Monday 11 July 2011

Well that was fun...

Home again now, and recovering from the operation I had on Saturday to remove my frankly rather inept gall bladder. I'm feeling pretty good, considering, but have been told I mustn't lift O or M for about a fortnight, which will most likely prove problematic at some point.

This was the first time I've had abdominal surgery - I've had the one general anaesthetic before when they whipped two of my widsom teeth out - and I must say, I'm surprised by how well I seem to be doing. On Saturday I felt pretty woozy for about four or five hours after coming round, but since then I've mostly just been rather sore and a little sorry for myself. The strangest thing has been how I've been subconsciously comparing it to previous stays in hospital, and surprising myself when things that happened then haven't happened this time.

The biggest example has been comparing this to childbirth. Honestly, I've been walking around hunched over a fair amount, because I have several holes in my abdomen, and that reminds me somewhat of hobbling around having just given birth. But there are no other similarities really, so I've caught myself being surprised on say, sitting down, to find that it doesn't hurt. Or I've been taken aback slightly by just how much my shoulders ache (as obviously they didn't after giving birth), and how weak this has made my arms. But, adding up the pluses and minuses, I think I've come out trumps. Sure, I'm down an organ, but I'm bouncing back well.

I did have a seizure on Saturday, while I was still groggy from the anaesthetic, but as I didn't thrash around at all - the only reason I could tell it apart from general wooziness was the fact my eyelids were fluttering - no one else noticed at the time. I actually rang my buzzer and had to tell the nurse that I'd just had a seizure, I was okay, but it should probably go in her notes on me so as to keep them accurate. I seem to have struck gold with nurses the last week or so though, because a relative of hers had epilepsy, and she was quite relaxed about the whole thing. She just asked how long it had gone on for, and then what she should do if I had another one. I was also quite relieved when she accepted that I've been having them almost daily recently and that this shouldn't delay my going home any further than the epilepsy already had - I automatically had to stay overnight for what would otherwise have been day surgery.

Anyway, I'm still a little weary, so I'll wind down for now. I can't say I slept fantastically last night or the night before, (who knew that surgery could do that to you, eh?) and tiring myself further is just inviting bad news. Hopefully in a week or so I'll be back to normal. Or as normal as I ever am, at any rate.

1 comment:

  1. make sure you put your feet up and try to take things easy!

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