My eyes opened and I immediately knew where I was. My first thought was, "It's over". Very groggy of course, I had some pain. I was exhausted but the pain was kinda bad at this point. I told the nurse twice and she had already given me three doses of morphine. Then I remembered that these have got to be the gas pains they warned us about. The surgeon filled my abdomen with air for easy access to my stomach and it causes a lot of pain. They had told us to move our legs and sure enough once I did that, the pain dissipated. That was the worst of the pain I would feel throughout the whole experience. Not bad.
I fell asleep and when I woke up my brothers were there for a visit. I was so very happy to see them. They told me the surgeon said it went well. I was almost the only one left in recovery, only because my room wasn't ready just yet. Surprisingly my surgeon came in and told me it couldn't have gone better. I couldn't thank him enough. He had done it. I was alive and light three quarters of a stomach. I felt happy. I was to stay overnight and be released after a leak test and two meals.
It all went by jet fast. I got up to my room around 4:00 PM. the nurses attended to me and I was still groggy and tired. I was able to rest for a while, had a couple of visitors and went to sleep. I was not allowed to have anything at all to drink or eat of course. Nothing until after the leak test the next morning. My mouth was extremely dry with only citrus swabs to help. I really didn't feel the need for any pain medication. After blood draws and pressure checks at 8:00 PM as promised they religiously got me out of bed every two hours through the night to walk. Happily I wasn't dizzy when I first got up. With IV pole accompanying me I felt good to take my first walk. On the first walk I was alone, the other patients hadn't gotten up yet. There were 4 other women I would see at the ensuing walks throughout the night who I had met at the prep class.
During the next walk I saw one of the ladies and got to chat and talk about our experiences. I saw the others as the night went on and with sleeping in between, together we resembled some kind of horror movie about an IV pole parade of large ladies taking over the hospital. Walking is so important to prevent blood clots from forming. Walking was a little sore for me along my staple line, but not unbearable.
I was overjoyed that this was done. From the moment I woke up, I was extremely happy with my decision. One thing was noticeably missing from my mind. The thought of food had left me, as if by magic. I had no interest in food at all. Ok, I thought, who would think of food after that surgery, surely this won't last, but as the hours passed I had no hunger and no interest at all. I saw food on television and it was a very specific feeling of being divorced from it. It was such a foreign feeling to me. It was as if a very unwanted guest who had overstayed their welcome had finally checked out. The spirits did it all in one night.
The next morning, bright and early it was time for the big leak test. This would really determine the quality of the job. For the first time in 36 hours the liquid I could drink was this very bitter tasting, gin colored, barium solution that would be watched going down on an x-ray. Cheers! It was liquid and I was dry, how bad could it be? Eek, bitter. Ok no big deal. It couldn't be long before I could take my first drink of something normal. Not long after I was back up in my room the nurse had told me there were no leaks shown. I took a walk and when I returned there was a tray of clear liquids. It felt so good to have something cold and surprisingly it went down fine. After I took in as much as I could, my surgeon came to check on me. Except for some low blood pressure during the night, he was pleased and ordered one more blood test. Lunch would come at noon and if that agreed with me, I would be able to go home.
A tiny dish of tuna salad tasted good and went down ok. A little weird at first, but good. I was ready to go home and start my recuperation. I actually couldn't wait to sleep. My brother came to pick me up; home sweet home.
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