Hello Everyone!
I woke up on the morning of June 19th early. We had to be at the Brigham and Womens Faulkner hospital for 8 am . We left the house at 6:30 am since Boston traffic is so great in the morning – ugh. We got in and checked into registration. At this point it was about 8 am and my mouth was sooooo dry , I just wanted to have some water, unfortunately not allowed. But I was okay since surgery was scheduled for 10:05am , so I could deal.
After registration it was off to surgery check in. I checked in and shortly fter they brought me to start getting ready. Hubs had to wait while I got setteled. So all the usual jazz is done,changing , making sure all my info is correct, makng sure I am all ready for surgery. At some point a very nice nurse came in and said ” Hi . I will be helping Sue with your IV. ” Then it hit me, the nice nurse hat had been with me was named Sue.
Sign #1
Now I had a chat with my mom before all this , and this was by far , her sending me a sign. Then more doctors and nurses came in to introduce themselves. Wouldn’t you know it – another nurse named Sue and a doctor named Frances. Now, If thats not a sign -I do not know what else is.
At that point – I was fully convinced that my Mom was right there with me and everything would be ok.
I did go into surgery after 10:05 , I think it was more like 10:20 ish, but I really don’t remember. I remember waking up super sore and out of it. My hubs was there and my dad arrived after with some beautiful flowers.
All I wanted to do was drink some water. But it this surgery – its got to be sips. I seriously wanted nothing more than to chug the pitcher of water and chew on the hospital ice. You know what I mean, hospital ice , is like the best ice ever. You know….
I had some great nurses taking care of me through my first night. Jess and Gabe were awesome. I had all sorts of meds and I had to keep getting Heprine shots every so may hours. They stung and bruised . First challenge was actually going to the bathroom. I was told if I could not go on my own by 10 pm, then it was the catheder . Now, i know a catherder is not something anyone likes, but when I had my daughter , I was severly traumatized. They put it in wrong and the worst pain of my life endured. I still remember the feeling. So I did all I could to make sure I went . And I did… 🙂 I know, pee is super exciting, but the night got worse. So I was in and out of it, one time when I woke up I was super sick, kept thinking I was going to puke, but there was nothing to puke. In addition to , I had horrible gas pains, like awful, kill me now, gas pains. At some point I am sure someone told me how they pump you full of gas during the surgery . Welp, I do not remember anyone telling me that gas could get caught and cause awful pain. So, imagin pain like heartburn times 100 burning in the middle of your chest. It sucked. I was about to grab a scapel and slice a hole in my own chest to let some gas out.
So the moral of the story is – night 1, sucked. And I cannot say enough about my team of doctors and nurses, they were so great. Thankfully I woke up the next day and felt so much better. I got some walks in and was able to start shakes.
The thing that I am honestly struggling the most with is my sips. It doesn’t sound like something that one would struggle with but it is way harder than I expected. I am supposed to have at least 64oz a day of fluid and 60-70grams of protein. Definitely have not reached that yet, but each day it gets better. Its weird constantly sipping, but I need to make sure I keep it up. I do not want to get dehydrated.
And shakes – I have got to get some recipes to mix it up. Really, I would love to just have some potatoe soup. I am a ways off of that.
So here I am , ending day 4, looking forward to Day 5. Its definitly a journey .