So they pulled the chest tube yesterday, as I'd only had 150cc out. I'd drained a total of 800cc since surgery, and my hemoglobin's down to 11 or something. Which is not horrible.
So with the chest tube out, shower had, switched to PO meds, they sent me home. You should see the bag of drugs I walked out with. The guy who had the surgery same day as me (for a haller of 3.4) was not so lucky. He couldn't void, so he got stuck for another night because of foley issues. He is also a Coloradan, and had my head been less fuzzy, I would've gotten his email or something. Maybe I'll find him. He's younger than me, my guess in his 30s. But his experience of this was very similar to mine. His symptoms were chest pain with activity and no one wanted to think it might be the bone in his chest, either.
Not sure if I'd said, but they put two bars in, not three. I feel some clicking pretty often, the bars against the bones, when I move. I'm fairly bruised. And I have numb spots, which she says may be permanent...mostly on the lower parts of my breasts on on the right lower chest/flank. Some of it has already come back, some of it I can tell is gone. It's all right.
Taking deep breaths at the moment are a challenge...still a smidge above 500cc on the incentive spirometer. On my chest xray, it seems to me that my heart has moved medially though! The PA (who, as I've said, has been on the job three days) thought I didn't know what I was talking about. But maybe she hasn't seen a pre surgery CXR. It looks like it's in a normal place right now.
So until I can test that this surgery really worked for me...i.e. going up into the canyons to hike, and going and running around, there's the pain to contend with. As I figured, I'm pretty pain tolerant. I do need the pain meds, but I can manage at a pain level of three. I sort of under report. My last night inpatient, I actually called for pain meds at midnight, because the pain was a five. Ingo, RN, said he'd bring me toradol. "That's fine." I got up to the bathroom, and by the time I got back to bed, I was crying. He said, 'That's not a five, that's an eight or nine." "Okay." "I'm bringing you oxy, too." "Okay." I explained that a ten was if you're being eaten by a bear. And I didn't think I was close to that yet. He said I was being eaten by a tiger then.
Anyway. It's far better to have a schedule, and from then on, Ingo woke me for pain meds, and Audra, RN kept me on a good schedule through the day. I kept to her schedule, mostly, when I came home. Last night wasn't too bad until about 0400...it is very difficult to sleep on your back all night when you're a side-sleeper. And I flip often.
Fortunately, we have the space-age bed that sits up at home. We got that for Mark's snoring, but it is going to be a godsend for me, I think.
Am eating. Mostly, I want fruit. I had two veggie samosas last night, which felt like a huge meal. I have lost about 5lbs, but hey, I don't mind that.
It's 7:15 Arizona time, and Mark is still sleeping. I could not be doing this without him. He's sleep-deprived, too. He got a good night sleep the second night I was inpatient, and was sleeping well until 4am when I woke him last night. He can sleep in today. I will sit up and eat pineapple.
I want to do things today. Like, get outside and see something. Probably from the car, but see something. I love the desert. Maybe I can walk some.
And that's where it's at right now. Tomorrow, we see Dr. J for a CXR and post op meeting. I'm not supposed to lift more than 5lbs for six weeks. That's a gallon of milk, I'm told, I can pick up Bella, but not Beau cat. (Beau cat's obese.) And to go back to work, I need to be off the narcs and be able to tolerate the activity of work. We'll see how it goes.
So with the chest tube out, shower had, switched to PO meds, they sent me home. You should see the bag of drugs I walked out with. The guy who had the surgery same day as me (for a haller of 3.4) was not so lucky. He couldn't void, so he got stuck for another night because of foley issues. He is also a Coloradan, and had my head been less fuzzy, I would've gotten his email or something. Maybe I'll find him. He's younger than me, my guess in his 30s. But his experience of this was very similar to mine. His symptoms were chest pain with activity and no one wanted to think it might be the bone in his chest, either.
Not sure if I'd said, but they put two bars in, not three. I feel some clicking pretty often, the bars against the bones, when I move. I'm fairly bruised. And I have numb spots, which she says may be permanent...mostly on the lower parts of my breasts on on the right lower chest/flank. Some of it has already come back, some of it I can tell is gone. It's all right.
Taking deep breaths at the moment are a challenge...still a smidge above 500cc on the incentive spirometer. On my chest xray, it seems to me that my heart has moved medially though! The PA (who, as I've said, has been on the job three days) thought I didn't know what I was talking about. But maybe she hasn't seen a pre surgery CXR. It looks like it's in a normal place right now.
So until I can test that this surgery really worked for me...i.e. going up into the canyons to hike, and going and running around, there's the pain to contend with. As I figured, I'm pretty pain tolerant. I do need the pain meds, but I can manage at a pain level of three. I sort of under report. My last night inpatient, I actually called for pain meds at midnight, because the pain was a five. Ingo, RN, said he'd bring me toradol. "That's fine." I got up to the bathroom, and by the time I got back to bed, I was crying. He said, 'That's not a five, that's an eight or nine." "Okay." "I'm bringing you oxy, too." "Okay." I explained that a ten was if you're being eaten by a bear. And I didn't think I was close to that yet. He said I was being eaten by a tiger then.
Anyway. It's far better to have a schedule, and from then on, Ingo woke me for pain meds, and Audra, RN kept me on a good schedule through the day. I kept to her schedule, mostly, when I came home. Last night wasn't too bad until about 0400...it is very difficult to sleep on your back all night when you're a side-sleeper. And I flip often.
Fortunately, we have the space-age bed that sits up at home. We got that for Mark's snoring, but it is going to be a godsend for me, I think.
Am eating. Mostly, I want fruit. I had two veggie samosas last night, which felt like a huge meal. I have lost about 5lbs, but hey, I don't mind that.
It's 7:15 Arizona time, and Mark is still sleeping. I could not be doing this without him. He's sleep-deprived, too. He got a good night sleep the second night I was inpatient, and was sleeping well until 4am when I woke him last night. He can sleep in today. I will sit up and eat pineapple.
I want to do things today. Like, get outside and see something. Probably from the car, but see something. I love the desert. Maybe I can walk some.
And that's where it's at right now. Tomorrow, we see Dr. J for a CXR and post op meeting. I'm not supposed to lift more than 5lbs for six weeks. That's a gallon of milk, I'm told, I can pick up Bella, but not Beau cat. (Beau cat's obese.) And to go back to work, I need to be off the narcs and be able to tolerate the activity of work. We'll see how it goes.