Thank you MrM. :hug: ? and SRG :hug: ?
No intense pain is amazing, I can't imagine what a relief that must be for you to realize you are healing correctly and on your way.
Yeah, that feeling like -- Holy crap, I actually made it through my surgery, and I'm actually getting better.
It makes me tear up.
I guess I never thought I'd get to this place.
--
I think I have one more day to recap: post op day 3, which was Sunday 3 March, and then I will be all caught up.
It feels fitting, really, to recap it now on the morning of my discharge, so that we can then move forward onto the next leg of the journey.
Day 3 seems so long ago, so this one is likely to be very sparse.
It was a Sunday, and my last day where I was in ICU.
The obvious highlight was having my chest tube removed.
Holy shit. That test tube was probably the single most physically painful thing I have ever experienced.
Every single time I inhaled and my lungs inflated, there was excruciating pain.
According to my carers, I turned a corner pretty fast after that sucker was removed.
I did more standing up and sitting in my arm chair; 3 times that day I think.
Then in the evening, I was discharged to the orthopaedic ward.
Before I left, my nurse brushed and rebraided my very knotty unwashed hair. It was very sweet of her to do so.
I think I must have had to transfer into a different bed before we left ICU; the ones down there had much niftier controls ?
The orderly arrived to take me to my new ward, and my nurse came with us to transfer me over to the new nursing staff.
I'm someone who finds change very difficult, and even leaving ICU after 3 days was a big deal for my body to adjust to.
This was NOT made easier by the nurse I had immediately when I came onto the new ward.
Aside from this past weekend and early this week, that Sunday was my next lowest moment while in hospital.
In short, that new nurse was a bitch.
I'd left the familiar, caring environment of ICU, and was now in a completely new environment with completely new nurses. Even the light was noticeably different.
I was also in a lot of pain from the journey there. The orderlies are great, but there were still little bumps along the way and I was just 3 days post op.
It took me a long time to settle down, mentally and physically.
Just when I finally had, my nurse decided to make me sit up, in bed, and started changing all the controls on my bed.
It was so painful.
In addition to that, she had a major passive aggressive complex; one of those people who make you feel on edge just by being around them.
My parents visited me that evening, which was good. But also extremely challenging as I was very upset. My cousin and her fiance visited after.
I was happy for the company, even if it was hard.
Fortunately, when I woke up the next morning, there was a new nurse. And I started to settle in again.
I did have that nurse again several times since. But never on enema shifts, though I would have requested someone else without hesitation had I.
--
So I think that is the end of our journey around the solar system of my hospital post-op stay.
Today, I will see my surgical team again, and will get my dressing removed!! (typically happens around the 2 week post op mark)
I'm very excited to see my scar in its fullness, for the first time!
Then I will meet with the pain team to get my discharge analgesia plan, as well as my discharge summary from the ward.
And then we'll be off :)
Thanks again to all of you for your support on this leg of the journey.
I made a little 'spinal fusion by numbers' for my time in hospital:
1 fall
2 hospital wards
3 nights in ICU
4 types of laxative
5 spinal levels fused
6 weeks until my next hospital follow-up
7 am report time I had for my surgery
8 steps I climbed before I was cleared for discharge by physio
9 enemas
10 xrays (that I was conscious for)
11 tubes + patches in/on my body when I woke in ICU
Cheers!
