I had a phone appointment with Dr. E today. Normally it's an in-person visit but since I'm a long-distance patient, she wasn't going to make me drive all that way. I did have to e-mail her pictures of my five incisions so she could see how they're healing.
She reviewed the surgery results with me. She said the lactobacillus found on culture was likely a contaminant from the vagina, so my aerobic bacteria culture was essentially negative. The Gram positive rods on the anaerobic culture were not a contaminant and will have to be treated. She said drugs of choice would be Flagyl or Clindamycin. DH and I have been on Flagyl before, and it didn't help my TEBB. It was the IV Clindamycin that eliminated my TEBB for one cycle last summer, but Dr. E pointed out that DH wasn't treated which probably explains the return of TEBB. I'm not sure that I want to do another IV for ten days, and DH definitely doesn't want to do it. I wonder if Dr. K would consider giving us oral Clindamycin, knowing that she doesn't normally prescribe it due to risk of C. difficile infection (very bad infection).
So the plan is to wait one more full cycle before TTC again so I can heal. We'll see what Dr. K's recommendations are in my next cycle review.
In other news, I took my last opioid yesterday, and I will resume the naltrexone tonight. DH is excited.
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
More recovery and culture results
The doctor wasn't kidding when she said it would be a two-week recovery. I am trying to keep that in mind. It's tough though because I have periods where I feel back to normal and then when the pain returns or I can't move a certain way or I still have to walk really slowly I'm surprised by it (when I shouldn't be surprised...because it hasn't been two weeks yet). I guess they are good reminders to continue to take it easy. :)
Little improvements toward normal make me happy. I am able to put on socks (creatively) without pain and without bending forward. My urge to urinate finally returned yesterday, 11 days after surgery. There was much rejoicing. I don't remember other people talking about that post-surgery so I thought I'd mention it. It feels very strange to lose that function and have to remember every few hours to go to the bathroom.
I am still taking prescription strength ibuprofen on a schedule, although I've stopped setting an alarm to take the middle-of-the-night dose. I take the opioid as needed--especially for when I go out in public. I went out to run errands with DH on Saturday, and it was so nice to have a change of scenery, although by the end I was ready to use one of those motorized scooters. :) I went to Mass on Sunday and was able to sit, stand, and kneel along with everyone else, although more slowly. I couldn't genuflect though. The priest who gave me the Anointing of the Sick asked me how I was doing after Mass; it was nice that he remembered. It was my first Mass since surgery. I was able to watch Mass online while I was not feeling so great, including Pope Benedict's last public Mass on Ash Wednesday. It was bittersweet. I'm going to miss him. :(
DH is doing a great job taking care of me. Acting as a nurse does not come naturally to him, so I am really thankful for all he has done. He has told me multiple times that if it were him having surgery, he would just want to be left alone as much as possible, so I know this is requiring a lot of extra patience from him. He does like to feel helpful though so I think he was a little disappointed when I no longer needed him when getting out of bed or up from the reclining chair. ;)
The bad part about recovery now is that I am post-peak and PMSing. (Apparently major surgery isn't enough stress for my body to have a double peak or even a delay...) When you're taking opioids, you can't take naltrexone because they cancel each other out. The surgeon asked me to discontinue the naltrexone a week before surgery to make sure the anesthesia worked properly, so I've been off of it for almost three weeks. I am currently alternating between extreme crabbiness and crying. I can take HCG tonight so that should help some, whenever it kicks in.
The surgeon sent me a big packet of papers (everything that she faxed to Dr. K at PPVI) with most of my surgery results, including op report, pathology report, and all culture results to date. Very interesting reading. :) The fungus results won't be finalized for a month, unless they are positive, which means they would be ready sooner. They let it sit for a month before declaring that there is no fungus.
The part I was excited about was the bacterial culture results. They were positive! It's not normally something to be excited about but it's something to try to treat that might be a factor in our IF. (I'd rather know what's wrong and have the doctor try to fix it than have everything come out normal and have no where to start with treatment ideas...not that my preferences have any weight or influence of course.) ;) Anyway, I had lactobacillus and multiple Gram positive rods (specific anaerobic bacteria were not listed). I wonder how many antibiotics it's going to take to wipe out these bugs. Given how many antibiotics I've been on in the past few years, I might have some pretty tough (resistant) bacteria living in my uterus. Bacteria, your days are numbered!! :)
Little improvements toward normal make me happy. I am able to put on socks (creatively) without pain and without bending forward. My urge to urinate finally returned yesterday, 11 days after surgery. There was much rejoicing. I don't remember other people talking about that post-surgery so I thought I'd mention it. It feels very strange to lose that function and have to remember every few hours to go to the bathroom.
I am still taking prescription strength ibuprofen on a schedule, although I've stopped setting an alarm to take the middle-of-the-night dose. I take the opioid as needed--especially for when I go out in public. I went out to run errands with DH on Saturday, and it was so nice to have a change of scenery, although by the end I was ready to use one of those motorized scooters. :) I went to Mass on Sunday and was able to sit, stand, and kneel along with everyone else, although more slowly. I couldn't genuflect though. The priest who gave me the Anointing of the Sick asked me how I was doing after Mass; it was nice that he remembered. It was my first Mass since surgery. I was able to watch Mass online while I was not feeling so great, including Pope Benedict's last public Mass on Ash Wednesday. It was bittersweet. I'm going to miss him. :(
DH is doing a great job taking care of me. Acting as a nurse does not come naturally to him, so I am really thankful for all he has done. He has told me multiple times that if it were him having surgery, he would just want to be left alone as much as possible, so I know this is requiring a lot of extra patience from him. He does like to feel helpful though so I think he was a little disappointed when I no longer needed him when getting out of bed or up from the reclining chair. ;)
The bad part about recovery now is that I am post-peak and PMSing. (Apparently major surgery isn't enough stress for my body to have a double peak or even a delay...) When you're taking opioids, you can't take naltrexone because they cancel each other out. The surgeon asked me to discontinue the naltrexone a week before surgery to make sure the anesthesia worked properly, so I've been off of it for almost three weeks. I am currently alternating between extreme crabbiness and crying. I can take HCG tonight so that should help some, whenever it kicks in.
The surgeon sent me a big packet of papers (everything that she faxed to Dr. K at PPVI) with most of my surgery results, including op report, pathology report, and all culture results to date. Very interesting reading. :) The fungus results won't be finalized for a month, unless they are positive, which means they would be ready sooner. They let it sit for a month before declaring that there is no fungus.
The part I was excited about was the bacterial culture results. They were positive! It's not normally something to be excited about but it's something to try to treat that might be a factor in our IF. (I'd rather know what's wrong and have the doctor try to fix it than have everything come out normal and have no where to start with treatment ideas...not that my preferences have any weight or influence of course.) ;) Anyway, I had lactobacillus and multiple Gram positive rods (specific anaerobic bacteria were not listed). I wonder how many antibiotics it's going to take to wipe out these bugs. Given how many antibiotics I've been on in the past few years, I might have some pretty tough (resistant) bacteria living in my uterus. Bacteria, your days are numbered!! :)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Surgery results and recovery
My surgery was scheduled for noon on Friday, and I was supposed to arrive at ten. I woke up with only enough time to shower and get ready so I wouldn't have extra time to be nervous or hungry. When we got to the hospital I made a short visit to the chapel, which had a tabernacle. A little time with Jesus was just what I needed. I love Catholic hospitals. :) Shortly after checking in, a nurse took me back to the pre-op room. DH was asked to stay in the waiting area. They gave him a pager so they could notify him when I was ready. I changed into a pretty lavender gown and some fashionable hospital booties. The nurse made sure I was comfortable on the bed and covered my legs with a heavy blanket to keep me warm. Then she connected a hose to my gown and turned on a machine. My gown had a lining which could be filled with hot air.
The nurse explained that if a patient is warm, it improves circulation and helps with healing. I had a hand-held control to adjust if I wanted to sweat like I was in a sauna or just be pleasantly toasty.
The nurse started an IV and asked me a bunch of questions about my medical history and medications. She said Dr. E wins the award for longest surgery consent form because of all the procedures (and possible procedures) she planned to do. After she finished, Dr. E stopped by to see if I had any last minute questions. She prayed over me while holding my hand, and the nurse held my other hand. I was so touched by this that I cried a few silent tears. Then Dr. E taped a plastic rosary to my hand that had been blessed by Pope Benedict XVI.
She told me she had already prayed a rosary for me and that she was hoping to stop in the chapel for a few minutes before surgery. I may or may not have cried a few more tears...I was in a very emotional state. Plus, it's not every day that your doctor tells you she's praying for you. :)
After Dr. E left, the nurse brought DH back to the room. A few other people streamed in to ask me the same questions over and over again (do you have any metal in your body, did you eat anything this morning, why are you here, etc.).
The anesthesiologist's visit was interesting. He started off asking similar questions to everyone else and then started to go through my medication list. He got to naltrexone and made a funny look. He asked why I was on it (knowing it's usually used for alcohol or drug addiction). I said it's for PMS and that it works great. He raised his eyebrows and said he'd never heard of it being used that way before, which is how every non-NaPro doctor I've ever met has reacted. I waited for him to move on to the next medication but he paused and then proceeded to ask me what my PMS symptoms were, what the naltrexone changed about them, and what dose I started at. I joked that he should be asking DH, who was sitting next to me. DH said I was a different person while on it. The doctor apologized for getting side-tracked but said he was personally interested in the details...for his wife, who apparently has bad PMS. I told him to talk to Dr. E about getting naltrexone for his wife. I think he's going to! He seemed pretty excited about it.
Then he got serious again and said that I need a second IV in my other arm. I'm not a big IV fan, and I was happy not to have passed out during the first one. The nurse hadn't done the second one because she thought it could be done in the OR during surgery if and when Dr. E decided to switch from regular laparoscopy to robotic. (It would only be needed if she did robotic surgery.) The anesthesiologist wanted it done beforehand just in case. And I was hoping to avoid another needle... Either they forgot this plan or changed their minds because I didn't get the second IV while I was awake. They gave me something in my IV to "take the edge off" and started to wheel my bed to the OR. We turned a corner in the hallway and that's all I remember until I woke up after surgery. For my surgery two years ago I remember being awake in the OR for a few minutes while they prepped me.
After surgery when I woke up all I wanted was ice. My mouth was really dry. I also asked for something in case I threw up. My stomach was feeling okay, but I remembered my prior reaction to anesthesia wearing off and wanted to be on the safe side. They gave me two bags, and I set them next to me on the bed. I dozed off and woke up in a private room. DH was sitting next to me. He gave me a constant supply of ice chips and made sure the washcloth on my forehead stayed cold. (I was burning up and in pain so a cold washcloth was helpful.) He was a very good nurse. :)
It was kind of obvious to me by now that I had had the robotic surgery and was looking at a two-week recovery. I asked DH about my surgery. He said it had taken five and a half hours. That is a long surgery! I wondered what Dr. E had to do while she was in there because my laparoscopy two years ago took under two hours, and the surgeon did most of the same procedures that Dr. E was going to do. DH gave me a few details of what Dr. E found but he couldn't remember much, and he didn't record the conversation with Dr. E on his cell phone like was originally planned. I would have to wait for the details...
DH left around 10:00 p.m. to go back to the hotel, so I decided to watch tv to distract me from the pain. Besides having a bunch of tubes coming out of my arms and a catheter you-know-where, I had large cuffs around my calves that inflated every 45 seconds. (I timed it...what else did I have to do while lying there?) ;) At one point a nurse came in to take my vitals, including blood pressure. She put the cuff on my arm, and I couldn't figure out why she didn't just use the cuffs on my legs...until it dawned on my that I didn't have blood pressure cuffs on my legs. (My mental capacity was not 100% as you can tell.) I asked what the cuffs on my legs were. She said they help prevent blood clots.
The nurse came in every once in a while to ask my pain level or give me my usual medications. I had brought my T3 in a pill box and not in the original bottle from the pharmacy so there was no way to verify what it was. This was a problem. The nurse said she would have to call the pharmacy to confirm that it was T3 before she could give it to me. I knew Kubat's was closed for the day, but she still called. She ended up giving it to me anyway. I think she had spoken to Dr. E about it and maybe got permission from her.
Eventually I fell asleep but never stayed asleep for very long, probably not more than an hour at a time. Sometimes the pain woke me up, but I could press a magic button and a nurse would appear with a pain pill for me to take. A nurse or nursing assistant came in periodically to take vitals or do other things that required me to be awake. One came to draw blood. I don't remember why she needed blood but it was around 2:00 a.m. In my exhausted state I asked her why she couldn't use one of my IVs to draw the blood. (One IV was my pain medication lifeline, but the other was not in use.) She said the IV would clog up if she did that, so she had to poke her own hole. At 6:00 a.m. a nurse came to remove my catheter. I couldn't feel it while it was in, which was nice. (I was not looking forward to having a catheter in at all.) When she was putting gloves on, I realized that if she removed it, I would have to get up to go to the bathroom. That prospect scared me, and I wished I could just keep the catheter for a while longer. I had not been up out of the bed at all since surgery. The removal part was over quickly. The nurse said I needed to go to the bathroom in the next six hours. When I did get up to go a few hours later, they gave me a pair of hospital underwear which I thought was quite comfortable. (My own was in my overnight bag on the chair a mere six feet away, but the nurse didn't want to go through my stuff to get it, and I was in no shape to do it either.) She asked if I had slippers--which I did, in my off-limits bag--so she went to the other side of the room to get me hospital sock slippers. It ended up being a good thing that I used hospital-provided slippers...I may have had to throw them out if they had been my slippers because they can't go in the washer...
DH arrived after I was all settled back in bed and had eaten some breakfast, my first food in over 24 hours. Dr. E came later to check on my progress and to tell me what happened with the surgery. She found endo, which she estimated to be stage II, in three different locations (one location had multiple spots of endo). She said she was not surprised at all that I had painful periods given the endo she found. She thought that they were all new locations, not recurrences from two years ago, but she said she'd have to check my files to be sure. One of the locations was on one of my ureters, and apparently it was very tedious and tricky to remove. I did have endo on a ureter two years ago which the resident assisting my surgeon was afraid to touch (but the surgeon removed it anyway). Maybe endo on ureters is always tricky? She said she looked extra closely at both my ovaries but could not find any endo. (My ultrasounds from last year showed a shadow on my left ovary that could have been endo.) She knew about one fibroid ahead of time that was sticking off of the top of my uterus, but she found two new fibroids. One of the new fibroids had adhesions around it, so she removed all of that, along with the endo. She had to make one incision larger in order to remove one fibroid, so she said I'll be extra sore there. She also found adhesions near my large intestine (not far from the appendix) but she had no explanation for why they were there. She didn't think they were from my first surgery because of the out-of-way location, and she also didn't think they were from a missed case of appendicitis. She didn't remove those adhesions because she didn't think they'd affect fertility where they were.
She did a selective hysterosalpingogram (SHSG) and said the pressure in both my tubes was normal and that they were completely open.
She did a hysteroscopy to look around inside my uterus and found endometrial stippling (little white dots) and micropolyps--otherwise known as endometritis. She took biopsies and cultures of the cervix and endometrium but we won't know the culture results for a month. (It takes that long to see if the bugs grow or not.) She is pretty sure infection is the cause of the endometritis, but the question remains if we'll be able to identify the bug, even with the cultures. Honestly I am hoping that something with the cultures comes back positive, otherwise we may go back to blindly picking an antibiotic. We've never tried Biaxin, which Dr. E was surprised to learn, so that would be a logical place to start.
Since I passed all the requirements (walked, urinated, passed gas, etc.), Dr. E said I could go home right away. I was happy to leave the hospital but I did enjoy having IV pain meds controlling most of the pain. She sent me home with a prescription for an opioid and ibuprofen and said to take both on a schedule at first to stay ahead of the pain. She also didn't want me sitting in the car for more than two hours at a time, so we'd have to stop for a short walk on the way home.
The car ride home wasn't bad (aside from the fact that I felt awful and wanted to be in bed). I had a small pillow between me and the seat belt to cushion any bumps along the road. We stopped at a pharmacy along the way to pick up my prescriptions and ended up having to wait over an hour for them. I slept most of the time.
Recovery has been going pretty well. Since being home my appetite is close to normal. The first day or two DH brought me my meals in bed, but now I can sit at the kitchen table. I can usually get out of bed without assistance but DH stands there to make sure I don't fall (and it's less painful when he helps). I can walk but I move very slowly. My sleep quality at night is improving--either because I'm in less pain or because I'm getting used to sleeping on my back--so I'm not napping as much as the first couple days home. The pain is not usually too bad except when it's between doses, so I have alerts on my phone going off to remind me which pain pill to take. My incisions are starting to itch like crazy. I had to cough yesterday, and I thought I was going to split open because of the pressure it put on my incisions. Not fun. I don't plan to cough anymore if I can help it...or hiccup, sneeze, or laugh. I told DH he's not allowed to say anything funny for two weeks. He made me laugh once which really hurt, so said he'd try really hard to say only boring things. I have periods of time where I feel almost normal...and then I get up off my reclining chair to walk around, and the pain returns. So as long as I don't move I'm fine. ;) Okay, that's not always true--I do have pain while sitting also...like now. :( Lots to offer up for Jellybelly.
 |
| This is not me. I was not quite that smiley. That is the same gown as I had. The inflated gown added 100 or so pounds to my profile so that part of the picture is accurate. |
The nurse explained that if a patient is warm, it improves circulation and helps with healing. I had a hand-held control to adjust if I wanted to sweat like I was in a sauna or just be pleasantly toasty.
The nurse started an IV and asked me a bunch of questions about my medical history and medications. She said Dr. E wins the award for longest surgery consent form because of all the procedures (and possible procedures) she planned to do. After she finished, Dr. E stopped by to see if I had any last minute questions. She prayed over me while holding my hand, and the nurse held my other hand. I was so touched by this that I cried a few silent tears. Then Dr. E taped a plastic rosary to my hand that had been blessed by Pope Benedict XVI.
She told me she had already prayed a rosary for me and that she was hoping to stop in the chapel for a few minutes before surgery. I may or may not have cried a few more tears...I was in a very emotional state. Plus, it's not every day that your doctor tells you she's praying for you. :)
After Dr. E left, the nurse brought DH back to the room. A few other people streamed in to ask me the same questions over and over again (do you have any metal in your body, did you eat anything this morning, why are you here, etc.).
The anesthesiologist's visit was interesting. He started off asking similar questions to everyone else and then started to go through my medication list. He got to naltrexone and made a funny look. He asked why I was on it (knowing it's usually used for alcohol or drug addiction). I said it's for PMS and that it works great. He raised his eyebrows and said he'd never heard of it being used that way before, which is how every non-NaPro doctor I've ever met has reacted. I waited for him to move on to the next medication but he paused and then proceeded to ask me what my PMS symptoms were, what the naltrexone changed about them, and what dose I started at. I joked that he should be asking DH, who was sitting next to me. DH said I was a different person while on it. The doctor apologized for getting side-tracked but said he was personally interested in the details...for his wife, who apparently has bad PMS. I told him to talk to Dr. E about getting naltrexone for his wife. I think he's going to! He seemed pretty excited about it.
Then he got serious again and said that I need a second IV in my other arm. I'm not a big IV fan, and I was happy not to have passed out during the first one. The nurse hadn't done the second one because she thought it could be done in the OR during surgery if and when Dr. E decided to switch from regular laparoscopy to robotic. (It would only be needed if she did robotic surgery.) The anesthesiologist wanted it done beforehand just in case. And I was hoping to avoid another needle... Either they forgot this plan or changed their minds because I didn't get the second IV while I was awake. They gave me something in my IV to "take the edge off" and started to wheel my bed to the OR. We turned a corner in the hallway and that's all I remember until I woke up after surgery. For my surgery two years ago I remember being awake in the OR for a few minutes while they prepped me.
After surgery when I woke up all I wanted was ice. My mouth was really dry. I also asked for something in case I threw up. My stomach was feeling okay, but I remembered my prior reaction to anesthesia wearing off and wanted to be on the safe side. They gave me two bags, and I set them next to me on the bed. I dozed off and woke up in a private room. DH was sitting next to me. He gave me a constant supply of ice chips and made sure the washcloth on my forehead stayed cold. (I was burning up and in pain so a cold washcloth was helpful.) He was a very good nurse. :)
It was kind of obvious to me by now that I had had the robotic surgery and was looking at a two-week recovery. I asked DH about my surgery. He said it had taken five and a half hours. That is a long surgery! I wondered what Dr. E had to do while she was in there because my laparoscopy two years ago took under two hours, and the surgeon did most of the same procedures that Dr. E was going to do. DH gave me a few details of what Dr. E found but he couldn't remember much, and he didn't record the conversation with Dr. E on his cell phone like was originally planned. I would have to wait for the details...
DH left around 10:00 p.m. to go back to the hotel, so I decided to watch tv to distract me from the pain. Besides having a bunch of tubes coming out of my arms and a catheter you-know-where, I had large cuffs around my calves that inflated every 45 seconds. (I timed it...what else did I have to do while lying there?) ;) At one point a nurse came in to take my vitals, including blood pressure. She put the cuff on my arm, and I couldn't figure out why she didn't just use the cuffs on my legs...until it dawned on my that I didn't have blood pressure cuffs on my legs. (My mental capacity was not 100% as you can tell.) I asked what the cuffs on my legs were. She said they help prevent blood clots.
 |
| This is not me. These leg cuffs inflated every 45 seconds all night long. It was a long night. |
The nurse came in every once in a while to ask my pain level or give me my usual medications. I had brought my T3 in a pill box and not in the original bottle from the pharmacy so there was no way to verify what it was. This was a problem. The nurse said she would have to call the pharmacy to confirm that it was T3 before she could give it to me. I knew Kubat's was closed for the day, but she still called. She ended up giving it to me anyway. I think she had spoken to Dr. E about it and maybe got permission from her.
Eventually I fell asleep but never stayed asleep for very long, probably not more than an hour at a time. Sometimes the pain woke me up, but I could press a magic button and a nurse would appear with a pain pill for me to take. A nurse or nursing assistant came in periodically to take vitals or do other things that required me to be awake. One came to draw blood. I don't remember why she needed blood but it was around 2:00 a.m. In my exhausted state I asked her why she couldn't use one of my IVs to draw the blood. (One IV was my pain medication lifeline, but the other was not in use.) She said the IV would clog up if she did that, so she had to poke her own hole. At 6:00 a.m. a nurse came to remove my catheter. I couldn't feel it while it was in, which was nice. (I was not looking forward to having a catheter in at all.) When she was putting gloves on, I realized that if she removed it, I would have to get up to go to the bathroom. That prospect scared me, and I wished I could just keep the catheter for a while longer. I had not been up out of the bed at all since surgery. The removal part was over quickly. The nurse said I needed to go to the bathroom in the next six hours. When I did get up to go a few hours later, they gave me a pair of hospital underwear which I thought was quite comfortable. (My own was in my overnight bag on the chair a mere six feet away, but the nurse didn't want to go through my stuff to get it, and I was in no shape to do it either.) She asked if I had slippers--which I did, in my off-limits bag--so she went to the other side of the room to get me hospital sock slippers. It ended up being a good thing that I used hospital-provided slippers...I may have had to throw them out if they had been my slippers because they can't go in the washer...
DH arrived after I was all settled back in bed and had eaten some breakfast, my first food in over 24 hours. Dr. E came later to check on my progress and to tell me what happened with the surgery. She found endo, which she estimated to be stage II, in three different locations (one location had multiple spots of endo). She said she was not surprised at all that I had painful periods given the endo she found. She thought that they were all new locations, not recurrences from two years ago, but she said she'd have to check my files to be sure. One of the locations was on one of my ureters, and apparently it was very tedious and tricky to remove. I did have endo on a ureter two years ago which the resident assisting my surgeon was afraid to touch (but the surgeon removed it anyway). Maybe endo on ureters is always tricky? She said she looked extra closely at both my ovaries but could not find any endo. (My ultrasounds from last year showed a shadow on my left ovary that could have been endo.) She knew about one fibroid ahead of time that was sticking off of the top of my uterus, but she found two new fibroids. One of the new fibroids had adhesions around it, so she removed all of that, along with the endo. She had to make one incision larger in order to remove one fibroid, so she said I'll be extra sore there. She also found adhesions near my large intestine (not far from the appendix) but she had no explanation for why they were there. She didn't think they were from my first surgery because of the out-of-way location, and she also didn't think they were from a missed case of appendicitis. She didn't remove those adhesions because she didn't think they'd affect fertility where they were.
She did a selective hysterosalpingogram (SHSG) and said the pressure in both my tubes was normal and that they were completely open.
She did a hysteroscopy to look around inside my uterus and found endometrial stippling (little white dots) and micropolyps--otherwise known as endometritis. She took biopsies and cultures of the cervix and endometrium but we won't know the culture results for a month. (It takes that long to see if the bugs grow or not.) She is pretty sure infection is the cause of the endometritis, but the question remains if we'll be able to identify the bug, even with the cultures. Honestly I am hoping that something with the cultures comes back positive, otherwise we may go back to blindly picking an antibiotic. We've never tried Biaxin, which Dr. E was surprised to learn, so that would be a logical place to start.
Since I passed all the requirements (walked, urinated, passed gas, etc.), Dr. E said I could go home right away. I was happy to leave the hospital but I did enjoy having IV pain meds controlling most of the pain. She sent me home with a prescription for an opioid and ibuprofen and said to take both on a schedule at first to stay ahead of the pain. She also didn't want me sitting in the car for more than two hours at a time, so we'd have to stop for a short walk on the way home.
The car ride home wasn't bad (aside from the fact that I felt awful and wanted to be in bed). I had a small pillow between me and the seat belt to cushion any bumps along the road. We stopped at a pharmacy along the way to pick up my prescriptions and ended up having to wait over an hour for them. I slept most of the time.
Recovery has been going pretty well. Since being home my appetite is close to normal. The first day or two DH brought me my meals in bed, but now I can sit at the kitchen table. I can usually get out of bed without assistance but DH stands there to make sure I don't fall (and it's less painful when he helps). I can walk but I move very slowly. My sleep quality at night is improving--either because I'm in less pain or because I'm getting used to sleeping on my back--so I'm not napping as much as the first couple days home. The pain is not usually too bad except when it's between doses, so I have alerts on my phone going off to remind me which pain pill to take. My incisions are starting to itch like crazy. I had to cough yesterday, and I thought I was going to split open because of the pressure it put on my incisions. Not fun. I don't plan to cough anymore if I can help it...or hiccup, sneeze, or laugh. I told DH he's not allowed to say anything funny for two weeks. He made me laugh once which really hurt, so said he'd try really hard to say only boring things. I have periods of time where I feel almost normal...and then I get up off my reclining chair to walk around, and the pain returns. So as long as I don't move I'm fine. ;) Okay, that's not always true--I do have pain while sitting also...like now. :( Lots to offer up for Jellybelly.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Brief surgery results
Dear readers,
This is polkadot's DH with an update from today's surgery. The surgeon had to use robotics in order to remove patches of endometriosis, adhesions, fibroids and polyps. She is spending the night in the hospital and will be on her way home tomorrow. Prayers for a speedy recovery are welcome!
DH
This is polkadot's DH with an update from today's surgery. The surgeon had to use robotics in order to remove patches of endometriosis, adhesions, fibroids and polyps. She is spending the night in the hospital and will be on her way home tomorrow. Prayers for a speedy recovery are welcome!
DH
Getting ready for surgery
My surgery is this afternoon. I don't feel too nervous, which is a blessing. The thing that is making me a bit nervous is the fact that I won't know until I wake up what kind of surgery was done and how long my recovery will be (few days vs. 2 weeks). I was really starting to get anxious about everything on Saturday. Then on Sunday I received the Anointing of the Sick and all the anxiety melted away (and stayed away since then!). My parish priest was really concerned that I was asking for the sacrament (I don't think it's too often that he administers it to a younger person). He said some really kind and comforting things to me and assured us of his prayers.
Getting ready for surgery has been similar to last time--don't eat anything the day of, don't use deodorant, etc. This time I had to shower with a special antiseptic soap. Last time it was a water-only shower (no soap at all). It's interesting to see the differences between hospitals. The bowel prep wasn't too bad. I just had to drink a bottle of magnesium citrate. It takes like Smarties (the candy) dissolved in water.
I'll update when I am feeling up to it. :) Please pray that everything goes well.
Getting ready for surgery has been similar to last time--don't eat anything the day of, don't use deodorant, etc. This time I had to shower with a special antiseptic soap. Last time it was a water-only shower (no soap at all). It's interesting to see the differences between hospitals. The bowel prep wasn't too bad. I just had to drink a bottle of magnesium citrate. It takes like Smarties (the candy) dissolved in water.
I'll update when I am feeling up to it. :) Please pray that everything goes well.
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