Friday, September 12, 2014

This is What Surgery Looks Like on Me

I'm not sure who this smiling paragon of light and love is. She must have been on drugs. Oh wait, she was.

BeckysurgeryI don't really remember this walk around the floor at all. You'll also notice that I'm quite red. Apparently that's what happens to me with anesthesia. That, and I itch like a lizard losing its skin.

This is more in keeping with what I remember my time in the hospital being like.

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Incidentally, my sister is a nurse and she asked me WTF was going on with that IV. Truly it was the sloppiest thing I'd ever seen. My arms are a mess of bruises now, both sides.

And here's how I'm looking today. I feel terrible. I had to quit the Dilautid because it was making me sick to my stomach and making me have terrible, scary dreams. I guess the good news is I'll never be an addict. I don't have the constitution for it.

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I really don't think I was adequately prepared for how bad the pain would be. Little things that you take for granted - like reaching for a glass of water - become major chores. Sneezing feels like it's going to rip me open, and let's not even talk about the phlegmatic cough I picked up in the hospital (apparently this is common?). I can't sit for too long, but it also can't lay on my back either because my insides feel all sloshy and weird.

And, apparently, I also wasn't adequately prepared for post-op meals. I received a sheet of paper that told me to eat protein so that's what I've been doing. Alas, I found a message board today where other women are talking about their first week post-op diets and it's all light fare and broth. Oops.

So yeah, not sunshine and roses over here. Anything but.

Since I'm not getting great sleep I told Alan he should come sleep in the bed tonight. I think I'm about to make my way to the living room to see what's streaming on Netflix because I'm certainly not falling asleep anytime soon.