On the sixth day of Cut-mas, my true love gave to me--
It's hard to believe it has been six days, but if you include the day of surgery, it has been! That must be why I'm getting restless.
So my first full day home from the hospital was a wee bit dire.I was being a good girl and following the doctor's prescriptions for the oxycontin and oxycodone. I figured I would drop them pretty quick, but one starts out doing what one is told. Well. I don't ever have to do that again. I mean the oxycontin and oxycodone. I'll see about doing what I am told.
Specifically, the prescribed combination of drugs made me dangerously drowsy and I was worried I couldn't breathe. This also happened to be the day that communications broke down and nobody checked on me for a long time. I was actually not close to stopping breathing, fortunately. I got up every hour or so to pee and walk around and exercise and I did my leg exercises and my breathing exercises in bed. They sent home with me a device called an inentive spirometer, which tells you how much you are inhaling. I already have a peak flow meter somewhere which shows you how much you exhale, so together they could be very amusing.
I sent Dr. Spiegel a message about the oxycontin/oxycodone and then after talking to a friend on the phone I decided to just stop taking them and to use tramadol "as needed" as my primary pain reliever. and ever since I have been fine and ducky. Sunday my doses of tramadol were eighteen hours apart, I think because I still had lingering narcotic in my system (strictly I think tramadol is also a narcotic, being as it is an opioid, but it is classed as something like "mild"). Today I have been taking them more often, partly because I have also gottten up to quite a bit of hijinks.
Thuis has been the weekend for Everything Happening, also. The toilet gave up the ghost and refused to drain, right after my very first bowel movement since surgery. (days and days) It took Zack until now to fix it, so I had to trek out to Zack's house twice. This was pretty hard the first time and not at all hard the second time.WHile I was at it I decided to check out the garden (which Zack had watered) and pick some parsley and zucchini and have Keith pick some lemons. That cheered me up immensely,a dn I ate the zucchini and some of the parsley with chicken livers and green onions. Yes, I have cooked two times! Also while I was out I watered the plants on the deck.
So another thing happenecd--my glasses came apart with the scvrew having sheared off between the sides. So Keith had to take my glasses to the optometrist to be fixed. If I hadn't been trekking around all morning doing things I would have gone with them to have them re-fitted, but I have some sense and I knew I had already overdone it so I took drugs and stayed home. I had also done a load of laundry because my special surgical tights all needed to be washed, and I had cleaned most of the bathroom with surgical scrub, and bathed, and changed my dressing. Bathing is a tactical problem. I am allowed to shower, but not soak. However, sine I have a deep clawfoot tub, climbing in the shower is not going to work until I am farther along. So I leaned over the tub and used the handheld shower for washing my hair and otherwise had an old-fashioned sponge bath. I did everything carefully and used separate washcloths for the wound area vs. everything else.
The most interesting thing about Sunday is the admitting visting nurse, but I have run out of story juice and will have to tell that story later.
So my first full day home from the hospital was a wee bit dire.I was being a good girl and following the doctor's prescriptions for the oxycontin and oxycodone. I figured I would drop them pretty quick, but one starts out doing what one is told. Well. I don't ever have to do that again. I mean the oxycontin and oxycodone. I'll see about doing what I am told.
Specifically, the prescribed combination of drugs made me dangerously drowsy and I was worried I couldn't breathe. This also happened to be the day that communications broke down and nobody checked on me for a long time. I was actually not close to stopping breathing, fortunately. I got up every hour or so to pee and walk around and exercise and I did my leg exercises and my breathing exercises in bed. They sent home with me a device called an inentive spirometer, which tells you how much you are inhaling. I already have a peak flow meter somewhere which shows you how much you exhale, so together they could be very amusing.
I sent Dr. Spiegel a message about the oxycontin/oxycodone and then after talking to a friend on the phone I decided to just stop taking them and to use tramadol "as needed" as my primary pain reliever. and ever since I have been fine and ducky. Sunday my doses of tramadol were eighteen hours apart, I think because I still had lingering narcotic in my system (strictly I think tramadol is also a narcotic, being as it is an opioid, but it is classed as something like "mild"). Today I have been taking them more often, partly because I have also gottten up to quite a bit of hijinks.
Thuis has been the weekend for Everything Happening, also. The toilet gave up the ghost and refused to drain, right after my very first bowel movement since surgery. (days and days) It took Zack until now to fix it, so I had to trek out to Zack's house twice. This was pretty hard the first time and not at all hard the second time.WHile I was at it I decided to check out the garden (which Zack had watered) and pick some parsley and zucchini and have Keith pick some lemons. That cheered me up immensely,a dn I ate the zucchini and some of the parsley with chicken livers and green onions. Yes, I have cooked two times! Also while I was out I watered the plants on the deck.
So another thing happenecd--my glasses came apart with the scvrew having sheared off between the sides. So Keith had to take my glasses to the optometrist to be fixed. If I hadn't been trekking around all morning doing things I would have gone with them to have them re-fitted, but I have some sense and I knew I had already overdone it so I took drugs and stayed home. I had also done a load of laundry because my special surgical tights all needed to be washed, and I had cleaned most of the bathroom with surgical scrub, and bathed, and changed my dressing. Bathing is a tactical problem. I am allowed to shower, but not soak. However, sine I have a deep clawfoot tub, climbing in the shower is not going to work until I am farther along. So I leaned over the tub and used the handheld shower for washing my hair and otherwise had an old-fashioned sponge bath. I did everything carefully and used separate washcloths for the wound area vs. everything else.
The most interesting thing about Sunday is the admitting visting nurse, but I have run out of story juice and will have to tell that story later.