OUCH!

Surgery on Wednesday went well and I remember very little of the entire day from the first injection until Thursday morning. According to the girls I was wacky and used words like "flasharino" when sharing a view of my backside, "It'll be ok baby." to Lisa while she was holding on to me so I would not fall off the bed, and "sh*t" when I was describing how I felt. This last word was evidently my favorite, as in "I feel like sh*t." Not really my favorite cuss word so I am glad it was the one that surfaced through the fog of the medicines.

Anaesthesia side effects were all over me. I was very nauseated and evidently hurt quite a bit. This is all hearsay as I really don't remember it. Joe said I was just lying there like a slug. I am not sure what he expected me to do but this is his first time as the visitor, not the patient.

On Thursday I woke with no knowledge of the previous day's antics. I recognized none of the people that came in saying "you look much better today" and that's probably just as well. I had slight nausea and moderate pain that once I learned to push the buttons was taken care of. I walked twice up and down the hall to great praise from the physical therapist. I walked back and forth to be bathroom several times. I was way overconfident at that point. One of the reasons my pain was under control was that I had a nerve block pump inserted in my right leg and if I pushed the right button, it numbed my incision site. It worked great but it made the right leg very unstable as I couldn't feel it. So left alone in my room, sitting in the chair, I decided I could go to the bathroom on my own if I could just reach the walker. In spite of the many signs saying "Call . Don't Fall." I leaned too far forward, the right leg went out and I fell out of the chair. I managed to sit up and reached the call button and used the famous line "I've fallen and I can't get up." Thankfully I only bruised my leg and nobody yelled at me except my husband whose last words when he left that day were "Don't fall!" Thursday evening one of my pain killers was changed from a pumped intravenous to oral percocet. The pumped one had been making me itch like mad. The percocet made me take naps immediately after I took it. ''

Friday, I was very chastened and called for someone every time I had to pee which was a lot. My GP, Dr. Giersch, stopped in to say she had noticed that my white cell count was high and since I am prone to Urinary Tract Infections, she thought I had better go home with an antibiotic if the tests confirmed which they did her suspicion. It was really nice of her to come into the hospital.

Friday, the nerve block pump was stopped about 2 and I was able to go home after it had been disconnected about 3 hours so Joe and I were leaving in the middle of rush hour on Friday night with Joe driving my van which he hates but I can't get into his sedan as easily. The hospital made me eat dinner before I left so I am sure Joe was starving. Trip took about an hour with a stop at Krogers to ask for the meds to be filled. Laura and Jason met us at the house and walked me up the five steps to the front door where I sat in the nearest chair and asked when I could take my percocet. Jason went to pick up the meds, Laura set up the potty chair and my sick room and two grandkids got lots of hugs. I was in bed by 8:30 and asleep by 9.