One Week Post Op

I feel fantastic! I am completely shocked that I feel as good as I do today. No joke.  That’s not to say it’s been totally smooth sailing, because it hasn’t, but all in all, I’m feeling so good right now.

I was discharged on Saturday around 4:30ish with a fistful of prescriptions, and my sister and her friend brought me home to Warren (about a 2.5 hour car ride) on Saturday. We went through the CVS drive thru, and was told the scripts that had been sent in from the hospital were ready to be picked up; when did we want to pick up the two we were dropping off, as they closed in 20 minutes. My sister asid she would go inside and wait for them, so we parked, and I waited in the car while Donna and Jen went inside. Five minutes later, they come back outside and tell me they have the Lovenox there, but they don’t have any Hycet, my liquid Lortab for pain. I was already hurting, so of course, I started to get anxious. And I cried. My quick-thinking sister called Walmart to see if they had any, and they did. However, they were closing at 8 as well; that’s when I started to cry. The pharmacy tech told my sister that she would wait for us to bring up the Hycet script and would fill it right then so I wouldn’t have to go all night without any pain medicine, so we hauled ass to get it filled, and left Jen at CVS to pick up the other scripts. We got to Walmart 5 minutes later, and 10 minutes after that, Donna walked out with a ginormous bottle of Hycet. We went back to CVS and picked up Jen, and went to my apartment.

We got parked, and very slowly waddled across the street. I had a little trouble making it up over the curb, mostly because it was dark and I was afraid of falling. We got inside the apartment, and I eyed up the stairs. I had been freaking out over the IDEA of the stairs, but once I started, I made it right up the stairs without issue. Didn’t even have to stop! I legit impressed myself. I got myself settled in, and was in bed by 9:30.

I’ve only taken two doses of Hycet since I’ve been home. It burns SO BAD every time it hit my stomach, so it was easier for me to just power through the pain I had, and take my anti-nausea med, than suffer from the pain elixir.

Speaking of meds, I have LOTS of meds to take for the next several months. Pepcid (ulcer prevention), Protonix (ulcer prevention), Carafate (again, ulcer prevention), and Urisol (gallstone prevention). I was told to cease all my regular meds until after I met with my PCP this week, so at least I had a break from them. However, I’ve had to give myself Lovenox injections twice a day since discharge. I did that when I had my hysterectomy a few years ago, so I can do that in my sleep.

I’ve been concentrating on getting all my fluids in every day, and have more or less succeeded. The protein has been a real problem though. I haven’t been able to get more than a few ounces of shake down a day all week. I keep trying every day, which is all I can do. However, I did decide to get some unflavored protein powder so that I can start adding it to my purees next week if I still can’t get the shakes down.

I’ve been walking around the apartment every hour or so, and continue doing my leg pumps. The last thing I want or need is a blood clot, so I’ll leg pump til my ankles give out if it saves me from a PE.

Today was my big day out. I had an appointment with my PCP, bloodwork at the hospital, a trip to the DMV, and a brief visit at work.  The doctor’s appointment went very well. When he walked in the room, he high fived me, and congratulated me. We talked back and forth about things for about forty minutes, and decided that since my blood pressure was 160/82, that  I would go back on my Lisinopril, at half my former dose, and would continue to forgo the HCTZ and Lasix; if I do start getting edema again, I’m to call and let him know ASAP before I decide on my own to start Lasix again. I told him I was going back to work on Monday, and he said he would prefer that I start out working half days. He said his fear was that I felt great, and went back to work full force, and ended up wearing myself out, taking twice as long to recover. I told him I’d figure it. I then made an appointment to go back in about six weeks, and left to go to the hospital for bloodwork.

I was only at the hospital about fifteen minutes, and we were on our way back to Warren. We went to the DMV, and I got my new driver’s license (a picture I don’t HATE, for a change), then stopped at my work for a brief visit. It was SO nice to see everybody! Hugs, well-wishes, and lots of “you look amazing”, which was so sweet to hear. I am so tickled to have such supportive coworkers; it really is mindblowing. When I told them I was going back to work on Monday, most of them were shocked. I told them i was planning on working at least half days, but it will all depend on how I feel when I get back to work. I did offer to work on Christmas Eve, since we’re only open a half day, and I’ll be able to let the receptionist into the building. Most people say they don’t get anything done when we work half days, but I LOVE it. Those days are usually right before holidays, so we have few staff working, and I get a TON of stuff done because I’m not interrupted all the time!

So, now to the numbers. On Saturday, around 12:30 am, I weighed 451.8 lbs. I knew I was going to weigh heavy because of the incessant parade of IV bags I was receiving, so I didn’t freak out. This morning, when I got out of the shower, I weighed 435.0 lbs. I am officially down 51 pounds since I started this long strange trip back in May/June. I still can’t believe it.

I’m looking forward to starting purees next week (Merry Christmas to me!), and since I’ll be able to have real food, and my girls will have to work on Christmas, we decided to have a Christmas Eve dinner party of sorts for the family. Hors d’ouevres and such, so nobody has to get stuck making a big ass meal in our tiny ass kitchen. Dips and things of that ilk. I kind of can’t wait. I’m planning on roasting some summer veggies I have in the freezer, and pureeing a little chicken breast, and maybe having some hummus so I won’t feel deprived. I’m really looking forward to it.

This ended up being way longer than I had intended, but oh well. For those who don’t like reading long blog entries..

TL,DR- I’m doing fucking awesome!

Linda <3<3