billboards on the highway are the prophets of today
My surgery was about two and a half weeks ago, and obviously I lived - otherwise, this is a super-creepy post from an in-denial spirit. (In which case, disregard.) I like to think I'm a realist. My chances of croaking - due to my liver being a potential TICKING TIME BOMB sent to take me down - were much more likely than a healthy person's. Going in anticipating I might die and then not actually dying means one wakes up with a pleasant surprise! See, realism.
It wasn't a terribly painful surgery. There were some irritating things - for example, a mandatory stay in ICU which is apparently the norm for my doctor, but I was somehow not informed. A weird quirk in my sleeping pattern apparently meant that every time I fell asleep, my oxygen levels kept dropping and the alarms started going off, so I was oxygen-bound the whole time. I felt tons better after they unhooked some of the less savory crap as well.
I had one decent nurse, one good nurse, and one fantastic nurse. This particular hospital had room service instead of a traditional dietary program. It was still hospital food, but you got to pick what you wanted from a menu.
I stayed sore for about five days, and then after that I was fine. My external incisions are a mixed bag - won't know about the internal one until my follow-up on Thursday. I chilled out and watched a bunch of TV and read a bunch of books. My lower abdomen feels a little different. There are some other interesting quirks. Overall, I'm pretty glad it's done, but I really hope I don't have to have any more major operations before/if/when I get my transplant.
It wasn't a terribly painful surgery. There were some irritating things - for example, a mandatory stay in ICU which is apparently the norm for my doctor, but I was somehow not informed. A weird quirk in my sleeping pattern apparently meant that every time I fell asleep, my oxygen levels kept dropping and the alarms started going off, so I was oxygen-bound the whole time. I felt tons better after they unhooked some of the less savory crap as well.
I had one decent nurse, one good nurse, and one fantastic nurse. This particular hospital had room service instead of a traditional dietary program. It was still hospital food, but you got to pick what you wanted from a menu.
I stayed sore for about five days, and then after that I was fine. My external incisions are a mixed bag - won't know about the internal one until my follow-up on Thursday. I chilled out and watched a bunch of TV and read a bunch of books. My lower abdomen feels a little different. There are some other interesting quirks. Overall, I'm pretty glad it's done, but I really hope I don't have to have any more major operations before/if/when I get my transplant.