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Taoz the rebel is home!
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So, I've officially turned rebel! My surgeon wanted me to stay at the hospital ANOTHER night and have staff discharge me Sunday morning (surgery was Wednesday morning) because I had thrown up twice back on Thursday but I dug in my heels and opted to discharge at 4pm today (had to sign a form stating it was "against surgeons advice").
I had realised both times the vomiting had happened was because I was made to go from a long period of laying down on the bed to sitting/standing upright and immediately swallowing tablets without having 5-10 minutes for any more gas to bubble out of me first. (thankfully the vomiting didn't hurt much because my tummy was pretty much empty). once I started insisting that I be upright for at least 10 minutes before swallowing any tablets I never vomited again... it just meant that for "controlled substances" like endone pain killers they had to take the tablets away with them and come back 10 minutes later for me to swallow them.
I also had to take more pain killers yesterday than I would have liked, not because of gas or incision pains, but because overnight Thurs/Fri my IV point slipped out of my vein and started pumping lots of fluid into my arm. I had someone check the IV at 4am as my arm was feeling a bit sore, but they said it looked fine, That reassurance plus an injection of morphine not long beforehand allowed me to sleep through until I woke at 7 with my arm now REALLY swollen and throbbing. I had to keep up endone all day until the pain and swelling subsided 24 hours later. I still got 500ml oral fluids in Friday and didn't need to have a new IV put in my other arm.
I was only receiving "bariatric soups" at mealtimes which I was initially told was made with "real stock" because the aspartame in optifast triggers nasty headaches for me, however it turned out that the "soups" were also loaded with other forms of MSG, the other major additive I told them I have to avoid because of headaches. I ate half a small bowl of scotch broth soup at lunch yesterday, and some soup at dinner last night, and today the 24-hour MSG headache roared into gear
so I had to alternate codeine and endone to manage the severe headache today, again not pain from the actual surgery. This left me with nothing but water that they could supply that was "safe" for me to eat/drink, only my sugary tasting protein waters and a little chicken broth I brought in (I tried some formulite shake but making it without a blender and crushed ice meant I just couldn't stand the texture/taste). I still got nearly a litre (4 cups) of fluids in orally today before 4pm.
I also didn't do too well with the loud call-bell buzzers jerking me out of sleep half the night, it did a number on my nerves every time, especially with those patients who liked to really LEAN on their buzzers for ages. still woke me even with ear plugs.
And I walked... I stalked up and down those hallways for days... many laps.. even made a few friends in my travels (including a lovely lady sleeved by my surgeon 18 months prior who was in recovering from skin removal operation, and who pulled me into her room for a good hour long chat).
So yeah, I tried first to see if I could get surgeons permission to leave this afternoon/evening rather than spend another interrupted night without decent food, then switched to leaving against instructions when I was told that was going to be my only option allowing me to leave today.
I am super happy to be home. Have had a little REAL soup from my freezer (cauliflower and sharp cheese made with genuine home chicken stock), had a decent shower, threw some washing in to wash (hubby will hang it up), and now sipping slowly at a stevia-sweetened decaf mocha before bed. Feeling 10 times better already (even with the two mega loud children in the house), and the remnants of the MSG headache.
Good night all, and best wishes to you and your journey!
Taoz