6 Days Post-Op

So 6 days ago right now I was just coming out of surgery. Wow, I am so glad I am on day 6 and not day 1. I have to say 'Thank You!' to all of my lovely family who has helped me through all of this, especially my husband and my mom, I don't know what I would have done without them.

So lets go back a few days, I think the last thing I posted was on Friday which was 1 Day Post-Op. I don't really have a lot of memory of Friday but Saturday was miserable. Day 2 was absolutely the worst, the swelling the pain the stuffy nose w/ constant dripping, bad. I finally gave in on Saturday and took some of my Hydrocodone making sure to take plenty of anti nausea medicine first (yes, I am one of those people that can't even take medicine with out getting dizzy). I have to say even though I wasn't nausea I was still terribly dizzy and light headed but it was worth it, the medicine didn't take away my pain at all it just took the edge off and I was actually able to drink some fluids without nearly crying. My pain on Saturday was at about a 9 the medicine took it down to like a 5 or 6, much more manageable. I was only supposed to be taking it every 6 hours and I was to paranoid to take it more often but it was only lasting about 2.5-3 hours. So in between taking my medicine I pretty much was camped out on the couch all day and slept. Sunday was very similar. By Monday morning I was feeling remarkably better, I hadn't had any pain medicine since Sunday morning because I was going back to my regular routine on Monday, Bobby was going back to work so I would be home with Mason and Roman. The day wasn't too bad, I think I actually was able to get down some heavily chewed mac and cheese that night. Tuesday was so much better, being able to eat some actual food helped with my light headedness, but that day the coughing started....Ouch.....I guess it's a good thing because my throat is starting to get kind of itchy which hopefully means it's healing well but it is so painful that it almost makes me throw up every time along with the tears that I can't control because of the pain. Today is 6 Days Post-Op and I have to say I am feeling much better than I expected to be. My pain is down to a 3, if I'm not swallowing, coughing or eating/drinking. When I drink I would say a 4 and when I eat (which I am not doing much of...down 8.5 pounds in 6 days because of it though!) a 6. Still pretty bad when I eat and that's anything that is soft, I am terrified to venture and eat anything that I can't chew into mush. Something I didn't expect is that cold things actually make my throat hurt more and warm things like soup help, weird.

Tomorrow I will being going to see Dr. Van Tassel for my post-op appointment and I pray that I am healing quicker than he expects. I cannot wait to be done with this. So far I would not say whether or not I would recommend this or if I am happy I did it. I have a lot of healing left to do so it's to hard to say. I will say that my Dr. was great, he was very nice and seemed like he actually cared. I will keep you all updated on how my recovery is going, hopefully I will have good things to say!

<3 Krista

1 Day Post-Op

So I am finally home, got home at about 8am this morning and just woke up about 20 minutes ago from my very long nap. Last night before I went to bed I caved and asked for some pain meds. I received a a shot of morphine at about 8pm that did nothing for me at all, but thank goodness is also did not make me sick like I was expecting, the only thing it did was help me sleep a little (and I do mean a little considering my 6-7 bathroom trips that I made) At 2am my wonderful nurses came in to take my vitals give me more antibiotics and more pain meds. Since the morphine wasn't helpful I asked to try something diferent which I believe was Lortab and that helped my pain considerably. I was able to actually drink some water without having to brace myself for the pain. That medicine did however cause me to become dizzy so I quickly layed down and went back to sleep. 6:30am was another round of antibiotics and more pain meds which helped my get a little bit of food in but made me terribly dizzy, still trying to get rid of the dizziness from that. My nose stuffed up making me have to breath out of my mouth and drying it out making it hurt worse, I am allowed to use nose spray but I cannot inhale or blow my nose which makes things difficult. So right now I am at about an 8 for pain and desperately trying to choke down some jello and water to keep myself hydrated. I was given some Hydrocodone w/ Acetaminophen to take at home but just found out it is the same as vicodin which I do not do well with, oh well. I will do my best to go without it, I think I can manage. So, so far this surgery has not been nearly as bad as I expected. I am hoping at my one week post-op I will be feeling pretty good.


<3 Krista

7 Hours Post-Op

So first let me just start by saying WOW. There are so many things that I didn't expect and so many things that are better than I expected. First off my pain (so far) is tolerable with out pain meds I might ad. I would say if I don't move, talk, swallow or do anything throat/mouth related I am about a 4, but, if I do any of the above I would say at least an 8 maybe more. It isn't the kind of pain I expected though, it is much easier to deal with than what I thought. Another really great thing, I have not thrown up which makes me super happy! A few things I wasn't expecting. My nose is a constant drip of blood and other fluids, very annoying but not at all painful. I also feel like i'm gagging a lot, like maybe there is a piece of cotton in my throat (there isn't..I made them check, lol) They told me it will probably feel like that for a week or 2 while I get used to it and while it heels. It is probably because of the sutures along with the caulderizing (is that right?) I also am having a hard time controling my sleep. Out of no where I feel tired and start to fall asleep, I would assume because of the General Anethesia. This morning though when I was coming out of my surgery I barely remember much, I remember looking over at my mom (gotta love moms :) ) and really that's it, I was in and out of consioucsness until about 2 or 3 when they wheeled me into my recovery suite and that it where I am now. I am terrified to eat but the brought me food anyway and I almost want to force myslef to endure the pain because their menu is from Panera. Who woud ever think you would get delicous food from Panera in the Hospital, well out patient surgery anyway. I will contnue posting about my recovery, hopefully it will only get better.


<3 Krista

Surgery

So I've been thinking about starting a blog of my own because it seems like everyone I know is doing it. I couldn't think of a way to start so I decided to go with what it going on in my life right now. On Thursday I will be having surgery and I have to admit that I am terrified.

A few months ago I went to my regular Doctor and told him I was finally fed up with my grossly enlarged tonsils and I just wanted him to take them out. He referred me to my ENT, he told me that insurance companies were kind of stingy about adults having their tonsils removed so I would have to go to a sleep study before I could get approval. A couple weeks later I did the sleep study (super sucky) and found out that I have Severe Obstructed Sleep Apnea! OMG My ENT told me it was so bad that I was probably turning slightly blue at night while I slept because of lack of oxygen which is causing my heart to have to work very hard. Then he went on to tell me that if I didn't have it taken care of I would probably end up having a heart attack in 20-30 years. Very scary. I only wanted my tonsils out and now I am having my tonsils removed, my uvula trimmed, my tongue shrunk (kinda weird), some extra skin in my throat trimmed and a reduction of the turbinates in my nose. I have read and been told that it will be a incredibly painful recovery...

I will be staying overnight at the surgery center and coming home early Friday morning unable to talk or eat. On the plus side I have read that people lose between 10-30 pounds during recovery because they are unable to eat solid foods. It will be strickly liquids and jello for a while. I am very hopeful that my surgery will be successful and will see some improvements with my sleep. I will update afterwards with how my recovery is going. Wish me luck!


<3 Krista