(Let me just slip in here that it blows my mind that they can remove an organ through four small incisions. The ones on my abdomen are just over a half inch long tops, with the highest one being the biggest and, I found out, the incision through which Adolf Gallbladder exited me. The one in my belly button is an inch to an inch and a half long. My dad had to have an open procedure, and his incision is positively massive.)
The past few days have been...interesting...
- January 7th: went into hospital, had gallbladder removed, came home. Was able to eat for the first time in literally days, which I celebrated by eating (over the course of 24 hours) four small bowls of my momma's homemade chicken noodle soup and crackers. (This, in hindsight, was a great thing and a terrible thing all at the same time.) Slept a ton, paced a lot, learned that getting up from laying down blows and that I had an incision on my right side I couldn't see past my boob. (The moment of discovery was, in retrospect, positively hilarious. Imagine a petite 20-something woman trying to leap off her sore side from laying down, unable to do so, and having her mother help her up, all while she's babbling about discovering the mystery "missing" fourth incision and how they shouldn't have snuck a fourth in on her like that as she went into surgery willingly...I was on painkillers, ok?) I also learned that hiccuping and sneezing are the absolute worst thing to do right now. Painkillers from hospital controlled pain well. Momma went home that night; Hubby called off work for the next day as a precaution. I also learned that gas pains settling where my gallbladder was removed was, bar none, the worst pain of my entire life, and I had shingles once. I literally cried and scared my poor husband about to death.
- January 8th: Oh my word, did this day ever blow. I woke up with one of the worst sinus headaches of my life, dizzy, lightheaded, and incredibly nauseous. Whatever motion sick patch they put on me at the hospital before surgery abruptly quit working sometime during the night (...and my body decided it was allergic to its glue, creating hives I just cleared up), and my body subsequently decided it hated the painkiller and wanted it deported from my body, either from me not eating enough when I took it or from just deciding to assert its new-found independence. I don't remember much from this day that wasn't spent throwing up or trying NOT to throw up. Once we forced crackers into me long enough to keep down Advil, I was okay. It was a very long day for both of us. Hubby called off the following day to be safe as I hadn't ate a thing past crackers and chicken broth in 24 hours; he was worried with how dizzy I was that I'd have trouble getting around the apartment alone. The poor man, bless his soul, only left the apartment to pick up a casserole from my brother at his workplace while I was on the phone with my mom, pacing out gas pains, after both Momma and I encouraged him to go get it so I'd have food options available past soup. Thank goodness I had eaten so well the day before, as we think that reserve is what kept me going most of Thursday when I couldn't even keep ice chips down.
- January 9th: WORLDS better today. The soreness from surgery finally hit me full-force without painkillers in my system, making getting up to move around my apartment like I should a bit problematic. Hubby, again, was an absolute God-send through this, helping me up when I needed it and making it so I only had to get up to walk, not to retrieve things (mostly as I was very unsteady on my feet--lightheadedness has been my chief complaint of recovery). For some reason, my left eye (which has had a muscle imbalance my entire life) was absolutely refusing to focus on anything near my face, so I was unable to do most anything I enjoy (gaming, crocheting, knitting, reading); I settled for random shows on Netflix and Hulu as I could focus my eyes on our TV across the room. I also started trying little eye exercises I recalled from my childhood to get my eye to work again with my prismatic glasses. Slowly started eating real food again. We also started being a bit concerned that the...end products...of digestion weren't happening. The surgeon had warned us that my digestive system would probably launch all kinds of varying rebellions for a few days, so we gave my GI tract a deadline of afternoon the next day to get its (...literal...) shit together.
- January 10th: I started feeling well enough to be stir crazy, and Hubby really wanted to watch the NFL playoff games (we don't have cable), so we packed up to spend the day at his mom's and do our laundry there. (We forgot the laundry...because we are just that skilled...) I finally achieved the so-called end-product we were waiting on that morning, so I was finally starting to feel a lot more like myself. I could eat pretty much anything I wanted, but my stomach really hurt if I ate more than 5-6 grams of fat in a single meal. Came home unbelievably exhausted but relieved that I could do something, even if it was collapse on my mother-in-law's couch wearing pajama bottoms and a sports bra under a hoodie. But gosh darn it all, people, I did my hair that day. That was progress. Oh! I also got my left eye to finally start cooperating, so I spent some of my night playing Pokemon HeartGold on my Nintendo DS. I still wasn't mentally with it enough to try crafting, and I was too tired a lot of my waking time to focus on a book, so I avoid all of those.
- January 11th: My body decided to raise a mini-Hell over my deciding to eat real food the day before; I spent most of this day near a bathroom or wondering if I should move near one. I was super light-headed if I got up for too long, and the incision in my bellybutton started itching and stinging a ton. Spent the day on the couch alternating ice and heat on my bellybutton incision and napping as needed. I discovered some cool Youtubers in my boredom, played a ton of Pokemon, and overall was just bored, bored, bored.
- January 12th: Lightheadedness finally started evaporating when I realized that it kicks in if I get too hungry; for some reason, my body gets lightheaded about a half-hour before I feel hungry. Started eating small meals every few hours to keep this at bay. Felt brave enough to cook dinner, empty our dishwasher, and reload it. I also learned at dinner that I cannot eat a regular-sized meal unless I want to eat it sitting in my bathroom...it doesn't end well. Bellybutton incision still raised a minor hell every time I laid down (felt like it was being pulled apart); mirrors and a loving Hubby confirmed it wasn't infected, so we didn't think much about it. Lightheadedness, though diminishing, still persisted while I was up on feet for too long.
- January 13th: HUGE chunk of the dermabond gluing my bellybutton incision shut popped off early in the morning; clearly that was the issue behind all the pulling-stabbing-stinging pain. Incision still looks fantastic, so woo! Still getting super lightheaded, dizzy, or unsteady when walking around the apartment for too long, though I did manage to make dinner, unload the dishwasher, and reload it with a few sitting breaks nestled into that plan.
And that leads us up to more recent history. I'm clear to return to work next week, which is two work days later than I originally wanted. The night of the 14th, I talked Hubby into letting me drive us to our local Tops and get groceries. He agreed. We got my car scraped out of the snow, defrosted, and out of the driveway. I drove us to Tops with no problems sans some bellybutton/belly discomfort from the seatbelt, even through my winter coat. I got us into Tops, got a cart (figuring I could lean on it if I needed to), and into the store we went full of hopes and goals.
Ladies and gents, I didn't make it out of produce before I wanted to pass out, and that's literally the first section you enter in our local Tops. I never fainted, passed out, or the like, but I was very unsteady on my feet and visibly worn out. I nearly collapsed into the driver's seat of Tony the Super Impala while Hubby returned our cart, my head hung in exhaustion while I willed up the power to drive us the 10 minute or less drive home. We got the groceries into the apartment and put away, and I proceeded to collapse onto the couch in a heap of sadness and exhaustion. From the time we left the apartment to the time we got home, we were gone exactly an hour and a half, and that 90 minute journey kicked my butt. My stomach throbbed. My head spun. Just, nope.
So, unhappily, we agreed with the surgeon at my first follow-up the next morning that I had no business driving an hour round-trip to and from work and working seven hours (most of which probably on my feet) when I could barely walk around a store without it metaphorically spinning around me. My surgeon had initially wanted me off work two full weeks, so she was happy to "split the difference" with me on this one; I initially wanted to be back exactly a week after surgery, but it'll be closer to a week and a half when I go back. I called work, had the surgeon's PA fax the appropriate work release notice saying I was cleared no sooner than the week of the 19th, and I went home to collapse on my couch.
For whatever reason, my body either really sucks at clearing anesthesia from my system (as I had a similar issue when I had a diagnostic laparoscopy in 2013--I nearly passed out at a work fundraiser four days after it and was a wobbly mess most of the following week at work) or it goes into shut down mode after surgery. I'm a bit infamous in my family, in my circle of friends, and at work for driving myself to the near-breaking point out of altruism and sheer stubbornness, so my theory is my body knows the only way it's going to get me to actually rest is if it full-on demands it. It makes me too weak to do anything but rest until it is truly strong enough to do what I throw at it.
As of today, I'm 10 days post-op and finally starting to feel more like myself. I have an area over my belly button that's swollen, tender, and finicky still, but the swelling is finally starting to go down. On doctor's orders, I'm keeping my trusty rice bag on it heated whenever I think of it, and that seems to be doing the trick. Over 95% of the Dermabond has fallen off by now, and I am slowly looking less like I put up a good battle in a knife fight. One incision kind of looks like a butt, though...which is weird to me. My belly button one also stings a ton the longer I'm up and moving, probably because its positioning in my belly button means it gets bonked and rubbed a ton. Overall, I'm at that point in incision healing where they freaking itch. The one on my right side is particularly brutal with this, especially as I usually sleep on that side. I also often forget where exactly that stupid thing is, so I catch myself scratching it...wwhheenn I hit it and send myself into a fit of owing over the pain. I also have some minor swelling in my lower right ribs and find that my digestion is a bit finickier than I'd like.
Despite all of this, I feel better than I have in literally years. The pain in my ribs is finally, finally gone. I can eat most anything I want (within reason) without huge worry or pain. The heartburn that plagued me for months is gone, and if it does return (say, I eat something fattier than I should have eaten), two Tums soothes it away easily. I'm still taking ibuprofen daily, but it's mostly a precautionary messure to keep the post-op swelling down and to soothe the stinging in my incisions so I don't scratch them. If I could get my energy levels to stabilize, I'd be fantastic!
Despite all of this, I feel better than I have in literally years. The pain in my ribs is finally, finally gone. I can eat most anything I want (within reason) without huge worry or pain. The heartburn that plagued me for months is gone, and if it does return (say, I eat something fattier than I should have eaten), two Tums soothes it away easily. I'm still taking ibuprofen daily, but it's mostly a precautionary messure to keep the post-op swelling down and to soothe the stinging in my incisions so I don't scratch them. If I could get my energy levels to stabilize, I'd be fantastic!
