Ok, Wow

Sorry to those who probably have been checking this every day since the surgery, but the last 5 days have been quite difficult.

My surgery went very well according to my doctor. I have posted some pictures that they took during surgery (hope they're not too gross) I have some others of just after surgery and the days to follow but I have to collect them from people.

Going into surgery was nerve racking but everyone was very nice and they worked with me well. I met with the hospital's RN where she went over all my "stats" with me and made sure all my information was correct. Then I met the anastesiologist who talked to me about the surgery a little bit. Then they gave me a little "happy juice" shot and I passed out so fast because I was already so tired from it being so early. Then I woke up from surgery, they moved me into my recovery bed and room and then I woke up to my dad next to me. Instantly I had major nausea and I was vomiting blood and stomach acid because there was nothing in my stomach and they were unable to pump my stomach after surgery because my throat was too swollen.

I was surprised that the hospital wasn't more prepared for me. My dad told me that while I was vomiting I was asking for suction because I couldn't get the blood vomit out of my mouth fast enough and it took them 45 minutes to get authorization to give this to me. He and I both thought that was crazy. I ended up vomiting like a gallon of blood/stomach acid the rest of the day Monday through Monday night and into Tuesday morning. Finally the nausea calmed down but they kept giving me demeral shots so that was causing more nausea. I wasn't impressed with the hospital's lack of knowledge about what kind of recover I needed because one of the nurses asked me what I wanted to eat and I told her like a milk shake or a breakfast drink. She brought me ice cream and a spoon. Um, I'll remind those who don't know but my mouth was rubberbanded shut and I was swollen like a chipmunk and you could read this on my chart that I couldn't open my mouth but she brought me a spoon. Then she brought me mashed potatoes and gravy with a straw. WOW! That's all I can say. The doc had to finally tell them what kind of food I needed and I told them what I needed but thought it was a little weird that they didn't know this already.

Tuesday was interesting because I did a complete 160. I felt really good mostly because of the pain meds but I wasn't vomiting and that was awesome. I had lots of visitors and the day just flew past. Wednesday was a different story. Doc told me it would get even worse from there. He said you have a jolt of energy after the first day but then the anastesia wearing off takes its toll and you loose energy quickly. That I did. Slept most of the day but you get bothered every like 20 minutes in the hospital of nurses wanting to check your vitals, bringing you food, or asking if you need anything. I was like "leave me alone! I just want to sleep!" Doc said I could go home Wednesday but I was affraid to leave my trusty suction machine. He convinced me that I would do fine without it. Ha! Drooling is such a pain. You have to understand that the drool is because your body naturally creates more when your trying to heal, plus my whole mouth is swollen and numb and I can't feel that there's drool, plus it hurts to swallow so the less the better. Man does the drool suck. I went through like two boxes of tissues on Thursday. I've learned to use washclothes so that they aren't as rough on the face and you can wash them so they are re-usable.

So went to the hotel on Wednesday because the pipes in my condo were getting re-lined and I didn't want to deal with it. The hotel was nice. No nurses or doctors. Nice big cushy bed and I could close the curtains and make it real dark so I could sleep better. Which, by the way, doesn't happen much when your drooling constantly. I would go in and out every 45 minutes, wake up with a puddle of drool from my face just feeling so gross. And you can't just spit the drool out because I have this plastic retainer thingy between my front teeth which blocks any fluid from going through my teath very well. So I blow the spit out and make lots of bubbles. I feel like a kid in the bath tub blowing bubbles in the water but with much grosser substance. Eating is a very difficult task. I have to shove a plastic tube attached to a surrenge into my mouth twards the back of my teeth and try to push fluid into my mouth so I can swallow it. What makes this difficult, again, is I can't tell what's in my mouth because it's swollen and numb so you just kinda swallow in hope your getting something but 2/3 of it comes shooting back out your mouth. Lovely i'm sure. Plus your drooling so it doesn't just drip it slowly falls down your face. (yuck I know) As the days have gone by this has gotten a little easier as I get more feeling in my mouth back and it doesn't hurt as much to swallow, but now i'm finding that because I have to drink more fluids each day rather then just have three meals, my mouth is getting sores from where I shove this tube into it each day. I found that my favorite thing so far is the instant breakfast chocolate drink and apple juice. I tried other things like ensure, fruit smoothies, and even soup and my pallet just isn't quite where it was just yet. Things tast different when it's only the taste buds on the very back of your tongue.

I'm home finally, and don't have much energy to do much. I finally took my first self shower and it felt nice to get completely clean on my own. I had taken a bath at the hotel but it was difficult because it's hard to stretch the neck because it pulls on the jaw. So leaning back to dip my head to rinse was a little scary. Shower is much easier. Vicki gave me a rocket blender which is like a bullet (as seen on tv) so you can blend things in individual portions. So far, I haven't really used it because I can't pallet anything else yet but I think once I do it will be really handy.

So tomorrow is Sunday, Michael and Erin are coming over for smoothies and super bowl.

Oh! and for those that sent flowers, thank you thank you! I really enjoy having them in my room to look at!

I'll try to post more pics as I get them. Thanks again to all that visited and helped during my recovery!