Recovery?
So I am finally getting around to writing this post. I don't know why but this has been one of the hardest posts to write. I think that it is because I am having to go through everything again and think about all that I went through in the hospital.
Hopefully you have already read my post
http://ibddaddyandme.blogspot.com/2013/02/proctocolectomy-whats-that.html about my proctocolectemy surgery. The surgery was only supposed to last 6-7 hours, but I can never do anything as planned so I went for 9-10 hours. After the surgery the fun began, well I guess from what I can remember. They had to place me in ICU right after my surgery because my heart rate was going sky high. Now this is all information that has been told to me because I DON'T REMEMBER ANY OF IT!!!!
So I spent the night in ICU and then the next day as well. Censie has told me that my mother came in and was talking to me and I asked her what time it was. She told me that it was noon and I told her that People's Court was on, how did I know that and how do I not remember watching People's Court in the ICU. The only thing that I really remember about ICU was that they finally got me a normal room. The only problem was I was on an ICU bed so I had to move beds, remember I had only been out of surgery for about 24 hours. Trust me there were plenty of choice words that were said while we were moving from bed to bed.
So I finally got up to my normal room and was trying to get going on everything. The next day I started on clear liquids and was up trying to move and walk My parents were impressed with how far I was walking right after surgery. I thought wow we are doing well and we are going to have a smooth road ahead with this recovery, stupid brain! I did not have that smooth road ahead sadly. Saturday I was so excited because my kiddos were coming up to see me for the first time, after not seeing them since Wednesday morning this was going to be awesome! Once again nothing can go as planned. I had been working on eating clear liquid, Jude had brought me some balloons to make me feel better. Luckily he was distracted because the clear liquids did not sit well. I asked for a bucket but sadly no one could find one in time and I vomited all over myself.
So sadly at this point we had to rush Jude out of the room at that point so I could get cleaned up and he had to go home. Then later in the evening the right side of my face started to swell up. So they were concerned with an infection or an abscess in my face. All great things to think about while sitting in the hospital. So they then had to take me down for a CT Scan on my face. This was all fine I wanted to see what was going on but again had to change beds, and then when they were bringing me back they took me to the wrong room I had to remind them what room I was in! So luckily it was not the scary things that we had been talking about but my saliva gland shut down, come on can I catch a break. So at this point I was running a pretty high fever kept feeling sick to my stomach and felt pretty horrible. I remember my mom sitting by my bed until almost midnight just holding my hand because I felt so sick.
So now we are to Sunday, see what I am talking about I had a great time. Sunday was a sad day because my parents were leaving to head back home that day. I continued to try and get up and walk so that I could do as much as possible and hopefully be able to go home as soon as possible. The problem was that every time that I would eat something I would be sick to my stomach. The had been giving me antibiotics as well to help with the swelling in my face and trying to get the saliva gland to start working as well. I was told by my doctor that with these types of surgeries that the small intestine goes to sleep and has to wake up to start processing the fluids into my bag. They were thinking that mine small intestine was still asleep, so again got up walking trying to make it wake up and start working.
Monday then came and I continued to try and eat items and continued to try and walk. I was trying to be the model patient and was trying to do everything I could to make this work. The doctors talked to me about putting in an NG tube, which is a tube that goes in through your nose and sucks all the fluid out of your stomach, fun I know but we decided not to do that yet. However I continued to vomit and get sick to my stomach on Monday. So then came Tuesday, I had a very small say in it but we decided to put the NG Tube in. If you have never had an NG Tube placed please pray that you never have to have it done. This was an experience that I never wanted to have and pray I never have to again. So while you are awake you have a tube placed down your nose and you have to keep trying to swallow while the keep pushing. So the problem with this is that I had a ton of fluid built up on my stomach from the prior two days with eating and drinking fluid. So as you can imagine fluid on your stomach and being gagged does not work out well. I feel extremely sorry for the two nurses, because I vomited twice all over them! This was a little embarrassing. They got it in luckily and started taking the fluid off, I felt a ton better but still shocked that this took place.
So I have never shared this picture I hated it but you can see the fun of the NG tube and also the swelling in my face.
So the problem with an NG Tube is that you do not get to eat or drink anything while it is in. So from Tuesday to Saturday it was pretty much the same thing. Sitting around, napping, visiting, trying to walk as much as possible, and not thinking about eating or drinking. I was lucky though the did give me a wet washcloth to wipe the inside of my mouth out because it was so dry but they would take it away right away so that I didn't suck the water out of it. So with having this NG Tube put in I had a PICC Line put in which is an IV but goes into a Large Vein in my chest. The reason that this was put in was because they then gave me what they call TPN, which as my nurses tried to tell me is steak in bag. It gave me all the nutrition that I needed.
Luckily they then did allow me to start eating lemon drops so that the sour would hopefully help my saliva gland would hopefully start working. So then they turned off the NG tube and I was allowed to start drinking items again and the best part was that my stoma started producing and my Ostomy was working! This was awesome news because finally the whole reason we did the surgery was beginning to work! So then on Saturday they took the NG Tube out, this was not fun either. I got very little warning they just took the tape off and then pulled, I could not believe what just happened to me but was so thankful to have it out. I then started eating food and then by Monday I was getting discharged from the hospital. I am amazed at how much the NG Tube helped my healing and if I had known it was going to do that then I would have done it sooner. So this is my story of my hospital stay but in the end it worked out well and I was able to come home with "Gustav" the stoma. Thank you for taking the time to read this as well as every one's ongoing support!
