Recovery!!

We got back home from the hospital at around 7:30, and by then I was REALLY hungry.  My husband asked me what I wanted to eat and I told him either a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets.  He seemed to get really upset with me and told me "fine" he then looked at my dad, and said, "good luck".  Then he and my mom left.  They later told me that my anesthesiologist told them if I was nauseous that I couldn't have anything like that to eat, but I wasn't nauseous and they assumed that I couldn't have it and thought I was being difficult. 

When they had returned they cooked some chicken nuggets, but they were very spicy, so I didn't eat them.  I started getting a little sore around 9 pm, so I took some of the pain killers that my doctor had prescribed.  My husband helped me walk upstairs and helped me get settled into bed.  It hurt to lay flat, so I slept propped up on 4 pillows.  I woke up in the early morning in some pain, so I took some more medicine and went back to sleep until around 8:30. 

I was in some slight pain the rest of the day, so I kept up on my pain medicine.  On Saturday night I felt some extreme pain, and I looked at my belly and it was really swollen.  My mom looked at my pain medicine bottle and noticed that it was mainly acetaminophen, so she suggested that I take an Ibuprofen in between my prescription, and that really helped. 

Sunday, we noticed that the dressing on my belly button was falling off, so my husband called my doctor and asked him what we should do.  He suggested leaving the dressing on it , but if it did fall off to keep it clean and try and keep it covered.  Monday night the dressing completely came off, and my mom helped me change the dressings.  My parents flew back to Michigan on July 12th. 

I slowly weened myself off of the pain meds until I was only on Ibuprofen when I needed it and now it has been about a week and a half since the surgery and I haven't taken anything in about 4 days.  I have also quit covering up my belly button because I had been having a reaction to the adhesive (even the adhesive for sensitive skin) and it was tearing off my skin.

You can see the reaction from the sensitive skin tape

You can see the incision in my belly button, but you can also see how the band aids tore off my skin :(

I have my post-op appointment on August 1st, but until then I can't do anything that involved my lady parts, including swimming, bathing, tampons, anything!!!

The Surgery!!

On July 8th I woke up around 9 a.m.  I was nervous, but nothing like I usually am when I have something new going on.  I was still going to the bathroom every 45 minutes to an hour, and I was really sick of it!!  My parents and my husband ate breakfast and then we sat down to watch some TV and we ended up watching the space shuttle Atlantis' final launch.  We then got around and left to go to the hospital. 

We arrived at the hospital a little before 12:30 and checked in.  I of course had to use the bathroom when we got there, and the admission clerk wouldn't let me go.  She finally checked with the nurses and they gave me a little cup, so I could finally go.  Around an hour later they called me back.  They showed me to my bed, I was then asked a million questions and then the nurse told me to change out of my clothes and into my gown and then she left.  I changed and then sat on the bed and waited for her to come back. 

When she returned she brought warm blankets with her, so she covered me up with the warm blankets and asked me about the huge bruise that I had on my left arm.  I explained to her what happened during my pre-op appointment, she said she understood, but she wouldn't be bruising me today.  I was very relieved!!  She then put a really tight band around my arm, found my vein, and gave me my IV.  I was very impressed, she then told the other nurses that if I needed to have blood work taken, that they needed to do it during the surgery, because she wasn't going to "butcher my arm anymore."  I also asked her how long the bowel prep took to leave the system because I was still feeling it's effects.  She told me it depends on the person and their "evacuation history", but if I needed to use the bathroom to just let them know and they would come help me. 

She then brought back my husband and my mom to hang out with me until I was taken back for surgery.  My mom was asking a million questions, and kind of driving me crazy, but I know she was only doing it to keep me from thinking about the surgery.  Finally my doctor and the anesthesiologist came back to talk to me about what was going to happen, and then the OR nurse came back and saw that I was really nervous.  She put something in my IV to make me relax, but it just made everything around me fuzzy, I was still really nervous.  A few minutes later the nurse anesthetist came with a box of tissues and dried my tears.  She told me to relax and asked where my favorite place to be was.  I pointed at my husband's shirt (Disney Cruise Line).  She then said that she also loves Disney and that she goes there about twice a month.  She OR nurse then told me that they call her Princess Heidi because of it.  She then gave me some more medicine in my IV and had my mom & my husband kiss me and then we were on our way. 

I remember a tiny bit of the OR (a cold room with a lot of machines and moving from one bed to another), but the next thing I remember was waking up in recovery looking at a clock.  The nurse there then asked me how much pain I was in.  I wasn't really in any real pain, but I was a little uncomfortable so I told her a 3 or 4. She then gave me some pain medicine and stared taking the sticky monitors off of my chest.  She also took my blood pressure about 3 more times, and then rolled my bed over to the bathroom and said that in order to be discharged I needed to pee, so I went in.  I was still really dizzy, so she left a pull string on my shoulder to pull when I was finished.  She came in when I was done and helped me get to the sink to wash my hands and then to the recovery area to a chair where she asked me if I was hungry.  I told her that I hadn't eaten since the day before at 2:30, so she got me some graham crackers and some Diet Coke.  I wasn't really hungry, but I drank some of the Diet Coke and nibbled on the graham crackers. 

Then my mom and my husband came back to see me.  The nurse gave them some instructions for my discharge and then took my husband and showed him where to park to pick me up and then had my mom help me get changed.  They also gave us a huge pad to put on, because of the bleeding.  They then released me, I don't really remember being released or getting in the car, but I do remember taking some of the graham crackers with me to give to my dad.  

The Prep!!

On July 6th my husband's aunt and I picked up my parents at the airport.  My dad had never flown before and my mom had only had one airplane trip, so I was very nervous for them.  Everything went well, and they even signed up for frequent flyer miles at the airport.  On the 6th we just went grocery shopping and rested at home, because my parents were very tired from their trip.

On July 7th I showed my parents around St. Augustine and we went shopping for a project my dad was going to help me with.  We then went back home, because I had to start my bowel prep at 3 pm.  We got home around 2 and made lunch.  By this time I was getting very nervous, because Dr. Brown had told me that this was going to be the worst part.  Well at 3 pm I took my 4 Dulcolax pills and waited. 


Everything seemed alright.  I then had to wait until 5 pm so I could start my Miralax & Gatorade cocktail.  Well, after I started the prep I was not able to eat anything at all.  I was able to drink clear fluids though.  Well finally at around 4:30 I found a pitcher that I was going to use to mix up my cocktail  I poured the powder into the bottom and added the 64 ounces of  Gatorade and mixed it up.  I then put it in the refrigerator, so it would be cold.  I figured it would be easier to drink cold than room temperature.  I also found a cup that I could use that was about 8 ounces. 

Around 4:45 I couldn't wait any longer; I figured the sooner I began the prep the sooner it would be over.  So I drank my first glass and set my phone timer for 15 minutes.  I  was also happily surprised that the Miralax hadn't changed the taste of the Gatorade.  It was pretty easy to drink my first 4 cups, but around 6 it started to hit me HARD!!  I finished all the the Gatorade and Miralax, but I literally spent the majority of my night in the bathroom.  My husband finally got home from Minnesota at around 12:30 and I was still up and in the the bathroom.  My parent waited up with me until he got home and then they went to bed.  I was finally able to go to bed around 3 a.m., but I was still up every 1/2 hour to go to the bathroom. 

I was finally at the point that I was ready to have my surgery.  But, it was only because I wanted the bowel prep vengeance to be over!! 

My pre-op appointments

So, yesterday I had my pre-op appointments with Dr. Brown and the hospital; needless to say I was very nervous.  My appointment with Dr. Brown was first.  We arrived there around 8 and waited until around 8:30 before Jen called us back.  She took my temperature and blood pressure and then showed us to our room.  We waited about 5 minutes for Dr. Brown to come back in.  He performed the trans-vaginal ultrasound to make sure there weren't any "surprises", and there weren't.  He then told us what to expect from the surgery and what I needed to do to prepare for it. 

He said that he didn't expect the surgery to last more than 15 minutes, but it could last up to an hour and it is what the consider "band-aid surgery" because there aren't any stitches needed, just glue.  He reassured me that everything would be fine.  I told him I wasn't really worried about the surgery, but more so about the pain afterwards.  He then explained that on Friday I will be really tired from the anesthesia, so I'll just end up going home and going to sleep.  He said that Saturday I'll probably be in some pain, but it is from the air that is inside of my body from the surgery.  He then said that by Sunday I'll be sore, but not in any "real pain" and that will probably last about a week.  He then wrote me a prescription for pain medication.

He then explained how I was supposed to prepare for the surgery.  He told me how to make my Dulcolax & Miralax cocktail and mix it with 64 ounces of Gatorade and how I was supposed to drink it.  He then told me that the "bowel prep is the worst part of the whole procedure".  YIPPEE!!!  I am supposed to start that a couple hours after lunch on Thursday, and then after the prep I can't have anything to eat, only clear fluids until around 10 am on Friday and then I can't have anything at all.  He then told me again that everything would be alright and that he does about "10 of this procedure a week and no one has died yet :)".  He then gave me a hug and told me I'd be okay and that he'd see me on Friday.

We then left and went to our pre-op appointment at the hospital.  We had an appointment for 10:15, but we arrived around 10 and they called us back right away.  We met with the registration person first and she explained all of the legal things about having surgery and about patient/doctor confidentiality and had me sign a lot of papers.  She then had us pay the crazy surgery bill.  She then gave me a folder with some paperwork in it and showed me where the pre-op area was.  I registered at pre-op and about 5 minutes later the nurse called me back. 

We then went over more paperwork and the nurse explained what I needed to do the day of the surgery.  Which was mainly not eat or drink anything and don't wear any make-up or nail polish and to wear glasses instead of contacts and wear comfy clothes.  She then took me to another nurse who would be drawing my blood, and this is where the trouble began!!

She began by wrapping my arm in the sticky ace bandage and then taping it shut and then tying another rubber bandage around that to make my arm tight.  She then had me squeeze a stress ball to get my veins to stick up and then she started to poke me to try to get my blood.  She started up by my elbow and then decided that she didn't like that spot after she had already stuck me with the needle.  She then got upset with me because I was still squeezing the stress ball.  She kept saying "you're going to blow out your veins".  She then stuck me in the middle of my forearm and started to wiggle the needle searching for a vein.  As she was wiggling the needle she started rubbing my arm like she was trying to milk the blood from it.  Finally, the original nurse came in and saw that she was having trouble.  She then took the needle out of my arm because "the vein had burst".  She then put the rubber bandage on my other arm and started feeling for a vein.  She apparently couldn't feel one because the nurses who had been sticking me said that "she doesn't have any veins".  Finally they decided that they couldn't get it to work, so they were going to walk me down to the lab.  The second nurse also lectured me about drinking water and that I "should drink a ton of water to make it easier for me and the nurses on Friday".  I do drink a ton of water, water is all I ever drink anymore!!!!  Finally I walked down to the lab and waited for them to try to get blood out of my arm.

After waiting about half an hour and feeling defeated, they finally called me back.  First I had to pee in a cup.  When I was finished the phlebotomist asked me "what happened here" to the cotton balls and tape from the first two attempts to take my blood.  I then had to explain to her that I was at pre-op first and that they couldn't get any blood.  She laughed and said, "that's because they don't know what they are doing".  She then put the rubber bandage around my arm and felt around and immediately asked me, "are you ready?"  I told her that I was but I couldn't watch her do it.  She then stuck me with the needle and said "BINGO!!  We got it!!"  She then filled up several vials of my blood and then put another cotton ball and some sticky ace bandage around my arm.  She then gave me this hospital bracelet and said that I had to bring it with me when I came back to the hospital on Friday or I would have to start the whole process over again.  She then asked me if I would like it loose so I could take it off, or if I wanted it on tight so I wouldn't lose it.  I decided that I would rather have it on tight and not lose it than to go through the whole blood-taking ordeal again.  She then said that I was free to go!!  We then left the hospital and went to Sonic, because we hadn't eaten anything all day.  I felt pretty crappy the rest of the day, so I laid down and read.  I feel a little bit better today, but the nerves are still here.

Here is my arm today and my fancy hospital bracelet!!