Day 1 post op is the worst
Apr. 23rd, 2023 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lproven(Previous instalment: https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159079424981691&id=608866690 )
I am still here. Pain levels extreme, and this is after I/V morphine on PCA plus codeine tablets and intravenous paracetamol.
Surprised nobody asked what PCA was last night. Stands for Patient Controlled Analgesia. It's a big button on a cable & you press it for a shot of I/V meds. It will only trigger once per a timed interval. I'm on 5 min. I think that's quite a lot. There's no signal when it expires except that the light comes back on. There's no buffer. You can't ask for more until the 5 min is up. So I spent all evening and much of last night peering blearily at this little button waiting for it to light up so I could press it again.
I got quite good at mentally timing 5 min and could press it again with a second or 2, until sheer exhaustion overtook me. (Checks green light... No, not yet. Bugger.) Thus the slowest and least fun computer game ever.
I've also had I/V paracetamol and codeine tablets. I'm still up there on the level of "can just barely remain coherent" and am looking for distraction.
The orthopaedic professor visited me on ward rounds. He says that as soon as my pain is under control, they will ship me back home, and then they will want me back here in 6 weeks. I can't believe it might be so soon.
He was very happy with how much I can wiggle my fingers, and the lack of swelling at both ends of the plaster cast. He told me they put in a nerve block from the axial nerve (that's the one that comes out of the spinal cord, IIRC -- may well have misspelled it; brachial maybe) and that's why I can't feel my fingers. That it's normal and it will come back... But probably with additional pain.
They gave me a *VERY* quick, and very rough, wash. I have clothes on and cleaner teeth. But I feel like an ice hockey team danced on me, in their skates. I guess that nurse had 50 patients to wash in an hour or something, but jeez Louise. She even picked up my arm _by the fingers_ at one point. I thought I might scream. I guess it's the rip-the-elastoplast-off-in-one-motion approach, but it was the most brutal hygiene process I've ever experienced. And a new euphemism: "I'd be happier if you washed your front yourself." Apparently _front_ now means specifically _genitals_.
Day 1 post op is often *the* worst. And today is living up to that. You've eliminated most of the drugs from your system and you're regaining awareness but at the same time your body is indignantly reacting to shocking new modifications it didn't make or ask for.
Oh good, my light has gone green again. I think this has been a 3 press post.
A few people said that they might visit me today. That would be great... Just, if you're among them, do manage your expectations. And I hope you don't mind possibly being vomited at. Not _over,_ just in the general direction of. I am *NOT* in good shape at all, but this may be the only chance we will get.
I am still here. Pain levels extreme, and this is after I/V morphine on PCA plus codeine tablets and intravenous paracetamol.
Surprised nobody asked what PCA was last night. Stands for Patient Controlled Analgesia. It's a big button on a cable & you press it for a shot of I/V meds. It will only trigger once per a timed interval. I'm on 5 min. I think that's quite a lot. There's no signal when it expires except that the light comes back on. There's no buffer. You can't ask for more until the 5 min is up. So I spent all evening and much of last night peering blearily at this little button waiting for it to light up so I could press it again.
I got quite good at mentally timing 5 min and could press it again with a second or 2, until sheer exhaustion overtook me. (Checks green light... No, not yet. Bugger.) Thus the slowest and least fun computer game ever.
I've also had I/V paracetamol and codeine tablets. I'm still up there on the level of "can just barely remain coherent" and am looking for distraction.
The orthopaedic professor visited me on ward rounds. He says that as soon as my pain is under control, they will ship me back home, and then they will want me back here in 6 weeks. I can't believe it might be so soon.
He was very happy with how much I can wiggle my fingers, and the lack of swelling at both ends of the plaster cast. He told me they put in a nerve block from the axial nerve (that's the one that comes out of the spinal cord, IIRC -- may well have misspelled it; brachial maybe) and that's why I can't feel my fingers. That it's normal and it will come back... But probably with additional pain.
They gave me a *VERY* quick, and very rough, wash. I have clothes on and cleaner teeth. But I feel like an ice hockey team danced on me, in their skates. I guess that nurse had 50 patients to wash in an hour or something, but jeez Louise. She even picked up my arm _by the fingers_ at one point. I thought I might scream. I guess it's the rip-the-elastoplast-off-in-one-motion approach, but it was the most brutal hygiene process I've ever experienced. And a new euphemism: "I'd be happier if you washed your front yourself." Apparently _front_ now means specifically _genitals_.
Day 1 post op is often *the* worst. And today is living up to that. You've eliminated most of the drugs from your system and you're regaining awareness but at the same time your body is indignantly reacting to shocking new modifications it didn't make or ask for.
Oh good, my light has gone green again. I think this has been a 3 press post.
A few people said that they might visit me today. That would be great... Just, if you're among them, do manage your expectations. And I hope you don't mind possibly being vomited at. Not _over,_ just in the general direction of. I am *NOT* in good shape at all, but this may be the only chance we will get.
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Date: 2023-04-23 01:37 pm (UTC)Hope things improve soon, though I know it's a waiting game at this point.