Life After Surgery

I am HOME!  Oh blessed sweet home.

My back surgery was last week on Tuesday, and I remained at the hospital until Saturday.  At first it looked as if they were going to keep me a little longer, but at the last minute my bowels decided to finally wake up and we got clearance to leave.  Whew!

There were many rough patches during my stay.  Of course the pain was #1.  I had morphine that I could get at the push of a button, which I DID push all the time, but never noticed any huge, instant relief.  Only on the day when I was taken OFF the morphine did I realize how much it was doing.  Yowza.  I began some other drugs to take its place, but they required food in my stomach, and I wasn't allowed to eat solids yet until the whole "bowels waking up" thing had taken place.  Needless to say, it was tricky business to figure it all out.  And I should mention that I got very sick of jello and broth for every meal.  

#2 was the constant abuse of my body.  Aside from the obvious foot-long incision down my back, I had to wear these really tight knee socks (imagine like spanks on your legs) to prevent blood clots.  On top of that, they wrapped my legs with these squeezing machines (that's what I called them) which constantly alternated squeezing each calf.  It was a bit noisy and annoying to sleep like that.  Someone came in every night at about 2-4am to take blood.  I would just flop out an arm for them and sleep right through it.  But after 3 different IV locations, and those blood draws every night, my poor arms look like they got in a fight with a barbed wire fence.  They are bruised in every spot as well.  

For the bowel issues, which are normal and expected, I was given stool softeners every day.  As a few days went by and no signs of anything, I began getting suppository laxatives, too.  One morning my stomach hurt SO BAD from being all stopped up and bloated, that I seriously looked pregnant.  It was tight and tender and miserable.  I tried to get up and walk, since this is the best cure to get it all moving, but no results.  At this point I refused anymore laxatives or stool softeners out of fear.  When things finally did get going, it was going to be baaaad.  

I had a few emotional breakdowns, mostly due to the pain or frustration.  But when Saturday came, Jason and I were excited to hit the road and get away from all the tubes and alarms and diet restrictions.  Wahoo for home!!!

My dear Jason.  I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.  I'll never be able to thank him, or anyone, enough for all that they have done for me.  But Jason's job has been the hardest.  Not only has he dealt with the kids and the house perfectly while I was gone, but he raced to be by my side everyday as much as he could.  Here's just a taste of all that he has to do for me, and at the same time you get an idea of exactly what my recovery is like at this point.

• Each and every time I move, even a little wiggle, he has to hand me pillows, adjust the covers or tubes, or whatever.
• He holds the cup and straw in place so I can drink (or swallow pills) while lying down.  
• He stands by while I use the walker, at a snail's pace, to catch me if I fall
• He has to get me dressed and undressed
• He lowers me to sit and helps me back up again
• He brings me a cup and bowl to brush my teeth in bed
• He spoon fed me ice chips and other little bits to eat
• He washed my face for me, brushed my hair, and gave me a spongebath
• He set alarms to get up in the middle of the night so I can have my pills on time, plus had to get up an additional time to help me roll over.  
• He also slept on the bedroom floor so that I could have the whole bed and no extra jostling, yet he could still be nearby to hear my calls.

He is amazing.  I know he is tired, but he doesn't complain or hesitate to jump up whenever I need anything.  There is no way I would have survived this without him.  ALL of my family has been like this.  I had multiple visits from parents and siblings, and a couple of friends, all who have been working hard for me in the background, and each time they really cheered me up!  

Sometime after the surgery

My big wound

On my first walk

So here I am, day 6.  I'm glad the first few are behind me, but have a feeling that the hard part has only just begun!