Day 6 Leg Lift, LBL incision revision

Today has been a rough day. I'm six days post-op. This post will include topics like poop, so be forewarned.

In good news, yesterday I did 7.5 for oxy and 2.5 for valium alternating every three hours. Today I've done 5 for oxy and 1.25 for valium and that has worked out well. (Yay for pill splitters.) I'm in discomfort, but not pain. I think I've also been a little more with it today. Although... not by much. Still dozing a lot.

Going to the bathroom sucks. I've got a toilet riser, which is good in theory, but it's hard to sit on so I end up holding myself up with my hands on the railings until my body relaxes enough to be able to really sit. And it's high enough that my feet don't reach the floor (and adding a step would be bad for other reasons) so by the time I'm done my feet at super swollen and painful. And then there's the pooping issue. Because of my meds and stool softeners it's not very solid so it takes me like 5-10 minutes to wipe with TP and then with awesome antibacterial wipes and by that point my body is normally like "haha, I've got to go some more!" Screw you, body. So going to the bathroom becomes this hour long battle of exhaustion and pain and swelling. Have I mentioned I'd like a chair from Idiocracy?

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I took a break writing to shower. And I'm back to 7.5 for oxy. I wonder if keeping oxy at 5 for "normal" times but them increasing for the dose prior to showering would make sense going forward. (I actually think I just need to bite the bullet and go up to 7.5 or 10 until I get this pain truly under control.)

So this is like a super cruel joke that life is playing on me. I love showering, showers are one of the best parts of my life. But now they're hell.

First I have to disrobe including my ACE wraps which go from crotch to ankle. There are non-stick pads lining my incision line, but they tend to be attached, so I can't just pull them off. Then I have to get into the shower. Since we've got a 70s house, we've got a 70s shower. (Technically we have a teeny shower stall in the "master bathroom," but it needs lots of love to be functional.) I can't spread my legs more than an inch or two, so getting into the shower is very challenging. But then I can sit on the shower stool, yay!

This is Lance's job. He washes my hair and my back. I wash my front and side incisions. We use the shower wand on my leg incisions to get the non-stick pads to detach. Then I stand and he washes my calves and outside of my legs and wash the insides of my legs. Then we sort of dry me off as best as we can and I get back out of the shower which is super challenging. More so at this point because my feet and legs have started their swelling from hell.

Then I shamble down the hall where Art's job begins. He has staged the ACE bandages and non-stick pads as well as gentle tape and actually adhesive medical tape. He gets the padding around my drains sorted out and then wraps my legs from the crotch down, putting non-stick pads at the appropriate places.

This is exhausting for me since I pretty much have to stand up the entire time and I'm also freezing. Although tonight we turned the space heater on full blast and that helped a lot with the cold. It still takes time and is challenging and really requires all six hands.

And all of this takes about 45 minutes. First night it took us about 90, so we've gotten a lot better!

After all of this tonight, Lance spent some time rubbing my right foot which is horribly swollen, rubbed some Arnica into it even, and wrapped ice packs around my feet. Art acquired ice cream. We all needed it.

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So, yeah. That's life right now. It's just really hard to function at the moment. I'd be lost without Art and Lance.

I'm so sorry this is so difficult. Probably a good thing that it is the last one? Hopefully in a couple of weeks it will be much better. What love and caring Lance and Art are providing! This certainly doesn't sound like a surgery someone could undertake living alone (like WLS).

Sounds like you have a super support team. I had vibrio vulnificus in 2012 which is a flesh eating, naturally occurring, bacteria. We were all crabbing and I was the only one who got tagged. I spent 3 months in a rehabilitation hospital and another 2 months at home. My left leg was eaten away from ankle to crotch and at that time I was over 500 pounds so I can partially sympathize.

I am so sorry you are hurting. I will caution you on a few things. First, bite the bullet and take enough pain meds so you are comfortable. Being in pain is detrimental to the healing process. Taking meds prior to a shower or bathroom trip is advisable. I would never begin therapy unless I was well medicated.

Second, be cautious about the same meds. I was on dilaudid and fentynal patches for all 5 months. When I began to taper off the pain meds I discovered that I was severely addicted and basically went through 2 weeks of the deepest darkest hell imaginable. I managed to come out the other side though (some don't).

I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers and send good wishes and positive thoughts your way.

Diane

It will be better soon! So sorry it stinks right now. But it will be worth it -- just get through this crappy part. I'm glad you have help. I had help for the first week and then I was on my own. I bet you will progress quickly from here on out.

Hugs.

Hey Girl,

Sorry to hear you are suffering so much but glad you have the guys there to help. You will get thru this. And definitely up the meds as you need for a day or two. Not sure if this happened with your previous surgeries but for me with my 4 surgeries at about 6-8 days out I would have a transition day where I suffered horribly (swelling/itching/pain/discomfort) but then somehow overnight I crossed a line and could feel I was over the worst of the suffering. Perhaps this is the case for you. You are at the transition and in the next day or two you will feel like you've turned a corner. This is my wish for you.

That said, you must still honor the pain and incisions, but, know that better days are ahead. You've a history of conquering your surgeries like a boss and will do so again. This is the biggie so it'll take an extra week or so more to get your mojo back. Hopefully, once you get those compression garments on you may feel a bit more secure and comfortable. Another thing I found is that always on one particular day, never gradually, my body suddenly decided to begin ridding itself of the excess fluid and swelling. I was peeing like crazy for days and felt less like a sausage as time progressed.

You are doing all the right things. Hang in there. Squeeze your dragon and bear as much as needed.

So sorry to hear you're struggling this week. That sucks. The bright side is you are strong and determined and have been an inspiration to the rest of us along the way. Hang in there. It only gets better.

So sorry to hear that things are so difficult right now. I hope that you turn a corner soon and are able to improve your mobility. Glad that you have such good helpers though. Take great care and keep us posted on your progress.

Gwen, how are things going today? You've been in my thoughts - are things feeling any 'better' or 'easier' since your post on Monday? Still sending good vibes your way...

I feel like I really turned a corner on Tuesday and, as a result, I've been really busy Tuesday and Wednesday! So I spent today catching up with lots of things but never had time to catch up on OH, even though I had the tabs open.... I have it on my to do list tomorrow, so I will post a good, long, comprehensive update about how things are going.

Thank you for checking in

So glad you are doing better and cannot wait to read your update! I keep going on Dr. Michael's site and looking at how amazing he did on you. I'm in AZ, but think I will budget to go there if I ever have PS.