Sore But Home

Home At Last

And a good night's sleep for the first time since Thursday.

If you have never been in the hospital, you have probably heard the stories. You do not get any real rest there. First night, my roommate was wheeled in at about 8:30 after her extended surgery, waking me up. Then all through the night, nurses and aides were in and out taking our blood pressure and temperatures. Or taking blood, or asking if we were OK or....a being called to do something about the annoying beeping alarms on our IV fluids bags.

The doctors showed up early in the AM to do rounds, and then breakfast arrived and more blood pressure tests...etc. I will not go into all the details, but by Saturday night, I was totally crashed. I was having severe gas pains and nothing seemed to be helping.

That was when "Saint" Mary, my sweet nurse stepped in. First, she assured me the pains were very common with this kind of surgery and that once they eased I would feel SO much better. Walking would, she said help, and she suggested I take the optional full dose of my pain medication. (Two pills instead of one.) I did and within a half hour, I zonked out for a good four hour heavy sleep until the blood pressure aide showed up, blared on the lights and then came back within an hour to take more blood tests. That and another two alarms on my IV--I'd been hooked back up due to some nausea--ruined the rest of the night, but at least I got some sleep.

Last night, here at home, was positively heavenly although I did have to get up once to take some more pain meds. I have been advised to just spoil myself with the medication and not be shy about taking it.

So, so far, so good. It will be 4-6 weeks before I am back to normal, so don't expect much in the way of horse reports. Meantime thanks for all your good wishes and good vibes. I think they helped.