Saturday, October 07, 2006

Gall bladder surgery was successful

Yesterday morning I had my gall bladder removed. I was in at 6:30 and out by 10:30.

The surgery went very well. I remember them rolling me into the surgery room and telling me they were going to give me something to make me fall asleep. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the recovery room.

Waking up was really difficult for me. I was very woozy from the anesthesia and it was difficult for me to breathe. I took a few wheezing breaths before I was finally able to catch my breath. I was also very sleepy. I was hoping they'd let me stay in the recovery room until the anesthesia wore off, but they wanted me to leave and start my recovery at home.

They told me to take a pain pill when I got home, but I couldn't take a pain pill on an empty stomach, and I didn't want to eat because I was in so much pain. Just drinking water made me feel nauseous, so I knew I didn't want to try to eat anything. So it was a catch-22. I ended up sleeping until 4:30 that afternoon, which is when I finally ate some chicken noodle soup and took a pain pill. After all that, the pain pill didn't even help! Fortunately, it didn't make me nauseous, which I was worried about.

I've been in my bed ever since I got home yesterday with the exception of a few trips to the bathroom and some walks up and down my hallway. The nurse told me to walk when I can to avoid blood clots.

Today I am even more sore than yesterday and the pain is over a larger area than yesterday. Yesterday I only hurt where my gall bladder had been. Today I hurt there, and at all of the incision points. Plus, my back hurts today. I've taken some Tylenol Extra Strength today, thinking it might work better than the pain pill, but I haven't really noticed a difference. I might try taking another pain pill later to see if it works today.

Bob has been so great to help me get out of the bed and bring me food and water. I wouldn't be able to do this without him!

I'll probably stay in my bedroom the rest of today and try to go downstairs sometime tomorrow. I definitely don't think I will go down today.

The surgery went about how I expected it to go, but I didn't expect to be in this much pain. Everyone I talked to said it was an easy surgery to recover from. Ummmm... I beg to differ. :-)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Suze! Glad your surgery went okay. I had problems with the anesthesia when I had my colonoscopy, and it was just valium. Nausea. I hope the pain gets better soon!

Anonymous said...

Susan, I hope you feel better very soon!!! I wish I could be there to help. Sending some (((HUGS)))) your way!