OK. Surgery was not that bad after all. I survived and all that jazz. When they took me back for pre-op, they numbed my hand with the stuff they use at the dentist's office before doing the IV, did my IV, and the next thing I know, I'm in recovery, can't feel my whole arm, and can only make sounds, no words, which was odd.
After I was awake enough and forming words, they moved me to another area. I started to get my bearings, and the test I had to pass before I could leave was to be able to swallow. Sounds easy, right? Well the pain block had affected part of my diaphragm, making it difficult to take a deep breath or cough. I had a breathing tube during surgery to make sure I didn't stop breathing, and apparently, that affected my swallowing. So I tried to drink water, couldn't swallow, couldn't cough, so the sound came out more like a choke of sorts.
For a while, I was stuttering and it took me a long time to form sentences. It was pretty amusing. :)
The not swallowing business was really frustrating because I was REALLY thirsty! They called a doctor from anesthesia, and as soon he came, he wanted to see what happened when I tried and what do you know? My throat started working. They helped me get dressed, no easy task when my arm is dead weight, and sent me home. We left around 11:30 I'd say.
The pain block started to wear off that night, by about 1AM Tuesday, I woke up in a new kind of pain. I took my pain medicine, went back to sleep and repeated the process a few hours later.
Last night, I was able to sleep for 8 hours straight, but oh boy when I did wake up, OUCH!!!!
I found my limits today. Today is the day I was allowed to remove the bulky dressing (I still have one dressing covering the holes) and take a shower. So this afternoon, I felt good enough to attempt it. Alone. Mistake! The shower itself went OK, but when I took the dressing off and saw my marred shoulder, I thought I was going to be sick. It all came at once, and I crumpled carefully in the bathroom. I was seeing spots, sweating, and I felt my throat start closing. Barely coherent, I was able to call for my mom, who got my medicine, water, and food into me so I could get up off the bathroom floor and get my arm back into my sling. I feel much better now.
The good news is, my left hand gets so tired in the effort required to eat the food I can (along with the trouble of the 8 inch gap between table and mouth caused by sling), that I am doing very well on the eating front. Drinking lots of water too. :)
Well, my left hand is typing solo, and it's tired, so I'm off to sleep like a good little patient.
Until next time,
:)
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