my elbow somehow. It was really hot and vaguely painful? Most of the pain was muted. My checks generally involved them undoing the loincloth, checking the suture site, checking for bleeding on the superpad, then doing the loincloth back up. In that order. It's sort of weird phantom sensations now because of how etched in it was. When they had to change the superpad they'd help me lift my butt up enough to get a new one under me. They're about the size of a sheet of paper so they're very big, don't think like one of those little ones for your period. These are heavy duty surgical pads. Every now and then someone would have to empty my catheter and I really didn't like when they touched the line, it wasn't painful but it was just wholly unpleasant. At one point they had to take a blood sample, and they could barely find a vein , and even when they did it was super slow going. Normally I don't watch because of habit (always getting told to turn your head from shots when you're a kid), but I was too tired to care and have a very striking memory of the blood slowly oozing along down the line into the vials.
It was Wednesday morning before I was properly coherent again. No breakfast, obviously. The nurses fussed over my IV, apparently it wasn't going fast enough. They took it out, and put it back in, and I guess that was okay? They stopped the oxygen and took off the mask - I was really glad as it was kind of annoying because of how hot I had been and how sweaty around my nose and mouth I was. I began my de-cyborgification then. They stopped the monitor and took off all of the electrodes and finger clip. The massage cuffs were off, though I had to keep the compression stockings on for another day. I was super glad when the catheter came out, there's another experience I would rather do without. The IV stayed in, and I don't remember when but I ended up naming the thing Taka-kun because it was tall and I was tall and we were Team Tall! Go team go! The blood pressure cuff went after one final test, and I was glad to see it go because that was really uncomfortable now that I was properly conscious to enjoy it. They helped me take off my hospital robe and gave me a wipe-down, which was really hard because I had to roll onto my side so they could get my back. Once that was done, they helped me put on my underwear and pajamas and a normal pad in case of bleeding. With that taken care of, I was told that I couldn't stay in HCU anymore because my surgery was over, so I had to go to my proper room where I'd be staying for the rest of my hospital time. And it was time to learn to walk again. Getting up was absolutely awful and took a combination of a few tries and a lot of tears. I really don't remember how I did it, but I managed to stand up and sort of wobble around. They showed me where the bathroom was, and I went and sort of sat down and didn't do anything and then got up - all those bars and handles on wheelchair bathrooms are a godsend, let's just say. While I was staring at the wall they'd moved all of my stuff into the new room, so I sort of tottered in and they helped me back into bed. My new goal, outside of getting in and out of bed myself in order to go to the toilet, was to get my digestive system functioning properly again. I was going to start getting food again, with an assistive IV, and my goal, as though I had control over it, was to digest it properly so that my gut flora could do their thing. Read: I had to be able to fart by myself. Truly the most noble of missions! I didn't think it would be that hard, really. Bodies know what they have to do after all... my stellar liquid lunch was less than inspiring, though. It was all liquid, obviously, as I wouldn't be able to handle anything solid. Okayu with the rice strained out, something that the nurses called "sayu" and I'm not sure what it was, some sort of soup. A treat, a box of banana juice. I was actually hungry, which I took for a good sign, and ate it all. And then... the magic began? The medicine in my IV and bodies doing what they do... it was really odd. My stomach clearly had no clue what was going on and was really oddly inefficient at things because it's never felt like that before. I slept on and off throughout the day still, waking up for when the nurses came to check things. They were frustrated because my IVs were taking a long time. My elbow was a bit of a bad place to put it, as if my elbow wasn't completely straight then the drip would either go really slowly or not at all... and when I slept sometimes my arm would curve just enough that it wouldn't go at the proper rate. I managed to figure out how to go pee. It's weird, things you never thought you'd have to consciously think about suddenly becoming things. That wasn't so bad, though it was a little painful for the sitting down and getting up parts. Supper came and it was more of the same: rice-less okayu, dashi broth with the tiniest dab of miso in it (minimal particles), hot milk, and a box of vegetable juice. Sadly, efforts for the day were in vain, as I had yet to produce any sort of gas. I could feel it, though. My abdomen was this roiling mass of things trying to figure out how they worked. There was definite pressure, but no release. I went to sleep around 9, I was already halfway there when the nurse came in to turn off the lights.
The next day I woke up feeling a lot better. There was less pain, and I felt more alive. Getting up was a bit easier, and I could move around a bit easier. I had a rather pleasant (haha) surprise too, as when I went to go to the bathroom I had a massive fart. It was amazing how good it felt to get rid of all of that pressure. My nurse was ecstatic when I told her about it. I was a bit behind where I was supposed to be, but at least things were back on track. I was given some medicine to take, one for my stomach and one antibiotic, for after meals. I will never get the hang of taking powder medicine... sigh. Breakfast was a treat, since I had managed to complete my mission. I got a bit of solid food. My okayu had a little bit of rice in it, my miso had boiled onions, and I had pumpkin and boiled into submission carrots in a sort of dressing... and a little dish of some sort of agemono, I don't remember which one. And a carton of milk. The pumpkin was really rich, and I ended up not being able to finish everything. It was a lot for my poor stomach. It gurgled mercilessly all day with the effort of trying to digest this new difficulty level. As I was feeling better, I began to look for things to do. I'd brought my computer in order to watch movies, but as there was no wifi my plan to stream something was dashed. (The hospital I was at when I had pneumonia had wifi, leave me alone) I finished my books, and was looking for something else I could do with one hand - I had to hold my right arm straight so that the IV would flow properly, after all. I had played a bit of Abyss 3D, but I had to hold my arm at such an odd angle to play that it was fruitless. I looked through the other games I'd brought, and decided to play Pokemon Soul Silver. The last time I'd played it had been when I had pneumonia, why not. It wasn't an intense game, I could take my time. Then when I found out that you could map the A-button functions to the left shoulder button that was it. I had something to do for most of the rest of my time in the hospital. I ended up having to change out of my pajama bottoms because they'd gotten blood on them thanks to my bleeding, and I did so by myself which was a big thing for me. Lunch was okayu, soup with cabbage and potato, a sort of western-style salad and salmon. Oh, and yogurt. I also got orange slices! I didn't sleep as much on thursday, just one main nap after my ultrasound. I'd been having consistent bleeding and was worried about it, and after having told the nurses they got me scheduled for a surprise ultrasound. It was... not pleasant, but I really don't like ultrasounds at all to begin with. The pressure, the position... at one point they opened up the curtain so that I could see the monitor and I had to sort of lean over, not nice. So there wasn't any sort of problems, they thought maybe it was my period, and if it hadn't cleared up in a week I needed to call. Then they... I don't know, I think they washed it out? It was worse than the ultrasound. Stop filling me with random fluids, Japan! After that I sort of staggered back into bed and slept it off. Thursday was also a turning point because my intestines finally got their act together and I managed to poop. Good job, intestines. It was really bizarre because I found out it was a completely different set of muscles that weren't connected to the parts that were hurting at the time, which was what I had been afraid of. Once I got that sorted out, it wasn't too bad at all. Things were finally coming together. Supper was really really good. My okayu was mostly rice, soup was... soup, nothing special (I think onions again?), bean sprout salad, apple jelly, and a sort of mabodofu with a white sauce instead of a red one. It was super flavourful and probably my favourite meal of my time there. It was a fairly quiet evening, and I felt tired enough when it came for lights out. However, for some reason, I just couldn't get to sleep. I ended up having to ask for sleeping medicine because I just wasn't tired enough and I knew I needed sleep for my body to heal.
I woke up at 5:30ish, so I figure I got about five hours. Not too bad. I did feel better, though. Things were a lot less painy. Breakfast was super-thick okayu again, with umeboshi, soup, broccoli and... something else (maybe enokis?) and onions in a very fishy sauce. And a banana! Yeahhhhh. Not much really happened. I played pokemon, I walked around a bit more to help my digestion. Slightly less painy than before. Today I was going to see the doctor after lunch, get the bandage on my belly button taken off and my incision inspected. If things were okay, I'd be able to go home on Saturday. There wasn't a lot going on. I was on my last IV, waiting for it to finish. My stomach was noisy and gurgly but mostly compliant. It was just a waiting game, really. Lunch was chicken, I remember that. Actual chicken. Diced tomato salad. Soup. Normal rice. Yaaaay. I don't remember the specifics. It was the biggest challenge yet. I took it on and succeeded. Yeahhhhhhhhhh. I got to finally say goodbye to Taka-kun... alas my constant companion was finally gone. A bit of a relief, toting it around was really inconvenient the more mobile I got. My visit with the doctor was fairly quick. The bandage hurt the least out of all of them, thankfully - some of the ones on my arm when they were taking the IVs out were awful - and the process was fairly quick and painless. Tape was put on to hold the suture together, since I found out later that the stitches were under the skin layer and are the sort that dissolve naturally over time. With that taken care of, I was finally able to shower again. Nothing feels better than having a shower after surgery and days of recovery and laying in bed. I finally felt alive after all of that. It was a bit tricky to get used to having my incision exposed to the air without the protection of the bandage holding my belly in place. Naturally, it was drying out too, and so there was a bit of different sort of pain. I was way more concerned about pulling the stitches and tape. I didn't really do much at all after that, just layed around and played pokemon like a lazy sack. I'd gotten a clean bill, I could go home on Saturday when my boss was able to pick me up. Supper wasn't terribly exciting, it was some kind of fish. Rice. Soup. Salad. Basic set meal. You can tell I was getting tired of it. That night was really weird. I was having trouble getting to sleep, I'd start drifting off and then would keep jolting awake. When I did get to sleep I'd have bizarre nightmares. It was very jarring and I probably should have asked for sleeping medicine again, but I didn't want to get reliant on it as I'd soon enough have to sleep by myself. It was a long night and I didn't rest as much as I should have.
I don't have a writeup for Saturday because really not much happened. It was a lot of waiting, since I had to wait for my boss to come and sign me out and take me home. The main point of the day was talking to my doctor, which took a couple hours. Talking about things that I should and shouldn't do at home, and then the long-term treatment options for my endometriosis. After the operation and seeing what was going on, how many adhesions I had, the depth and quality of the cyst, my condition was pushed up to stage 4 endometriosis. After I finish recovery from the surgery it's likely that I'll start into a hormone therapy, because really there's a good chance that something like this will happen again. I'd rather not have this sort of surgery again for a very long time if I can help it. My next check-in is in about two weeks, so we'll see what happens from there.