sanah
03-29-2008, 12:13 AM
March 17th- The day of my surgery, after being changed from March 3rd, the final time they changed it (it had initially been Feb. 4th XD). So at 4am I turned off my computer and went to shower with the soap stuff they gave me. (I had stayed up all night chatting on aim with my boyfriend and best friend, who were crazy enough to pull an all nighter with me)
When we got to the hospital around 5:10 (running a bit late XD) we went into the initial waiting room where they did my vitals and this was a public waiting room. Then they led us to a hospital room where they gave me a gown and wipes to do just what I did in the shower. We waited in there for like an hour before they rolled me out to the surgery floor. ( I didn't understand why I couldn't just walk but meh XD) I had my fuzzy green hat on, which everyone loved. I was pretty happy, even though I was nervous, with everyone's smiles and comments about my hat. They did my IV and attached the sticky circle things to monitor my nerves and we waited a bit for Dr. Parks to get there. They wheeled me into the operating room, and I saw all of these things covered with green cloth, and people milling about, and they told me to breathe through the mask, and next thing I knew I was on the other side of the operation.
Post-op- well the first thing I remember is waking up in a haze of shock, as they tried to find the appropriate mix of pain meds to get my pain down from a 10 to a 1. So I was shaking, my teeth were chattering, and I was crying from the pain, but I was still in a daze, so I don't remember it all that much, or who was there and such. They ended up putting me on a Morphine drip that gave me like 1mg each hour, while allowing me to press the button for immediate need. The first day was pretty hazy, but my pain was real low, I just had to shift every now and then. The only thing I felt like was eating/drinking was the ice chips that my mom fed me with a spoon =P. I think I slept most of the day, in intervals of 2 hours, and doctor Parks came in and showed me a picture of my fusion, and it look pretty straight ^__^. My boyfriend came in around 10pm, bringing flowers, and it was pretty amazing that they let him in, so late, and plus in the ICU, but they did, and it was a great comfort to me, to see someone other than the nurses and my parents especially XD.
March 18th- I was doing better, they got me up to walk, and I walked around the ICU nurse’s area twice, and then laid on the bed with an icy pack for about 30 minutes after. Me and my mom were texting like crazy, my mom had texted a whole bunch of people the day of the surgery, giving them updates. My friend allegedly got up in the middle of her dad's class and told him when I was out of the surgery after my mom had texted her XD. I was doing pretty well that day, no pain, down in the 1’s and 2’s most of the time, but itchy from the morphine, and the benadryl didn’t really help. (I must be immune to that stuff because it doesn’t work for my allergies either XD) I was a bit more like myself and sleeping for about 2 hours at a time until about 12am. No one dropped by today. I think they were afraid that I wouldn’t be ready to see them yet. My mom was pretty surprised that I was up and moving so quick. I had one dream today: the hospital had been sending in full blown meals to my room unless you ordered something specific, and one of the dishes on the lunch tray was a spinach salad, so my dream was where I had the spinach salad and didn’t know what to do with it, so I said “O! I can give it to Ashton (my bf), but maybe he doesn’t like spinach salad.. nah he’ll eat it, he’s a garbage disposal!” XD I only remember thinking something along those lines, he’s a garbage disposal because he’s been pretty hungry and eating some wacky things lately to quench it. He must be growing =P.
March 19th- The nurse had been coming in a couple times telling me to breathe, and I didn't understand why, so I would take some deep breathes and fall back to sleep. She came in at last and told me that my breathing rate was 5 breathes per minute and that it was due to the morphine. So she took me off the morphine and injected something that practically dissolved it out of my system. My body got really hot, I could practically feel the medicine coursing through my veins, burning the morphine XD, and my pain level shot from 1 to 10, and I was back in the shock state, shivering, crying, teeth chattering, and whimpering a bit, causing my mom to wake up and be like O___O OMG what's happening?! so she called for the nurse who had just left to get some morphine, and she came back and injected 2mg into me. After that episode they took me off the drip and had me take Oxy-codon by mouth with the button option. So I was pretty spooked about my breathing rate after that, and had my mom turn the monitor towards me so that I could monitor it, and I pressed the button less XD, so my pain was around a 4-6 now, but I was kind of used to this because my rib pains before the operation tended to be around a 4-5.
I got up today and walked around the nurse’s station 5 times, and then sat in the chair with the icy pack for another 30-45 minutes while I ate and watched TV.I had been drinking apple juice with my pills, but other than that just eating ice chips until lunch today when my mom kind of sort of force fed me some chicken broth and some noodles XD. I think I also ate some ice cream. I also tried to write in my journal, but it was hard to write with the journal on my lap, and such. Some more of my friends came over today, as well as my boyfriend, which made me feel pretty good. I think that company really lifts your spirit, because other wise all your doing is laying there, having your vitals checked every now and then, sleeping, eating a little.. so when they come it’s like YAY! XD Today I also got a bit of a bath, they had me walk into the bath room and my mom helped me wash my face, brush my teeth, and kind of sponge me down except for my back, it felt pretty good though. For dinner that night I did something silly, I had been feeling so good that day that I actually ate the chicken fingers my mom ordered from the little menu.
That night I could get comfy on the hospital bed (they really are horrible, they look all comfy, but after awhile they just aren’t and even if you move the bed up and down it doesn’t help much, especially if your butt isn’t where it needs to be to have your lower and upper body moved up and down properly XD) so I got up and walked around the nurse’s station in the ICU and then proceeded to walk around the two halls in the pediatric ward, walking seems to make me feel better than standing or laying down. I also ate a grape popsicle today at some point XD.
When we got to the hospital around 5:10 (running a bit late XD) we went into the initial waiting room where they did my vitals and this was a public waiting room. Then they led us to a hospital room where they gave me a gown and wipes to do just what I did in the shower. We waited in there for like an hour before they rolled me out to the surgery floor. ( I didn't understand why I couldn't just walk but meh XD) I had my fuzzy green hat on, which everyone loved. I was pretty happy, even though I was nervous, with everyone's smiles and comments about my hat. They did my IV and attached the sticky circle things to monitor my nerves and we waited a bit for Dr. Parks to get there. They wheeled me into the operating room, and I saw all of these things covered with green cloth, and people milling about, and they told me to breathe through the mask, and next thing I knew I was on the other side of the operation.
Post-op- well the first thing I remember is waking up in a haze of shock, as they tried to find the appropriate mix of pain meds to get my pain down from a 10 to a 1. So I was shaking, my teeth were chattering, and I was crying from the pain, but I was still in a daze, so I don't remember it all that much, or who was there and such. They ended up putting me on a Morphine drip that gave me like 1mg each hour, while allowing me to press the button for immediate need. The first day was pretty hazy, but my pain was real low, I just had to shift every now and then. The only thing I felt like was eating/drinking was the ice chips that my mom fed me with a spoon =P. I think I slept most of the day, in intervals of 2 hours, and doctor Parks came in and showed me a picture of my fusion, and it look pretty straight ^__^. My boyfriend came in around 10pm, bringing flowers, and it was pretty amazing that they let him in, so late, and plus in the ICU, but they did, and it was a great comfort to me, to see someone other than the nurses and my parents especially XD.
March 18th- I was doing better, they got me up to walk, and I walked around the ICU nurse’s area twice, and then laid on the bed with an icy pack for about 30 minutes after. Me and my mom were texting like crazy, my mom had texted a whole bunch of people the day of the surgery, giving them updates. My friend allegedly got up in the middle of her dad's class and told him when I was out of the surgery after my mom had texted her XD. I was doing pretty well that day, no pain, down in the 1’s and 2’s most of the time, but itchy from the morphine, and the benadryl didn’t really help. (I must be immune to that stuff because it doesn’t work for my allergies either XD) I was a bit more like myself and sleeping for about 2 hours at a time until about 12am. No one dropped by today. I think they were afraid that I wouldn’t be ready to see them yet. My mom was pretty surprised that I was up and moving so quick. I had one dream today: the hospital had been sending in full blown meals to my room unless you ordered something specific, and one of the dishes on the lunch tray was a spinach salad, so my dream was where I had the spinach salad and didn’t know what to do with it, so I said “O! I can give it to Ashton (my bf), but maybe he doesn’t like spinach salad.. nah he’ll eat it, he’s a garbage disposal!” XD I only remember thinking something along those lines, he’s a garbage disposal because he’s been pretty hungry and eating some wacky things lately to quench it. He must be growing =P.
March 19th- The nurse had been coming in a couple times telling me to breathe, and I didn't understand why, so I would take some deep breathes and fall back to sleep. She came in at last and told me that my breathing rate was 5 breathes per minute and that it was due to the morphine. So she took me off the morphine and injected something that practically dissolved it out of my system. My body got really hot, I could practically feel the medicine coursing through my veins, burning the morphine XD, and my pain level shot from 1 to 10, and I was back in the shock state, shivering, crying, teeth chattering, and whimpering a bit, causing my mom to wake up and be like O___O OMG what's happening?! so she called for the nurse who had just left to get some morphine, and she came back and injected 2mg into me. After that episode they took me off the drip and had me take Oxy-codon by mouth with the button option. So I was pretty spooked about my breathing rate after that, and had my mom turn the monitor towards me so that I could monitor it, and I pressed the button less XD, so my pain was around a 4-6 now, but I was kind of used to this because my rib pains before the operation tended to be around a 4-5.
I got up today and walked around the nurse’s station 5 times, and then sat in the chair with the icy pack for another 30-45 minutes while I ate and watched TV.I had been drinking apple juice with my pills, but other than that just eating ice chips until lunch today when my mom kind of sort of force fed me some chicken broth and some noodles XD. I think I also ate some ice cream. I also tried to write in my journal, but it was hard to write with the journal on my lap, and such. Some more of my friends came over today, as well as my boyfriend, which made me feel pretty good. I think that company really lifts your spirit, because other wise all your doing is laying there, having your vitals checked every now and then, sleeping, eating a little.. so when they come it’s like YAY! XD Today I also got a bit of a bath, they had me walk into the bath room and my mom helped me wash my face, brush my teeth, and kind of sponge me down except for my back, it felt pretty good though. For dinner that night I did something silly, I had been feeling so good that day that I actually ate the chicken fingers my mom ordered from the little menu.
That night I could get comfy on the hospital bed (they really are horrible, they look all comfy, but after awhile they just aren’t and even if you move the bed up and down it doesn’t help much, especially if your butt isn’t where it needs to be to have your lower and upper body moved up and down properly XD) so I got up and walked around the nurse’s station in the ICU and then proceeded to walk around the two halls in the pediatric ward, walking seems to make me feel better than standing or laying down. I also ate a grape popsicle today at some point XD.