I’m back. Please excuse me taking those 4 days off. The truth of the matter was that I didn’t really feel a need to chronicle excruciating pain in every detail – who wants to read about that?
I’ve made it through the worst part now, and from here on out I should be feeling better and better every day.
My last IV, an epidural drip, comes out today and then I will officially be free of tubes and hoses – very nice.
The surgery was a success; the only complication was a rather low blood oxygen level on my part.
When you put anesthesia tubes into someone’s lungs they “fight” the invader by making a pinkish mucous to immobilize it. This works nicely against dust and the like, which once captured is then simply coughed out. Well, be it due to a long surgery (~5 hours) or extremely aggressive lungs or both, I ended up with way more pinkish mucous than expected and so much so that I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. I spent my first 30 minutes of post-op consciousness coughing up this endless stream of goop, and then the next 24 hours with an oxygen mask on to supplement my weak intake.
What does it feel like to not be getting enough oxygen? No matter how deeply or often you breathe, you still feel tired and short of breath – it’s a bizarre sensation to say the least.
Anyhow, no other complications to speak of, my surgery was a success, and I’m now getting around slowly and gingerly on crutches.
They don’t make you do anything on the weekends, but my normal weekday routine consists of 30 minutes on a knee-flexion machine, a self-administered washcloth bath, and an hour’s stay at the rehab room. When I’m not doing one of the above I’m in bed trying to relax while the exercise-induced pain subsides and just passing the time by reading or staring out the window.
Speaking of windows, they transferred me to another room. My beautiful mountain landscape was replaced with the drab inner courtyard of my hospital wing, and I can only see a tiny patch of actual sky – and that’s when I lean over to get a better angle! Booo!
That’s all for now. I get my epidural yanked in abou–
Scratch that – they just came in and pulled it! I haven’t been able to sleep well at night because the epidural made my lower back very sore, so I’m quite happy to have that sucker gone!
See you tomorrow!