Week one after surgery.

The first week after surgery was a long week. When I woke up from surgery, I was pretty much back asleep. I saw my wife, sister inlaw and my baby for what seemed like only minutes and then they were gone. I don't blame them either. The nurses told them it would be about a 2 hour surgery and then they could see me probably around 1 o'clock and they didn't see me until around 5pm . That I know of, there weren't any complications during surgery, but I guess they didn't have a bed for me and they were trying to get my pain and breathing under control. So when they left, I went back to sleep. It's kinda shitty sleeping on your back if you didn't already know that. You have to do that for the first week at least. When you get out of surgery, they put in a drain tube and for whatever reason, you have to sleep on your back. Probably so you don't break the staples on your pouch or rip one of the incisions open. Plus, you have to worry about this tube that is coming out of you with a ball on the other end. I had 5 incision marks across my belly forming a line just above my belly button. They all looked ok except for the one on my left side. That one hurt the most and I looked like they tucked all my skin in the incision because I had a pretty big dent on my left side. I don't know how else to describe it, but there was an actual dent in my body. They said it could be from the stitches. They might have sewn more layers of skin together on that side, I don't know. It doesn't look that bad now, so I'm fine with it.

That first night in the hospital was pretty shitty. I'd only sleep for 2 hours tops. Wake up, get poked for either a blood draw or medicine and then go back to sleep. I had a room mate, which was very interesting. The guy had back surgery and broke out with a 103F degree fever while he was staying there. He was probably in his 60s. I felt bad for him. Seemed like a nice guy, but he complained a lot that he was going to die. I heard EVERYTHING that the guy did. And I do mean EVERYTHING. I didn't talk much to him. Didn't want to get too close, ya know? Probably for the fact that if he did die, I didn't want to have to get his wife flowers. What?? Surgery is expensive! I couldn't waste more money on something else, let alone flowers for someone I didn't know! I just had my insides rearranged, I ain't got time for that! I'm of course just kidding and I would have bought her a nice floral arrangement for what ever 5.99 could buy. Ok, maybe 10.99, but I'd keep the receipt for tax purposes!! That I know of, he didn't die and went home the day after me. There, a happy ending for the guy.

The next morning after surgery, the nurse had me try walking around so I didn't get any blood clots in my system. They really should make hospital gowns like robes. Just throwing that out there. Oh and more manly colors too! So I took my floral pattern ass out in to the hallways. The nurse, whose name was joe, as in a male nurse, not Bobby Jo, which would imply a female nurse, walked with me. They probably figured if I was gonna fall down, this poor guy was gonna catch me. It was funny because he seemed pretty unsure the whole time we walked. I felt good though, no real uncomfortable pain that a little breathing couldn't help. I actually walked a pretty good distance. Oh, did I mention I had a god awful catheter in? I was never use to having anything dangling between my knees before until now! Haha! It's definitely weird having one of those in. Thankfully I wasn't awake when they put it in, but I was when he ripped it out of me!! I hope to never in my life have one of those in me again. I walked at least three times a day which is what they wanted. Basically I walked and slept the day and a half I was there.i was doing very well and they gave me the ok to go home on Sunday. I got to shower Saturday night which felt great! It's very weird showering with drain tube coming out of the middle of your abdomen. It didn't hurt having it there, but one time when I was showering I hit it and pulled it out a little bit. They give you a oxygen type tube to clip the drain ball to and have it hang around your neck.

On Sunday I left the hospital and came home. What a relief! It was nice to be home and see my family. It felt great to get kinda back into the swing of things even though my wife was yelling at me for over doing it. The doctor told me to not lift over 15lbs, something that was incredible hard to follow. 15lbs is not a lot of weight at all! My youngest daughter is 19lbs so she was "off limits" to pick up. Well, I didn't quite listen all the time. I did pick my daughters up once in a while because I missed hanging on to them. Plus I felt extremely bad that my wife had to do EVERYTHING by herself with no help from anyone. For a dude who can just about lift up anything (within reason), Not be able to lift up his 6 month old daughter, That truly made me feel like shit. Jodi does so much around the house with me helping a little bit, that after my surgery she was doing everything by herself now. Which, I guess was no different than normal, so I guess I shouldn't have felt that bad. Haha! So, I did over due it a couple of times, but it never had any affect on my incisions or my new pouch. So I don't think I did such a bad thing. Of course, everyone is different, so listen to your doctor, said the hypocrite.

During my stay in the hospital, I lived off of ice chips. Water, even after I got home tasted like a creamy watery mix that was absolutely hard to take. When I got home I had only crystal light, sugar free Popsicles and chicken broth to "eat" for the first week. I could "eat" as much as I wanted of those items. For the first week, you are on a clear liquid diet until your drain is taken out. I'm assuming so my little pouch could heal. It wasn't too bad for the first few days, but when Jodi made dinners, man the smells were so great! I never felt hungry though. I did take some regular food and chew it up, but then spit it out afterwards. I'm not really proud to say that, but for having nothing but clear liquid in your system for a week, there's nothing better then having a food taste in your mouth. Jodi would look at me like I was crazy, but she was only worried I would mess this surgery up. Im not crazy and my nurse at the surgery center said that it was pretty normal to do. She just said do not swallow it, which I never did. I was too scared to even think about swallowing it. It was just great to chew something other than ice.

On the Friday after my surgery, I had my drain taken out. What a weird feeling that was. Writing this, I can still feel it bring pulled out of me. It felt like my stomach just did a flip when she pulled this 10 inch drain out of me. So gross!! It didn't hurt though. I was bummed out because I thought she was going to have to stick me with a needle. I have now had my fair share of needles that I could scream. Especially after the hour of the nurses trying to get an IV started before surgery. Oh and the half hour of them trying to get a new one started Saturday night after my line went bad. Pretty much done with needles, but I know I still have blood draws todo after a few months. Oh well. So I was glad that all she had to do was snip a stitch and pull! After that I got the ok to progress to stage 2 diet which I will update next week.

This was getting a little long so I want to cut this short and I will update this every week until I run out of things to talk about. Thank you all for the support and for taking the time to read this little blog! It means so much to me, I'm deeply humbled by it. Have a great day everyone!