I've had the week from HELL!

Tuesday (last) I went in for hernia surgery. Simple, right? Not if it's on me, darn it! When he got in he found more hernias than anticipated and had to go under the muscle to put in a 6x8 piece of mesh. So it was supposed to be an hour, but took 3.5 hours. Poor Roy was so worried because he didn't know what was going on!

I was pretty out of it Tuesday, and Wednesday was SO nauseous I couldn't even sit up without wanting to lose what little I'd eaten. Of course being on a liquid diet made it easy to stay on program. Every meal was clear broth, jello, juice, and tea. For three days, that's all I got. Well, Tuesday I didn't eat anything.

Got sprung on Friday after they finally moved me to a soft foods diet (mashed potatoes never tasted so good). Went home feeling relatively good, although I had noticed that there was some strange pockets of swelling on my belly. I pointed them out to the nurse, but she said it wasn't anything to be concerned about. Friday was okay, Saturday was a lot of sleeping, but not bad. Even got out for a walk. Went too far, so I learned to do a circular route that would make it easier to cut short. (Roy was with me.) Expressed irony that Sunday I wasn't even able to handle a mile walk, when the Sunday before I'd run a marathon.

Monday I woke up in more pain than I'd been in the previous few days, and also noticed that my belly was really swollen. I have a flat belly (that I work VERY hard for, thank you very much) and it looked like I was about 4 months pregnant. I managed a few short walks, and we decided to do Christmas dinner that night instead of Christmas evening. Thank heavens!

Tuesday I woke up in even MORE pain. I had hardly slept the night before. My belly was now really firm to the touch. We did a morning walk that was excruciating. My mom called and I was crying because even with the pain pills on board, it was still hurting. (I am NOT a pain wimp at all.) I actually thought maybe when I went to take the pills I'd dropped one and maybe hadn't taken it so we were looking all around the chair to see if I'd dropped it. My mom was really concerned and insisted I call the doctor so I did. Before I checked out of the hospital my doctor told me he was going on vacation, but there would be a doctor on call. He was very explicit, "Don't go to the ER because if you do you'll just end up spending 3 hours in the hospital before they see you, and then they will end up calling our office anyhow. So save time and just call the office. That's what we're here for."

So that's what I did. The on call doctor totally blew me off and told me to go to the ER. He even said, "I don't know what you expect me to do!" Um, I can think of a few things, and most of them can't be repeated in mixed company.

Hung up sobbing because of the pain. My mom called back and insisted I go to the ER. She threatened come get on a plane if I didn't, so that made the decision right there! (I love the woman, but she drives me insane.) Got to the ER at noon. OH MAN it was a madhouse! So many sick people on Christmas! It took three hours just to get triaged, and then I was triaged last because all they had me down for was "abdominal pain". I guess there isn't an entry for "scene from the end of Alien aka John Hurt Syndrome". I spent the next four hours on a bed in the hall. Blood drawn, CT scan, EKG...sheesh! Finally got wheeled into a room at 8:00 ( p.m.) so it was at least quieter. Fortunately they gave me plenty of dilauded so I wasn't in too much pain as long as I didn't move. FINALLY at 10 I got the results of the CT scan. I have a big pool of blood in my abdomen that's causing pressure.

The ER doc called the on call doc who said that he would see me the next day, but didn't think I should be admitted. ER doc came back in to release me and did one more palpation of the abdomen and it hurt so bad I nearly slugged him. He decided to call the on-call doc back and insist I be admitted, but he didn't agree. At least I had some vindication that I wasn't a big weenie!

Got in to see the on-call doc yesterday at 3:30 and I have a hemotoma that I would say is about 6x7 inches. If I put my hand on my belly and spread it out it stretches just beyond that. Unfortunately there is NOTHING he can do because if he aspirates it, it could cause the original bleed to start up again and make it worse. Nothing! ARGH! I am in so much pain. He got me a stronger pain medication and put me on antibiotics just in case there's infection in there. It'll take 2-3 weeks! I'm sure that it won't be as painful that long (at least I hope not). So for now it's just take pain pills, try to eat (I have no appetite whatsoever), and wait for it to reabsorb into my system.

So Christmas kind of sucked, although I have decided not to be upset about it. I mean what are you gonna do? We spent 10.5 hours in the ER but it isn't like we have anything serious going on. Painful, not serious.

But it definitely makes me rethink getting a tummy tuck. I have had four surgeries in my adult life and I've had complications with all four. Not again unless it is TRULY necessary!

Today is a bit better on the pain scale, between a 6 and 8.5. Still hurts, but I am working really hard on staying on top of the pain. So seems silly, but I have to have plans. My goals for this week:

1. Take pain pill on time.
2. Do not eat one hour before or after the pain pills.
3. Do not overeat because it causes nausea because the hematoma is pushing on my stomach.
4. Walk 1x per day, working up to 2.

I need a plan for evening pain, which is when it's the worst and I seem to succumb to feeling down the most.