Gallbladder Removal

Blarggg surgery sucks.

Thursday morning:
So we got to the hospital at about 7 and went to pretesting to get some blood drawn. I asked them to put the IV port in right there and so they just sent me up to pre-op to get it drawn there. So we walked over to pre-op and right away they had me pee in a cup - to check for pregnancy- which was difficult because I hadn't had anything to drink. After that they have you change in to the super stylish neck strangling robes and had me lay in bed. The nurse, Larry, came in an had me sign a bunch of papers and then he tried to take my blood. He put the IV in my left arm and the vein blew out and so now I have a giant giant bruise on my arm. So they couldn't find any veins and had to call in the pediatric nurse. She stabbed me!!! twice! Her IV's were very painful but at least she got it in. So they took me into the surgery room and had me scoot onto the very narrow surgery bed. They gave me two smaller tables to lay my arms on. They anesthesiologist snuck in and told me she was giving me the sedative and I remember thinking that it wasn't working... and the next thing I knew I was waking up.

Thursday After Surgery:
Pain, Pain, Pain...
I was in so so much pain when I woke up, I'm pretty sure I made a scene in the recovery room but it was kinda hazy. This gallbladder removal was generally more painful than my microdiscectomy. Every movement made me cry. Although that seemed to be my general reaction to the anesthesia this time. Last time everyone was annoying me but this time I was just upset. Getting up and down were of course the most painful parts -still are- and moving left me breathless and crying. My nurse Paula was soo soo wonderful and did everything she could to keep me comfortable. The CPA Richard, was an ass and had that kind of dry humor that is beyond annoying when you're ill. For some reason he forced me to get up and sit in a chair next to the bed. He didn't raise the bed and so I had a long way to go, and he was pulling me up unevenly so by the end of this ordeal I was sobbing. Then they brought me some gross food so I climbed up into my bed. I slept a little bit and after that I really felt a lot better. I ate some dinner and then they gave me some Percocet which was a lot better than what ever they were giving me through the IV.

Thursday Night:
Paula's shift ended at 7 and Rebecca came on. Paula had disconnected my IV because it wasn't dripping anymore, but she left the IV part in so that she could give me medicine. Well Rebecca was very much by the book and when I asked her for a lozenge for my throat she said no because Dr. N hadn't ordered it.... Seriously? a lozenge has to be ordered? I can by them. Well she gave me some more IV meds and then she flushed it... but she pushed the flush through really fast and it hurt like hell. Well after that I noticed that blood was leaking back into the IV. I called her and she was just going to flush it again. So I had her take it out and went home. Lots of pillows propped me up and kept the pain to a minimum. I slept pretty well and napped all the next day.

Saturday:
My mom came home with me and was a perfect angel taking care of me while Pat worked. He was being a little insensitive before but he's being really nice now and taking good care of me. I think it's hard to understand pain when you've never been through it. The only real issues I've had other than the first day were some weeping of the incision's and some muscle tightness in my back from previous surgeries. Also if anyone has this done, do NOT use your stomach muscles at all costs. It creates really terrible burning. I also recommend continuous ice packs for the swelling.

I've not had any major problems so far but I have been on medication since the surgery.
Every little movement was super painful at first, however the recovery seems to be less tragic than the back surgery. I still need to be super careful for the next week or so but I think I'll be better shortly after that.

Fingers crossed.
K.