I didn’t sleep worth a shit last night. I was an idiot and decided to take a hydrocodone at bedtime because I’d done that Monday night and slept pretty well (and also had some cool vivid dreams). It didn’t help at all, and finally around 3 am I laid back on the couch with a bunch of pillows under my knees and though I didn’t sleep, I was comfortable enough to stay there for about an hour, and then when I got up, I was finally able to get semi-comfortable in the recliner and doze for a few hours.
I had my first post-op appointment today; poor Fred had to drive half an hour from work to come get me and then another 45 minutes to the plastic surgeon’s office; this living out in the country isn’t always the fun and games it appears to be.
During surgery, the plastic surgeon (or rather, I guess it was the anesthesiologist who actually did it) put a post-op pain control pump in. It was this one, and it was automatic and continual, and was expected to run about three days – basically, it pumped marcaine (from the same family as novocaine, I’m assuming) into my abdomen.
For the super-curious out there, Fred took a picture of me the day after surgery when the nurse was changing my dressing. I don’t think it’s terribly graphic, and after all, it’s a camera phone picture, but you can see what my front side looked like, here.
I didn’t have to do anything but find a place to put the pump, and since I was wearing a size 2X men’s button-up shirt, the pain pump (which looked like nothing so much as a baby bottle to me) ended up in the shirt pocket, and the drains (Jackson-Pratt Drains, two of them, one coming from each hip) ended up one pinned to either side of the front of my shirt.
The pain pump emptied about mid-day Monday and after that, it was nothing but a nuisance, always getting in the way, always popping out of the pocket, just a general pain in the ass, and I couldn’t wait to get rid of it. (I expected that as soon as the marcaine ran out, I’d be in excruciating pain, and while there was the occasional twinge, it wasn’t bad at all. In retrospect, though, Monday was my most uncomfortable day thus far in terms of feeling swollen and bloated, and I wonder if any of that had to do with the marcaine running out. It seems kind of obvious, doesn’t it?)
The drains weren’t annoying to me at all – when we got to the plastic surgeon’s office, the nurse said “Would you say that the worst part has been the drains?” and I said “The drains aren’t bad at all. It’s this damn PAIN PUMP and the horrible inability to sleep that’s killing me!”
I have been dreading, since the moment I woke up after surgery, having those drains removed. Fred, four years after his tummy tuck, will wax poetic on how horribly annoying and painful those drains were, and how much it hurt to have them removed and so on. And because I like to spend lots of time worrying and dreading, I’d been doing that, and you know what? It didn’t hurt at ALL to have the pain pump removed. It didn’t hurt at ALL to have the drain removed. I didn’t feel the removal of the pain pump at all, and just barely felt the drain being pulled out.
The nurse cleaned my incision, put antibiotic ointment on it, and showed Fred how to dress the incision line without using quite so much tape. Then they put my binder back on, and Fred and I were on our way.
I go back next Wednesday, presumably to get the other drain out. I still can’t drive, so I’m housebound for at least another week. I’m sure by this weekend I’ll be begging Fred to take me places to get out of the house. Wonder if I can convince him to go see Sex and the City? (HA.)
Bad thing: I can’t take a full shower ’til the other drain is out, so I’m still sponge-bathing and washing my hair in the sink. Bleh.
Today’s good things:
1. Now that the pain pump is gone and one drain is gone, I can pin the other drain to my binder and instead of wearing a men’s size XXL button-up shirt, which is what I’ve been wearing ever since I got home on Friday, I can wear a nightgown. The shirt was comfortable enough, but I felt like I was walking around with my ass hanging out, even though Fred assured me I wasn’t. Nightgown is much comfier.
2. Now that I have only the one drain, which will be tucked under my clothes, I don’t have to worry about the kittens puncturing anything and blood spurting all over the place.
3. Did I mention that I did not go one single day without seeing those kittens? Friday I went up to see them and had to stay in a chair because I couldn’t get on the floor. By Sunday I was getting down on the floor (very slowly and carefully). Now I’m back to seeing them as often as I want. Fred’s still taking care of the litter boxes (and btw, the kittens celebrated my surgery by starting to poo in the litter boxes because THEY ARE GENIUSES), but I’m taking care of everything else. I might have gone a wee bit overboard yesterday morning by crawling around on the floor with a hand vacuum in the foster kitten room. (DON’T LECTURE ME.)
4. I’m off hydrocodone completely and on a pain scale of 1 – 10, I’m at 1. If 1 is “no pain”. Is 1 “no pain”? Because it seems like zero would be “no pain.” I get the occasional twinge, but nothing worth bitching about – and given that I’ll bitch about anything, no matter how small, that’s saying something.
Someone asked if I was going to do a detailed entry about the surgery and recovery. I plan to do at least a brief overview of the surgery and recovery (let us all take a moment to guffaw at the idea that I could EVER be brief), and I think I’ll probably be up for getting that written over the weekend and you might expect that Monday.
Until Monday, I will likely keep posting occasional quick blog-type posts from my cell phone like I’ve been doing. Hopefully after Monday, the regular weekday posting schedule will resume.
Always on the verge of snapping. Never quite goes over the edge.
Giggling Zoe.
Tigger makes him guffaw.
Tons of (captionless) kitten pictures over at Flickr.
Previously
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: No entry.
2003: Today I’m still burning with curiosity, and I wish I’d asked anyway.
2002: So yes, the vacation rocked.
2001: If vacation pictures aren’t your thing, I’ll see ya tomorrow.
2000: I’m so so SO glad to be home.
Glad you up at em! well for the most part anyway! hehe
Robyn,
I’m VERY jealous that you had only 2 drains and one is out already!!! I had FOUR and 2 of them ended up staying in almost 3 weeks. On the other hand, I was allowed to shower from the beginning. I attached my drains to an old amusement park pass lanyard and showered away! The PS said it was good to let the water run over the drain sites. Oh, a good shower was HEAVEN after surgery! Like you, I had very little pain either. Those oxycodone dreams are strange, aren’t they? I didn’t take it long either! Sounds like you are doing great! Did the PS tell you how many pounds he removed? My total was just under 10!!!
Glad your feeling no pain….. I actually find that pretty amazing! I think I would be dying, but maybe thats just me.
The laughing kitten pictures are fucking hilarious.
You sound like you are surviving just fine. Not that I doubted it for a minute.
When I had my surgery it didn’t hurt at all when they took out the first drain. But the second drain they left in for at least a week to 10 days longer and the skin had started healing around the hole where the drain went in. OUCH! When the Dr pulled that second drain out tears started pouring down my face!
Just dropping by to say I’m glad to hear you’re healing so well.
I too am glad you are healing well.
Sounds like you are doing well on your path to healing. After I had abdominal surgery a few years back, I didn’t have any problems with the removal of the drains either. However, when my doctor dressed my incision, that’s when I found out I was allergic to the antibiotic ointment! Bummer. The incision got all red, weepy, and very itchy! Ever since then, I can no longer use neosporin. To each his own, huh?
Love all the kitty pictures! Keep on keepin’ on!
Good going, Robyn. I hope your healing continues as quickly and smoothly as it
apparently has been the case so far. Pamper yourself in every way that you can —
you’ve been through a lot, and vacations from housework (and litterboxes) are Very Good
Things indeed.
All good karma heading southeast to you!
Glad you are doing so well!A one on the pain scale is really good for this early in the recovery.
Your New stomach looks great already.Does this mean you and Fred will have matching scars ? Or do they do a mans incision differently?
The kittens look oh so adorable:)
Hope ya get to sleeping better.
I’m glad you’re not in a lot of pain. Sending good vibes your way so you will have peaceful wonderful dreams tonight and wake up totally rested. ((((Robyn)))
So glad you’re up and at ’em! Damn, you’re a badass.
I’m so glad you’re well on the way to a full recovery!
OK, you gotta tell me what that big round fabric thing is in some of the kitten pictures! It looks like a lot of kitten fun!
Also, I’m glad to hear you’re doing better. Of course.
I’m glad to hear you’re doing so very well. I am a tad bit jealous, though. Not only did I have FOUR drains from my surgery, but the two they left in nearly four weeks were the ones in the groin area and it was not pleasant at all. PLUS my binder was actually a full-length compression garment that was horrible to wear in the Texas June heat.
Hope your recovery continues to go well!
So happy to hear you’re doing well Robyn – Quick Healing Good Sleep Vibes being sent your way!
that stitches picture is gnarly, dude. like a magic trick gone terribly awry. =) thanks for sharing!
i’m glad you’re already painless. That’s great news! yay!
Ugh. Holy shit, they cut you up good. Sorry, I do not deal well with seeing stitches, especially that many! (I used to work at a vets and have flash backs to sewing up this poor kitty that got caught up in barbed wire, I fainted.)
I am so relieved to hear you are feeling good (Cut the shit out of the vacuuming stuff, honestly!) and are in little pain. Good news.
I am sure this will all be worth it and if I had the chance I would probably have one too!
I’m too scared to look at the pictures, but I just wanted to say that I’m glad you’re out of pain. Keep taking care of yourself. I had no idea this type of surgery involved so much pain! xoxoxo
Robyn,
You are amazing!! You have just done a great job with your recovery!! You are one tough cookie! I am happy that things have gone so well and hope they will continue the same. Thanks for doing such a great job of keeping us all informed how you were doing. We never had to worry and wonder!! Great job!!
Keep feeling better!! 🙂 Kathy
Glad you are doing so well.
Who knew they had such awesome pain pumps? Haven’t had major medical problems since the mid-70s when I had serious kidney surgery. Let me just say…back in the day, you only got stingy pain shots ONCE every four hours, and anything more, you were looked at like a drug addict. Eck!
Hang in there, and may your full recovery be soon! Love the kitten pix!
Robyn, I’m glad you’re feeling better. Hang in there, girl! 😀
Your stomach looks awesome, better than mine! I have a similar scar from abdominal surgery, albeit smaller. Over the years it has faded to such a fine white you can barely even see it, it just looks like a natural crease.
So… Now we have further first person documentation that— KITTEN THERAPY WORKS!!! So happy you are thru what sounds like the worst of it… no sleep is a bitch but you can deal with it… Don’t push too hard tho, you don’t need any setbacks.. AND we are so glad to have our bitchypoo back on track !!
Wow, look at that flat stomach! You’ve got this pregnant woman here pretty jealous!
And kitten therapy, oh yes. I still want Zoe for myself and nobody else because her cuteness is just out of this world.
I wish I were best friends with John Travolta so he could jet up here and get me in iowa. Then we would jet over to your place and scoop you up to go see the Sex and the City movie!!! *sigh* A girl can dream.
So glad you are doing well. You badass you!
Take care of yourself — glad your recovery is going well! YAY!
I’m so glad you’re doing so well. Once you start sleeping properly, I’m sure you’ll feel much better. I had some extensive jaw surgery a few years back and I think because I was on a morphine drop at the hospital for 3 days, that when they took me off of it, I could not sleep a wink for DAYS. I kid you not. I feel your “pain” when you’re by yourself in the middle of the night watching bad television and would give your left arm if you could just get some sleep. Also, since my jaws were wired shut, I couldn’t take any sleeping pills, so I had to just stick it out. Can you take some tylenol PM or something? It might help.
Holy Crap Robyn! It looks like they sawed you in half! I’m so glad to hear it dosen’t hurt. Wow.
I’m glad you’re doing so well, Robyn!
Glad you’re feeling better, hopefully even more so soon. Took a peek at the incision photo and you are definately way more badass than me!!
Glad to hear you’re doing well!
Also, cute kitties, but the runner up for cute goes to your belly button. Seriously, I was expecting the picture to be worse, but your tummy looks flat and the incision didn’t look as bad as I was afraid it would.
Good luck healing!
Hey — didjoo get a new bellybutton, or is that the same old belly button y’always had? (Not that I would recognize the difference, ‘cuz it’s not like I ever had a chance to see it, right?)
WOW your tummy looks good already! 🙂
great to hear from you *gentle hugs*
Hey, glad you are recovering and not in any pain. my sister in law got a tummy tuck and she spent 6 weeks laid up in bed, and she was miserable. I’m glad yours is going better. You are one tough lady! 🙂
Damn, Robyn, that is a gnarley looking incision. I feel for your pain!!!!!! Will you have a nasty scar from that or will it fade? Damn that looks like it hurts!!!