I was going to write an entry yesterday morning that started like this: "It's hard to believe that exactly one week ago, I woke up hearing 'Calvin, Calvin, it's time to wake up'"... but I didn't get around to it. I went to work for a few hours yesterday, but couldn'r make it past 1PM, and promptly crashed on the couch for three hours as soon as I got home... lucky the phone rang, or I probably would have slept straight through 'till Carole got home at 6:30. Yeah, just driving to work and sitting up for a few hours was exhausting - it took a lot out of me. But today, I got to work on time (7AM) and am still here now (12:30), though I'm starting to get tired again.
I've got four holes in my belly, but they've healed really quickly - at least on the outside... I think the scarring is going to be really minimal - I'm really happy with how well that's coming along - allthough it's really how it's healing on the INSIDE that matters...
I've still got my abs cut open in four spots, which is making it difficult to get in and out of a chair or bed (though It's getting easier everyday), but the hardest (most painful) things to do are sneazing, hiccupping, coughing, laughing, etc. Ouch!
The hospital gave me lots of painkillers to take home, and I've probably still got about 8 T3's and 4 percacets left, but I stopped taking the painkillers after about the 5th day. I figured, "if it doesn't hurt when I don't move, and if I can sleep through the whole night without waking up in pain, then I don't need to be taking perscription painkillers!" - I took a couple ibuprofen's before work yesterday and today just so that I don't have to worry about being startled by a deep breath or cough, but other than that, I'm pretty much pain free.
About the worst thing right now is that I appear to be allergic to the adhesive on my dressings. I've got a bad 'bandage shaped' rash oround each of my incisions which are really itchy, and make me want to scratch, but of course I can't even touch it for fear of ripping my stiches...
I'm down to just butterfly bandages now, so hopefully this'll go away soon, and I'll be one step closer to normal. am I boring y'all to tears yet? Sorry - but this is my first surgery, and I wanna document what I went through so that later in life I will remember how it really wasn't a very big deal at all!
I'm pretty much able to eat anything now, which is awesome! It's funny though, even when I'm being good with my diet, I still feel guilty, after going so long worrying about everything I ate... for instance, for lunch today, the cafeteria gave me a daily special choice of 'bacon cheese burger', 'beef burrito', or 'chicken stirfry on pasta' - I still didn't dare got for either of the former, and ended up ordering the stirfry... BUT, I bought a COKE instead of a mint tea, which made me feel really bad... but hey, I may blimp out over the next couple months, but I am SOOOO looking forward to eating things like burgers and fries again! Actually, to be honest, I went to McDonalds on Sunday afternoon (my first venture out of the house) but chickened out before getting a burger... instead, I had a crispy chicken sandwhich, which I figured wouldn't hurt me, but would still be a great first step towards 'pushing my limits' and seing what I can eat. Well, to make a long story short, it didn't hurt me at all, but it tasted so gross! It was fatty and greasy and disgusting! Or at least, that's how it tasted to me, after going seven months without any fast food worse than a Subway sandwhich...
so who knows, I'll probably be having a real-life burger and fries soon, (my "goal" after recovery was to go to White Spot for a Spot Burger with Bottomless Fries and Triple-O dipping sauce... it was the most decadent burger I could think of) but I'm willing to wager my prolonged period of health living will make that burger taste just as revolting as the crispy chicken. That would be cool if I could stay fit, but the big prize is that I won't ever have to WORRY about eating something again. Freedom!
I even had three beers yesterday - yup, it didn't even take me a week to sink into old habits, but these are my golden days - I'm taking advantage of 'em! The morning of surgery I weighed myself, and I was 193 lbs. That was down 32 lbs from my previous high, New Years Day, 2004. The past week that I've spend lying around sucking popcicles and eating bowls of ice cream has bumped me up to 198 already, but I'm sure that once I'm active again, that'll stabalize.
Anyway, I've still got to take it pretty easy - that means no holding a guitar around my neck yet - but other that that, it has been an amazingly quick recovery thus far. I'm looking forward to writing blog entries about stuff like the Pope dying, or the Michael Jackson trial really soon! (Kidding - I'm not looking forward to writing about the Jackson trial...)
Ah, those bandaid rashes...I've experienced it and it is awful!
Glad to see you back to blogging. Remember to continue to take it easy while the inside heals.
glad you made it out alive!!
i haven't been able to eat a white spot burger since i was 19 (ok, the "becoming a vegetarian at 22" thing helped a bit) when, this one time at band camp, our rhythm guitarist dared me to slam a mickey of jack daniels, which i promptly did... i had the worst hangover ever, so he ttok me to white spot for a burger and, well, i nearly hurled... and i never hurl...
Posted by: sage at April 6, 2005 10:44 PMYes, that's why I chose WhiteSpot - I figure if I can get one of those puppies down, I can keep anything down!
As for the rashes, they're getting worse - it's like torture now - I couldn't sleep at all last night - got up three times to put calamine lotion on, but taking care not to put it on the incisions... hopefully it goes down soon, it's soooo itchy - small price to pay for the pain of a GB attack though!
Posted by: Calvin at April 7, 2005 07:09 AM