Day 1 Post-op

Before surgery, I had this idea in my head that sitting around post-op meant that I’d be able to get my taxes done, read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies, and pretty much pitter-patter around the house.

What on EARTH was I thinking? I hardly know.

Day 1 was the most difficult for me. I distinctly remember waking from surgery and looking directly at the clock in front of me, which read one thirty-five. I was pretty numb, obviously from anesthesia, and couldn’t feel anything from head to toe. This will be a cinch, right? Ha!

Within the hour, I gradually regained use of my brain and I realized I was in a great deal of pain, and a whole lotta naseau. I was given ice chips, which eased the naseau, and pain meds, but I still don’t know what medication they were giving me for pain at the hospital. Needless to say, it didn’t help one iota. By three o’clock, my husband was helping me into the truck for the drive home, and we were both wondering why we brought a vehicle that needed new tires. One rough ride and very long 45 minutes home!

After grinding about a centimeter off my teeth on the drive, we finally made it, and I went straight to bed. This is where I found things very very difficult.

Laying down is not an easy task. I guess I never realized that all my ear muscles are tied to my neck muscles, but people they ARE. Leaning back to lay on my pillow required a vast deal of concentration and strong stomach muscles. I do not have a six pack of abs, nor have I ever had one, so this was quite the challenge. I ended up placing both hands behind my head to support my head/neck and ever-so-slowly using my abdominal muscles to ease myself back onto the pillow. I would later learn (when my ab muscles couldn’t stand anymore workout) that it’s easier to hold the right side of my head with my right and/or left hand and ease myself down on the right side (left ear is surgical ear, so I can’t lay on that side yet).

After resting a while, I was able to munch on some friench fries and take one of my prescribed pain medications to ease a great deal of the pain. I still wish I’d asked what pain meds I got at the hospital, because even after two doses there, it did nothing to ease my pain that one dose did at home. Kinda weird.

For the rest of that first day, I did pretty much nothing. It was so hard to keep my head upright, so I went in spurts of laying down for an hour, and sitting up for about half an hour. I’m not one to enjoy laying around a lot, so it’s been hard to really make myself rest this off and not do much. But that seems to be the key to a quick recovery thus far.

Needless to say, my tax deadline of October 14th is still looming, since mine are obviously not done yet.