Parole for good behaviour

Aka, post op day 2! Coming to you live from the couch at my house. Stay tuned for a recap of the last few days.

Surgery Day!
I woke up early ( 630am) to squeeze in breakfast before my official fasting began at 7am. I was required to check in at 1030am, however I knew my surgery wasn't until the afternoon. If I had realised just how late in the afternoon my surgery would be, I would have eaten a bigger breakfast! When I had my pre-op meeting with the anesthetist, she warned me that the case before mine might take a while, so although I was second on the list, I may not get in until 3pm. 3pm came and went, and I was getting hungrier by the minute! I eventually was called in at 4, and wheeled into the theatre at 430pm. Hooray!

I woke up in recovery feeling quite groggy, and was in there for a while waking up properly. The recovery nurse said I had been a model patient and handed me over to the ward nurse who wheeled me off to my room. My Fabulous hubby was there waiting for me, sitting at the table in the corner studying (did I mention he had an exam the day after my surgery? Very bad timing). He stood next to my bed for a while, chatting away. I was still quite dopey, poor thing. Tuesday night was also census night for us here in Oz, so hubby filled out our household census form while I dozed. He eventually left about 930pm, as he needed to get some sleep before his exam.

My sleep was very interrupted, between my nurse checking my obs, giving me my antibiotics, and I also asked for painkillers a couple of times. The incisions were quite sore, and I also knew they would help me sleep. Around 6am I also asked for some anti-nausea meds, as I was really feeling unwell. Luckily they kicked in quickly.

Post op day 1

7am delivered me a new nurse (and a student nurse), more obs checking and a plan for the morning. My gastrograph and swallow was scheduled for approx 9am, and if that was ok then I was allowed to have something to drink. Yahoo! I actually needed some more anti-nausea meds about 830, as I think the lack of food was getting to me. My surgeon dropped by to check in me, and told me that the surgery went well. He said that I had a small hiatus hernia which he repaired while he was there! He asked if I had reflux, which I didn't think I did (but thinking back, I did have a bit if indigestion). He also said my stomach was tiny (!!), so he put a ml of extra fluid in my band as it seemed loose. Did anyone else have a hernia they didn't know about?

I was wheeled to xray for the gastrograph, and can I just say - BLECH!! It was disgusting. I hate everything aniseed, and this stuff was like industrial strength Sambuca (aniseed liqueur). Thank goodness I was allowed to rinse out my mouth afterwards!

When I was returned to the ward, I was happily allowed some water, and then a bit later -lunch!! Tomato soup, orange juice and a cup of tea. Heaven. Later in the afternoon, my nurse said she had been reading my notes, and the surgeon said I could go home if I tolerated my lunch! I rang my husband (he was in his way home again) and asked him to come back and get me. So long story short (too late, sorry!), my 2 night stay turned into a 1 night stay and I came home about 5pm yesterday.

Post-op Day 2
I slept much better last night than I did at the hospital, even after getting up to take painkillers (they sent me home with a liquid paracetamol/codeine concoction). This morning I am feeling ok, but still quite sore. At least today I can tell the difference between hunger pain and pain! I think though that all the codeine I have been having has blocked up the pipes (sorry Draz), so I'm trying to help out by adding some extra fibre to my shakes today. I'm also laying here with heat packs, as my TOM started last night, which has added a whole 'nother type of pain! I'm hoping that I will start to feel less pain from the incisions soon.

Can I just say, anyone who had this done as day surgery, I salute you!!


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