The Gall of it All

Well, as you know, my gall bladder had to be ripped out of my already sore body. It took several days post-op to feel human again. After about a week, I was able to lean on my right side when sitting against pillows, have a little more energy, and do some things for myself.

I am now sporting three new incision marks in addition to a totally racked belly button.  Two incisions are on my right side towards the outer edge of my ribs and the other is a larger incision near the bottom of my sternum.  Here's what the ugly gall bladder looked like before being cut out, clamped off, and sucked out of my body.

My actual surgery was scheduled for 10:30 and I don't think they took me into the OR until around 2:30. Made for a very long day getting only IV fluids for food! I was told that when I went into recovery, my blood pressure was all over the place and I was not happy. I do remember being in pain and tears at one point.

Finally got into my room later that evening and relied heavily on the pain pump that delivered Dilaudid to me throughout the night. Man, that is some crazy stuff. I was so doped up that I don't remember a lot of stuff other than pushing that pump button every thirty minutes.  In the night, I would wake up thinking I missed my thirty minute "push" only to realize that I had been asleep for only ten minutes.  I was becoming a junkie!  And with my uterus gone, I couldn't even become a corner cra.ckwh.ore and get pregnant! :)

Any time I needed to go to the bathroom, I had to call the nurse because I was attached to leg compression cuffs, the blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter, my IV, and nasal canula for oxygen.  With all of the fluid being pumped into my body, it was quite a show to undo everything enough to get me to the bathroom every couple of hours.  My nurse and the nurse aide were both from Nigeria, so between their thick accents and my new drug addiction, I couldn't understand shit of what was being said half the time.

They almost kept me a second day because my bp was so low, my oxygen was below 90, I was having some bleeding/oozing from my wounds, and I had a fever. I was finally sprung anyway and got home late Thursday afternoon/evening to get settled in for another week or more of sitting on my ass watching crappy TV.

I'm still working to learn what my body can and cannot handle with food. The soreness is slowly subsiding but I have to continue to be careful. My belly button is suffering the most, but I won't get into it all because it's kinda gross. Let's just say it's still requires bandaging. I can say that this surgery was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I think after my hysterectomy that my body was just spent and still sore. I've decided: No more surgery for me. I'm done with it!

Now . . . where's my baby????????????