Don’t worry

I am still alive after my operation!

The problem is hubby bought me an iPad for my time in hospital and it is impossible to blog from. The iPad was a necessity when I was bed bound for three days. No food or drink for four days. So it was a great asset to have, to keep me occupied. I even got to bore my anaesthetist with images from my blog and Flickr. He came to visit  me on one of my long evenings. He stayed for over an hour chatting to me. Just shows you get what you pay for!!

My operation seems to have gone very well. I wasn’t in too much pain from it. The unbearable pain came from me being bed bound for days with pumps on my legs. Because I couldn’t stand or walk about, the pain I get in my left leg was uncontrollable. Morphine wouldn’t even dull it. The surgeon was very concerned by the third day and I was prescribed some new medication to try and dull the nerve. He even mentioned it looked like I would have to have another back operation in six weeks time. My disc space turned out to be very narrow and he wasn’t sure if he had managed to get everything out and away from the sciatic nerve.

But the new medication seems to be slowly doing the trick. I still have to stand up in the night and during the day to walk off the leg pain that starts. It is certainly less than it used to be. The pain down my leg has disappeared on the few car journeys I have had since leaving hospital. So that is a blessing.

I am soooo sleepy all the time, that I spend most of the day asleep. I’m not sure at the moment if it’s my new medication or the result of the operation. But I am making the most of the rest. As I am not allowed to do any housework, it gives me lots of time to rest. I still have lots of ready made meals, I cooked before the operation to get through, so I’m still enjoying home cooking.

I struggled with the hospital food, as I knew I would. I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink for four day as my bowel was paralysed . In fact it wasn’t a problem, as I wasn’t at all hungry. I just craved some fruit pastilles, that were sat in my bedside drawer.When some blood tests came back that my blood sugars were dangerously low, I was allowed to suck one, as they hooked me up to yet another drip. It took me an hour of bliss….

Because there was nothing on the menu I ever ate, I was allowed to order anything I fancied. But when you have no appetite, it’s hard to decide what to order. I would forget what I had put down for the chef to make me. I’d lift the silver dome at meal times and my heart would sink. Uncooked chips, raw omelette or lumpy mash ! The only meal I could ever eat was breakfast.

 

Do you know what the most annoying thing from my stay in hospital. I didn’t even lose a whole pound in weight. How the hell not ? I even grew in height , but still no weight change? Must have been something in all those darn drips I was on.

Everyone but me seemed to be freaked out by my catheter bag. I wore it as if it was the latest's fashion accessory.

I was allowed home early as I was doing so well. But, I slowly began to deteriorate as I was trying to do too much. I thought I could go shopping in a wheelchair, but I found it too low and soft and I was in pain for the rest of the day. So Chris is glad he never has to push me around in that again.

I now just take it easy and sleep a lot. And leave everything to them to do. (except today. Everyone has abandoned me. So I am fending for myself)

As soon as I had my staples out, I felt a lot more comfortable. I have to wear a huge back brace and it’s tight right across the scar, so that isn’t too great. The scar is twice the size I was told it was going to be and is also in a different place. Maybe I will find out why, when I next see the surgeon. He did say to me it would depend on how easy the access would be in my abdomen.

Anyway, I am taking each day as it comes.