I have a date for surgery

Been in hospital since 7am and still waiting for surgery. It is only 8:43am, to be fair, but I'm bored >_>. (And very, very tired from lack of sleep. I swear I did not worry this much for my first two surgeries. I seem to be in permanent anxiety mode nowadays.)

Have spoken to the anaesthetist and registrar. I'm next up on the surgery list so it hopefully won't be too much longer. Incidentally I can get the internet here on the 2nd floor, so hopefully I'll be able to get it on the ward (which is on the 3rd floor).

Have not seen any spiders so far ;p

Words cannot express how welcome a cup of tea would be right now. Even the NHS's crappy tea made with long life milk. I feel thirsty even though I had 3 large glasses of water this morning.

Hopefully my next post will be after surgery. Thanks for the well wishes, folks :p

NCOT,

Saying lots of prayers for you. We are all thinking of you and wishing you the best....

I'm sorry I posted late. I was battling the spiders family and extended family. Lol.... Someone must have squealed on me! They are out for revenge. The whole family of spiders doesn't understand the no trespass rule. I think they are running away from the tractor outside. We are having the hay cut for the horses. The hay, or grass, is pretty tall. Lots of birds nests in it. So far we've had a family of new rabbits run out and a couple of coyotes.... And all the things I didn't see. (Shudder) I bought that yard spray to see if it helps around the house.

Please let us know how it goes,

Hang in there!.

Clo

NCOT...looking forward to your updates when you have a chance. (Sucks no wifi in the hospital). Huge hugs,
q

I know that you are probably resting after surgery.
I hope everything went well.

Just know that you have sooooo many friends at HW praying, sending positive thoughts and thinking of you.

(((HUGGGGGS)))
CLO

Hopefully if NCOT has wifi we will hear from her in a few days.

Hello everyone! I can't get WiFi but I can get 4G >_>.

The surgery went very smoothly apparently. No complications and no adhesions, which is good. But holy crap, the second day has been absolutely brutal. Yesterday I just slept all day. I was nauseous as well and dry heaved a few times, but found if I lay completely still then the nausea usually went away. Plus I was in a lovely cool air conditioned room. Ward 22 may have its virtues but being lovely and cool is not one of them.

I was serene and peaceful until about 3am then the worst itching kicked in, particularly in my lower legs. It was probably too much morphine from the morphine pump, exacerbated by wearing TWO pairs of stockings. The second pair were an inflatable pair which went up and down, and their vibrations made the itching far worse. I don't think I have ever felt such relief as when I took the stockings off this afternoon. Unfortunately the first pair are back on now but at least the insane itching hasn't returned.

Felt fairly good until lunchtime, but I have been struggling with pain and nausea since. I've got a local anaesthetic in the stomach area and the morphine pump still. Trouble is, if I take too much morphine I feel sick, groggy and dizzy, but if I stop taking it completely the pain becomes almost unbearable. I'm trying to strike a balance between nausea and pain that is bearable. A nurse has put in an IV paracetamol drip 10 minutes ago, which I think is helping.

Very little appetite but I'm trying to force a bit of food down at each meal - a task not made any easier by the horrible hospital food. However I need to get the stoma working - it's produced almost no output so far.

Managed to sit in the bedside chair for a couple of hours this afternoon, but then my arse started hurting too much and I had to get back into bed. I'm hooked up to so much stuff, it's ridiculous. There's a catheter and a bottle full of reddish crap on one side; the morphine pump, IV drips and the local anaesthetic the other side. I don't remember being this constrained after the first two surgeries; I was up and walking about a few hours after surgery. (I get restless very quickly :p). So it has been a frustrating experience not being able to get out of bed. Can't fault the staff though. Nearly all of them have been really sweet and kind.

Blood pressure has been low all day. Been trying to drink more water but it's hard to drink loads when your stomach is hurting :-/

Nodding off here. I'll post again tomorrow. Thank you everyone for your well wishes - it's very kind of you <3

Thanks FlowersGal. Yeah, morphine is a double edged sword for me. It can go from making you feel euphoric to sick as a dog in two heartbeats.
Small bit of good news. A nurse brought me a Fortisip (Ensure type drink) and while I was drinking it, I got my first gurgles from the stoma. Plus a nurse offered to make me a cup of tea, which I'm drinking right now and is a good one. In an NHS hospital this is hitting the jackpot

So glad the surgery went well. Hope they can disconnect some things so you can walk soon. That would drive me batty not being able to walk around. Enjoy your tea!!!

Oh Thank Goodness!!!

I was a worry wart! I was sooooo happy to see your post!!!

Glad the surgery was a success. Bummer about you being tied to the machines.

Watch the morphine... Constipation...

Did they say how long you get to stay? Oh good news on the gurgle and the tea!!

Clo

Crap!!!! So sorry!! Dang hope they can get you going. Maybe it’s gas building up. I’ve found that to be a knife like pain. Any output yet?

@FlowersGal - I was thinking gas pain too. But it gets so bad - like 8 out of 10 sometimes. And moving in bed in bed is extremely painful.

Virtually no output. I'm hoping that what happened to Clo happens to me: that it all comes out at once!

@Clo - No, I had taken paracetamol two hours before so they wouldn't give me anymore. I'm on an IV paracetamol drip now though. Temperature was 37.6C, which is a bit lower but still indicates a low grade infection or inflammatory process.

I have tried lying in every single possible position and nothing helps. But the stoma burped a couple of times a minute ago, which is encouraging. Gonna have the carton of apple juice sitting on my side tray now to try and get things moving!

Gosh, I cannot wait to brush my teeth and have a shower.. If the catheter and drain don't come out today, think I'll ask if I can be taken to the bathroom to brush my teeth ar least.

Oh wow, you can't even brush your teeth all this time? I never thought about that. Little things I guess, but that would really bother me. More than the showering even.

Tea.... Hopefully they allow you sugar or honey with it. Or if hot... milk and a sweetner.... Lol... I'm a wuss when it comes to tea. My friend drinks hers really dark...mine is like colored water... Or so she says. Glad you did get a decent cup though.

Anything happening with the stoma yet? Did you get a colostomy or ileostomy? Or something sorta in-between? How's the pain? Is it getting better?

For me... They practically poured apple juice, grape juice and prune juice down my throat after surgery. (I think that if they could have they'd have put it in my IV... Lol) When they started doing that ... about 6 hours later is when I started working. And then it was just a constant flow for what seemed like hours. (I blew out 2 bags...it was my 2nd surgery and I gotta admit--I was sorta having buyers remorse towards my poor little stoma.) Wish I'd known about the mint tea. We did use ginger cookies and ginger tea for nausea... In addition to the IV meds. I swore it was that prune juice causing even more nausea... But they said no.... I chugged the prune juice and did follow up chasers of apple juice. Only way I could get it down.

Hang in there. I hope your fever is going down!.

Clo