Recovery

Recovery was a fucking bitch.

When I got home, my sister had been nice enough to set up the recliner in the living room up for me, with the remote near by, a blanket, a bottle of water, etc.  My bedroom was all nice and toasty warm too, and the first thing I did was attempt to crawl into bed and sleep.

Sleep was hard. I’m a stomach sleeper, but obviously, after abdominal surgery, sleeping on my stomach (and even my side!) was out. So I tried to sleep on my back. I woke up after three hours, and I *hurt* so bad.  The fact that I couldn’t use my abdominal muscles put all the work on my back muscles, and they were so sore. My medicine wore off, so I was in intense pain.

I was on codeine by now, instead of the lovely lovely morphine, and codeine sucks. Once I knocked it back and the pain subsided, I walked around a bit, and drank more water. I tried to watch TV, but I couldn’t.  The codeine had fucked with my concentration. I couldn’t watch TV, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t play video games, I couldn’t use the computer, I couldn’t listen to music…I couldn’t do anything.  I couldn’t really sit up, because that required bending at the waist. I was pretty much either vertical, prone in a chair or horizontal. I walked, and I slept.

They had given me sleeping pills, but the damn things didn’t work. For the first three nights, I woke up every three or four hours. I would walk around, take more codeine, and try to sleep again.

Oh, and did I mention the gas? Yeah. There was gas. The gas they used to inflate my abdomen had to come out some how, and I was burping, but mostly farting. Well, trying to do those things. That’s what all the walking was for, to break up the gas so I could pass it all somehow. It wasn’t fun.

Thankfully, I wasn’t hungry during this time. I was only allowed water, broth, and jello for the first three days after surgery, and then I was eventually allowed to have up to three Optifast shakes a day.

Once I was allowed to have Optifast, (which was around the time I weaned myself off the codeine and switched to children’s Tylenol) I also started going to the bathroom again. See, I didn’t have all that much in me to pass, so I was mostly peeing. But the jello and Optifast gave me something to digest, and to poop.

Lets just say that the first two weeks were unpleasant, and that I was looking forward to finally getting to have a regular bowel movement.

I was bored and stir crazy. Once I got off the codeine, I was able to concentrate on stuff again, but I was so sick of being in the house. I made a few forays out with my mother, to visit relatives, which was nice, but I had so little stamina that it didn’t last long.

However, things picked up towards the end of the week. By the Sunday after surgery, I felt much much better. I was more mobile, more able to concentrate on school work and my other writing, and best of all, I was losing nearly two pounds a day. In the first two weeks after surgery, I dropped ten or eleven pounds.

My weight loss has obviously slowed now, since I’m back on solid foods and taking in more than 400 calories a day, but damn that felt good.

Two weeks after surgery, I returned to the doctor for them to check my incisions, and talk to the nutritionist about my post-surgical diet. I was giving the OK to start on semi-solids and solids, which was awesome, and told what sort of other things were OK to eat and drink, and what sort of vitamins I was now allowed.

Since then, I’ve been doing pretty damn well. I’ve maintained my weight loss, which I’m happy about, since from what I hear some people actually gain some weight right after surgery, and I’m almost completely back to myself.

I’m still not moving at top speed, but I’m amazed at how good I feel. Stairs don’t bother me anymore, I’m sleeping better, I’m more full of energy – I can’t wait until I’m allowed to work out! I’m still restricted to not lifting anything over 20lbs, and the only exercise I can do is walking (which I’ve been doing quite a bit of, despite the snow – yay for Doc Martin’s!).

I’m eating pretty much what I want, within reason. I mean, I *want* to eat a taco, and I *could* eat a taco, but I’ve been eating more healthy than that for the most part. (Its the holidays. There are cookies everywhere. I have one now and then. Sue me.)

I feel full quicker and longer, and am learning to eat slower and make  better choices. I can only have so much, so I want the best bang for my buck.