Hospital – Out of the Woods

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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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See you tomorrow!

 

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