Tuesday - ICU and a Public Room

My first night in the hospital went pretty well, all things considered. One nice thing about ICU is that its nice and quiet. Its a semi private room in a secluded (ish) part of the hospital. Gotta love that.

I didn't really sleep that well, but wasn't that surprised. Always someone coming in to test your 'vittles', as I liked to call them. Mostly I just can't sleep while sitting up, and that's pretty much what you're doing. Luckily Joj had also gotten the nurse to figure out how to lengthen the bed; between sliding down the mattress and just being tall, I literally had had my feet hanging off of the bed at one point when I first arrived in ICU. Any time I'd woken up I'd hit the morphine button, too. Always helped somewhat.

Tuesday morning they got rid of the catheter (which was good 'cause it felt really f***ing strange) and also the circulation socks so that I could start using the toilet by myself. Always a bit of a challenge, especally with all those wires, but already doable.) The nurse also showed me how to use the little suction wand, as I was soon off to a regular room and would not have a nurse all to myself (Dammit. And just when I'd gotten the knock-on-the-bedframe-for-help code all worked out with my nurse.) Its pretty much the same as the one you use in the dentists office during a normal cleaning, except that instead of for spit, this one is for the blood and mucous that is starting to drain down your throat and pooling in your mouth. All normal and all - your sinuses took a beating with the anasthesia and the cutting and all - but still pretty ewww. I also learned how to start rinsing my mouth out with a saline solution: squirt the solution into your mouth with the handy dandy syringe (soon to become my new best friend) whilst simultaneously sucking it out with the sucker. Very important to keep the mouth clean.

Husband was already at the hospital when it was time to be moved to my new room, so I have a witness! when I say it was like the equivalent of a slow-motion Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Seriously. The nurse, or attendant or whoever must've banged into at least 3 separate stationary objects on the way from point A to point B. He was very slow the whole way, but he could never seem to correct for the slight left pull the bed had. >BANG<>BANG<>BANG< style="font-style: italic;">All went well! he cried. It was a great success! You look beautiful! We got more movement than we hoped for! All very reassuring and helpful -- that is until he pulled out a shank of my hair from the top of my head whilst trying to remove that chin strap. Gaa! Much eye watering ensued.

I was also encouraged to start trying to take in fluids on my own with the syringe at this point, as well as getting up and going for small walks around the wing. Movement encourages circulation and will help you feel better! You need to stay very hydrated and get used to the syringe! So I did, and I did. Both things went very slowly, but were successful.

I was (hair loss aside) definitely more uncomfortable on Tuesday. Either the pain was going up, or more of the anasthesia had worked its way out of my system, but it was a bit harder that day. The self administered saline spray helped, but there was definitely congestion starting that hadn't been there Monday (again, normal.) Some post operative swelling had started in my throat as well. Not real fun. It didn't help that they were doing construction directly outside of my room either. Like hammering. Metal duct work. Power sanders. It was a bit ridiculous.

Bedtime came and I got fresh ice, rinsed out my mouth, hosed out my nose and sprayed in some antihistamine -- everything I could do to help ensure a good nights rest.

Boy, that was one of the worst nights of my life.

A comfortable position? Could not find it. Ice? Pokey as ever. Breathing? Ummm, I could barely do it. My throat swelled to what felt like nearly shut, and no matter how much I continued to spray saline up there, my nose was mostly blocked. This is not good as breathing through your mouth when it is banded shut and swollen to boot is not an option. My throat hurt so bad that I briefly believed they had actually gone ahead and pulled out my tonsils, it was such a localized pain. I woke up over and over all night long, never more than 15 minutes of sleep at a time. I cried all over my nurse in frustration and exhaustion. And to make matters even better?/ Worse? I finally got a new roommate -- at 1230 am. And then for 90 minutes there was nothing but a steady stream of nurses and machines and family members and light and you name it. And remember how they'd extended my bed because I was tall? Yeah, well, they retracted that quick enough once they had to start bringing in new person and new person equiptment -- and then they didn'y put it back! Insult to injury. I've never disliked a faceless person as much as I did that person.

I hated my IV that beepee annoyingly every time I bent my arm wrong, I hated having to schlep all the wires with me to the bathroom, I hated coughing up blood clots and having them get trapped in my mouth, I hated that my lips were completely dry -- I hated everything. I was exhausted, in pain, and wished I'd never done the surgery.

Next installment: Wednesday, and progress!