Post-op day #1: Wednesday, October 14th

The day started at 6am, when the resident for my roommate's surgery came to check on her. Sure, we were separated by only a curtain but she did have the window side. I had the hallway/door side. When he was done poking and proding her, he left... and left the door open. I was unable to shout loud enough to get anyone's attention to close the damned door so that I could snooze.

But, at 7, breakfast turned up and it was a WARM cranberry bran muffin, which tasted fabulous. I wouldn't think of cranberry and bran as fabulous but did I mention warm? I scarfed the thing as fast as I could... and then realized that maybe I should have gone about it a little bit slower, since I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours. I gave it a few minutes. Five, maybe more. Nothing, no sign of an upset stomach... so I drank the OJ that came with. Then I ate the cornflakes. Then I drank my tea. And I started to feel human again.

Unfortunately, the Good Overnight Nurse's shift ended at 7:30 and Dippy Nurse was her replacement. Her and her aide also abandoned me on the commode, even stopping to chat with my roommate while I was HANGING on the damned commode. I nearly cried it was so uncomfortable.

Also unfortunately, when Dippy Nurse came on, I said that I was in pain and needed more pain medication. The physical therapist, who came in at 8, heard my tale of woe, because it was 7:35 when I'd asked for the meds and I still didn't have any. Nor did I have any water. I think helped me out a little faster than she would otherwise. She let me go, so long as I promised her I'd have someone by my side when on crutches and AT LEAST someone on the downhill side for stairs until I'm off narcotics.

The roommate - man, she was a peach. She was obviously in pain but she was also mostly set up for whining and not fixing. She didn't like her IV and it had slipped out a bit, so she complained about that. She complained that her pain medication made her feel nauseated. But because she refused an IV, she couldn't get the anti-nausea medications. She then lied, a bit, about how she was treated, when pain meds were offered to her... and it was interesting the three different stories that I heard about getting her cleaned up. She claims she was never offered, someone else said she refused, and a third said that the towels were left for her but completely untouched.

The physical therapist came through and ran me through a series of easy tests (using crutches) and more difficult ones (going up and down stairs, non-weight bearing) and then gave me her all clear to go home. It probably took another couple of hours before all the hurdles were cleared and I was able to be discharged.

Of course, my crankypants appeared in time for being released. Probably funnier in hindsight. They wanted me to put shoes on and I saw a need for no such thing (I was in a wheelchair, right?). They wanted me to put my coat on, but, again... especially as I was going to be wheeled through the hospital. Seemed way to hot for me. They wanted me to wait at the main entrance and I wanted to be taken to the car in the parking structure.

In the end, I was wheeled out with no shoes, no coat, and I had to wait out front. I did put a shoe on my left foot while I waited for Jeremy but I didn't put on a coat.

It was great to be home. it was nice to be able to use an actual bathroom and a flushing toilet. It was nice to not be left, hanging, on a commode. We set it up so that they could prop a footstool under my right foot and then walk out of the bathroom, so I had some privacy.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully, which is as it should be. I think we did wait a bit too long for bedtime, which left all of us cranky. I ended up throwing Jeremy out of the bathroom and made him send my mom in, instead, so that I could get taken care of for sleepytime.