Post Op

November 3, 2009 -

I'm not a very good patient. I'm too demanding. I had a great nurse but I started to feel sorry for her early this morning. About 11:00pm last night I started to have some chest pain. It was mild and although I do have a medical background I did wonder whether or not it could be a blood clot. About midnight the pain was pretty severe and I let my nurse know - about 10 minutes later I hear over the loudspeaker "Rescue team to 518". I'm in room 518 and seconds later about 10 doctors run into my room and start shooting the questions. I'm a little embarrassed, they're thinking heart attack, I'm thinking maybe blood clot, most likely gas. During surgery your tummy is pumped full of CO2 and the pain I'd felt up to that point was the pressure of the gas in my tummy - In the next 15 minutes I have an EKG, chest X-ray and blood taken. It was quite impressive and I guess if nothing else it was a fun drill for them to run. As it turns out it was gas and they all left my room looking disappointed.

I didn't sleep much that night, and around 4am I started to itch - I'd been on the Fentanyl since surgery and I think it built up in my system and it felt like ants were crawling all over my bones. My doc ordered some Benadryl and it worked OK but around 9am I was given a new pain medicine. I talked to James at 8:30am and he decided to come down to the hospital, I talked to each of the kids, but felt so tired, I think I fell asleep for a second talking to my oldest son, Connor. At 9 am I got my new pain medicine and at 9:15 am I stopped breathing.

I'm really lucky - I had a great nurse who had no reason to come in and check up on me, she had just given me some new pain medicine and usually they come and check up on you once every hour or so, but she felt "prompted" to come and check on me and found me unresponsive and not breathing. I woke up two hours later in the ICU - I was in a fog for quite a while - I must have been told 6 times what happened - everyone was so patient. The first doctor I saw was the ICU Chief Resident - He said that the nurse found me breathing only once per minute, or at least "not often enough to sustain life". They didn't know how long I had been in this condition and my heart hadn't stopped, I was unresponsive, my pupils were "fixed and dilated". They gave me some medication that didn't help right away because my IV had blown (meaning it had come out of my vein) and they were in the process of putting me on a respirator when I started to wake up a little and started to breathe on my own a little better. They kept telling me I gave them quite a scare, I guess it was nothing compared to what James went through.

He was in the car when the hospital called him on the cell phone. He didn't pick it up in time and they left a voice mail saying that I had some issues with my breathing and that I was no longer on the 5th floor and that he should go to the 2nd floor, to the ICU. When he got the the hospital a nurse was waiting for him and they took him to a waiting room where a member of the hospital clergy was called to talk with him. He thought that I had died - poor sweetheart. My doctor went to talk to him and the eventual conclusion was that I had been given too much pain medicine and it had caused me to stop breathing. We were both told that if the nurse had not found me at that time I would have had some severe brain damage from lack of oxygen or I very easily could have died in just a matter on minutes. It was very scary. I spent the rest of the time in the hospital in the ICU.

The rest of the day was spent waking up from the cloud I found myself in. Nothing else exciting happened. Later that evening I finally was able to start having some small sips of water and was able to get up and walk some more. Nothing more eventful happened, but as far as I'm concerned that's fine - one close call was enough for me!

I was given a blessing before I had my surgery by my sweetheart and my father and I was promised that I would recover and heal speedily. I'm so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and knew I was in trouble and sent an amazing nurse to check up on me, just in time to prevent any negative consequences - I feel very grateful and blessed this evening. It's a testimony to me that prayers are heard and answered!!

November 4, 2009 -

Last night went much better. They took me off of the narcotics when I went to the ICU, I've been on Tylenol since - It's been working well. The more I get up and walk the better my pain is. James decided to spend the night last night. I don't think he got very much sleep. I finally got a couple hours. My doctors came by and really would like me to spend one more night in the hospital, but I'm hoping they will let me go tonight. I think we just doubled what this surgery is going to cost us by ending up here in the ICU. The sooner they can release us the better. They increased what I can drink to 4oz in 1 hour and I got to eat for the first time. I had some jell-o and some broth. It's surprising how quickly I feel full. I think I'll be able to make this cup o' jell-0 last all day!

10:oopm - They let me go home tonight! I was up walking a lot today and feeling great, eating well and my doctor agreed to let me leave the hospital at about 6pm this evening. I was very grateful. It was a bumpy ride home, but it's nice to be in my own comfy bed - I think I'm going to sleep much better tonight. My wound sites are feeling much better. They have never felt very painful - the only real pain I've felt is pressure from the gas. They did send me home with the anti-nausea pill and some Percocet. So far so good!

November 5th, 2009

It's so nice to be home. Today I have spent a lot of time sleeping. I have felt really tired all day. I have got in my fluids - it's a lot of sipping throughout the day - I've also gotten up and walked around the house a few times. My pain has been minimal - I have been taking Tylenol and it has been working well. As long as I keep up with it and don't go too long in between doses I'm good. I'm surprised how quickly my recovery has been. My surgical sites are looking good, no pain, the gas pain is minimal today. I'm feeling pretty good.

I've heard a lot of people say that they are really emotional, but so far I've not felt any of that. I haven't felt any hunger yet, food still smells really good and I do get "cringes" of yearnings. I'm not hungry, just a thought "man that would taste really good." But it's not real hunger pains or cravings. It's all different. I' started to drink "Crystal Light" today from home and it tasted way to sweet to me, I had to dilute it with water quite a bit before I could drink it.

I've decided to weigh myself once a week - every Monday. So I have a few days left. I don't want to become obsessed with how much weight I'm losing. I just want to feel healthier and stronger. Overall everything is going okay - I'm feeling good, my biggest issue right now is that I'm tired and feel weak, I'm guessing that won't change till I get something more to eat. Bye for now.