Surgery on 26 May....just got out of hospital on May 31
Finally got out of the hospital, I was beginning to wonder if that was going to happen. The day of surgery everything went smoothly, after recovery, I had to ask if I had had surgery because I wasn't feeling any pain...none....Oh my god but then on day 2 - I starting hurting, hurt to breathe, hurt to swallow, hurt to talk....etc. The Doctor seemed lost for a minute....Then I was doing pretty good on the liquids..nasty as they were I got most of it down....But, then came uncontrollable vomiting.....I was I swear I didn't drink that much....buckets after buckets....there was line of nurses from my bed to the bathroom, passing buckets....finally the meds kicked in and I could rest...oh but what havoc that caused....it felt like I was carrying a basketball in my left side.....they did an MRI of my chest and found I was bleeding in the old stomach...reason unknown...but it was filling I was vomiting it up....do then I had to endure another procedure to have a catheter put in to drain the blood....oh yes they knocked me out for that....ok so now we got that fixed...back to liquids....doing great....oh goodie maybe I can go home on day 4, oh no, now I can breathe hurt like hell to take a deep breath. The nurses failed to tell me about the little breathing thingy sitting on the night stand...and that I should have been using it hourly -- deep breathing...I was pissed. So I started that....and by then was able to get myself out of bed and start walking....I walked as often as I could...every time I got up for a potty run I would walk around the corridor. Dr. said the more active I was the quicker I would recover. So finally Sunday morning, Dr. said I think you can go home tomorrow….you will to keep doing the breathing techniques, walk often, take the Lovelox shots daily (for 10 days) and take all your vitamins and proteins….and of course water.
You know I have never been so happy to be back home….now comes to start of a whole new life. Proteins…that what the heck are those….lol
Sandy
Right now, with the amount of swelling I had in my intestines from the surgery, I am simply doing the best I can and haven't been counting calories. My doc advised me to push fluids and worry less about actual liquid meals for the moment. I seem to be doing better with creamed soups with some protein powder than with protein shakes, so for example, yesterday I had:
About 6-8 ounces of water in the morning to take meds
2 ozs cream of potato soup ( strained and made with fat free milk) with unflavored protein powder added
More fluids throughout the morning, probably only totaling 10 oz or so
1 sugar free ice pop
2 oz Carnation sugar free vanilla instant breakfast....barely finished
Nap in the faternoon so limited fluid
3 ozs ( slowly) of cream of tomato soup, strained with protein powder.
About 8 more ozs of fluid.
As you can see, probably nowhere near enough, but the best I can do right now.
Just keep doing your best. Because of our complications, our bodies may need a bit more time to heal and adjust. I would rather take in too little than too much and make myself sick.
Good luck and keep me posted!