I Lived!

I did not die on the operating table.

I also did not have chlorhexadine used on me.

I DID, however, have an allergic reaction to – I’m assuming – the antibiotics they put me on before the surgery because I had a UTI. I was a little bit itchy on my arms before the surgery, but afterwards it was a full-blown rash down my sides that became a traveling nightmare of itch. So unfortunately, I was not spared the itching this time either. But it was not at the negligence of the hospital crew! Progress!

They attempted to do the surgery laparoscopically, but couldn’t manage it for whatever reason. So they wound up having to do open surgery. I now sport two puncture marks and a 3 inch incision. The healing has gone okay, I’m having some minor issues with the bumper on the outside of the two digging into my skin because I may be too fat for the tube that they used. I’m waiting on the doctor to call me back to discuss that further. The pain was not as bad as I honestly expected. I haven’t had to take the opioids nearly as often as I would have figured. Tylenol and Advil have been taking care of it just fine, usually. It’s typically not so much painful as uncomfortable – like a bloated sort of “I’ve had too much to eat” kind of feeling rather than a specific sharp” I’ve had surgery” pain.

My nightmare scenario of being unable to get out of bed to use the toilet never materialized. By the time I needed to do the thing, I was able to shift myself. I’m pretty much back to where I was, except that twisting to reach things is harder. Or currently impossible. I’m sleeping with the AVAPS machine on my bed instead of in its little cubby because I cannot reach over to turn it on and off. Scootching myself in and out of bed is far more laborious at the moment, but it is not impossible. Just time consuming.

The tube is just a future proofing for now, I’m not using it at all. Every day though, we need to flush it with water to keep it happy. It is a very strange sensation to have suddenly drunk 60 ML’s of water without having swallowed it. Hopefully I don’t need to actually use the tube for quite some time. I am having no troubles chewing and swallowing, the only trouble I have eating at the moment is physically getting the food into my mouth, because my hands suck. Otherwise everything is grand.

Hopefully this is the last surgery I have to have, unless I decide to install a ventilator. Hopefully that’s some distance down the road. For now I have two tubes sticking out of my torso, and I am now a series of tubes. Like the Internet. It’s one more concession to the disease, but I’m not really having any big feelings about it. I had big feelings about the idea when it was first presented to me, and I had some big feelings when the actual surgery was scheduled. The first time. But now I think it’s been such an ordeal I’m just glad to have it done. Now I just need to have it heal and it will be another part of me and that’s all there is to that.

I could have done without the itching though.