Post op

When I was pregnant with my first child, the birthing coach had us watch birthing videos.  There was one where the woman had an orgasmic birth. This is exactly what it sounds like it would be.  She had no pain, no pain meds, and really seemed to enjoy her experience.  Even though I knew it was unrealistic, I thought, "That's what I want!" Of course, I had the more traditional birth experience, pain even with pain meds and it wasn't quite as enjoyable until I got to see the baby.  Luckily for the population, pain fades and I even went on to have a second child.

You would have thought I would have learned from this experience, but frankly, I'm not that smart.  When I was looking into having my surgery, I was totally believing the stories where the people had surgery on Friday and were ready to go back to work on Monday.  I had one guy tell me he was at the gym on day 4!  I am not trying to scare people off, but I was completely unprepared for my level of pain.

Surgery - Day one:
I got to the hospital super early and was looking forward to the calming juice I was supposed to get in my IV.  The anesthesiologist told me that I had to be coherent to talk to the surgeon.  By the time I talked to the surgeon, everything went super fast and no calming juice for me.

After surgery was a blur.  Everything went well, but my hernia repair was more extensive than they thought, so surgery time was double.  That first night was awesome.  My dream had come true.  There was so very little pain.  Why hadn't I done this sooner?

Post op - Day one - All was well until the nurses told me that they were switching off my pain pump and switching me to oral medicine instead of IV.  I wasn't really concerned.  I was a model patient.  I had even been up and walking several times.  By that afternoon, reality set in.  I really think most of my pain was due to the gas they had pumped into me to expand my belly.  I never knew gas pain could be so bad that the thought of dying wasn't scary.  I really had to think about my kids to want to keep going on.  I only broke down and cried once, but I think that was just because I was so focused on the pain that I had no energy to cry.

Post op - Day 2 - The nurses kept telling me that this was going home day.  I knew better, though.  There was no way my surgeon would send me home when she saw my pain level.  Of course, I was wrong again.  The doctor told me how great I was progressing.  I figured she was lying since I wasn't at the hospital she had her practice at and didn't want to make the trip on a work day.  When I started questioning why I had done this to myself, one of the nurses reminded me that I would have eventually had to do the hernia repair anyway.

The first night at home was hard.  I ended up taking myself off the Vicodin and switching to Tylenol.  I know Vicodin slows your bowels so I figured it wasn't helping my gas pain.

Day 3 - I took out my pain pump they put it my belly.  My ab muscles started hurting like I was stabbed 6 times in the gut. Oh yeah, I was!  I also had this horrible kink in my neck giving me a migraine.  Maybe they positioned me weird?

Day 4 - Today has been much better.  I feel human again.  I've taken several walks outside. Short ones of course.  I am even alone for a couple of hours.  My husband is only 5 minutes away.  I've gone to the bathroom by myself and have had bowel movements.  I still have pain in my neck and abs, but I am using arnica gel and heating pads. I've gotten all my protein drinks in and most of my water.  Finally, today, I may tell you that the process wasn't too bad.  Thank God our memory of pain fades and thank you all for your prayers and support.  It really got me through the worst of it.