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second day
Apr. 18th, 2015 06:31 pmSo, sinus surgery.
Everyone was very nice to me and took good care of me yesterday. The last thing I remember before the surgery was the anesthesiologist telling me, as he'd said he would, that he was about to give me the knockout drug and he'd see me in a couple of hours. The next thing I remember was waking up in a recovery area. Was it as they were wheeling me over? Don't know. I heard them say something about a hypertensive patient. Did they ask me if I could hear them? Don't know.
The first thing I remember clearly is asking if I could turn onto my side. They said no, not yet, which was disappointing. I remember that my shoulder really hurt, and it took me a couple of minutes to work out that this was because there was a blood pressure cuff on that arm that was really tight. I said I'd heard them say something about a hypertensive patient and asked if they meant me. They said I'd spiked once but they'd given me a drop of a medication for it and everything was fine. I asked if they could take off the cuff and they said no, not yet, which was disappointing. I said my mouth was really dry and tasted terrible, and they weren't surprised. I asked if I could have some water and they said no, not yet, which was disappointing. :-P
The surgeon, my ENT specialist, came by and said everything had gone great, and he was ready to call Himself to let him know. They were looking for his number and I said wait, but I know it, and they let me tell it to them, which was nice of them. (They probably read it right off the page as well. Whatever.) I tried to thank the surgeon but they said he was already gone.
I don't remember when it was that they asked me to scoot from the wheely operating stretcher to the recovery bed thing. I do remember saying "okay" a lot. A little later they asked me to sit up, which I didn't think was going to go well, and move to the even-more-recovery easy chair. I sat up and felt dizzy, so I closed my eyes, and the nurse said I should open my eyes and look at her - so I did. Basically by doing exactly as I was told (because I was in a very biddable condition), I got into the chair. They wheeled me over to a curtain area and gave me some ice chips (yay). They probably talked to me about some things, but who remembers.
They called Himself again (they called him Mr. Fox, heh) and he came to get me. He helped me get dressed, and the nurse helped me change the dressing under my nose about a half-dozen times, and eventually we came home. I dozed off a lot but also managed to e-mail my mom and my brother (to supplement the "yup she's okay" e-mail Himself had sent earlier), text my team at work, take delivery of a packet of drinking straws from my mother-in-law, and eat a little dinner.
I slept on the couch and was fairly miserable, but today I've been changing the dressing less often and it's been less messy each time. I can almost breathe in through my nose. I'm not really comfortable breathing out through my nose yet, but the sooner I can stop breathing entirely through my mouth, the better. My throat and the back of my tongue are still pretty achy from the breathing tube, and nothing really helps that for long. Otherwise I'm not in much pain at all. (Which is good, because the painkiller they gave me is tylenol with codeine, which I've had before and loved - and it doesn't seem to be touching me this time. Doesn't kill the pain in my throat, doesn't put me to sleep. Sigh.)
Today I had a shower, which was fantastic. Not very hot (don't want to dilate the blood vessels too much) and not as much pressure as usual (have to be gentle!), but it still felt really good.
Everyone was very nice to me and took good care of me yesterday. The last thing I remember before the surgery was the anesthesiologist telling me, as he'd said he would, that he was about to give me the knockout drug and he'd see me in a couple of hours. The next thing I remember was waking up in a recovery area. Was it as they were wheeling me over? Don't know. I heard them say something about a hypertensive patient. Did they ask me if I could hear them? Don't know.
The first thing I remember clearly is asking if I could turn onto my side. They said no, not yet, which was disappointing. I remember that my shoulder really hurt, and it took me a couple of minutes to work out that this was because there was a blood pressure cuff on that arm that was really tight. I said I'd heard them say something about a hypertensive patient and asked if they meant me. They said I'd spiked once but they'd given me a drop of a medication for it and everything was fine. I asked if they could take off the cuff and they said no, not yet, which was disappointing. I said my mouth was really dry and tasted terrible, and they weren't surprised. I asked if I could have some water and they said no, not yet, which was disappointing. :-P
The surgeon, my ENT specialist, came by and said everything had gone great, and he was ready to call Himself to let him know. They were looking for his number and I said wait, but I know it, and they let me tell it to them, which was nice of them. (They probably read it right off the page as well. Whatever.) I tried to thank the surgeon but they said he was already gone.
I don't remember when it was that they asked me to scoot from the wheely operating stretcher to the recovery bed thing. I do remember saying "okay" a lot. A little later they asked me to sit up, which I didn't think was going to go well, and move to the even-more-recovery easy chair. I sat up and felt dizzy, so I closed my eyes, and the nurse said I should open my eyes and look at her - so I did. Basically by doing exactly as I was told (because I was in a very biddable condition), I got into the chair. They wheeled me over to a curtain area and gave me some ice chips (yay). They probably talked to me about some things, but who remembers.
They called Himself again (they called him Mr. Fox, heh) and he came to get me. He helped me get dressed, and the nurse helped me change the dressing under my nose about a half-dozen times, and eventually we came home. I dozed off a lot but also managed to e-mail my mom and my brother (to supplement the "yup she's okay" e-mail Himself had sent earlier), text my team at work, take delivery of a packet of drinking straws from my mother-in-law, and eat a little dinner.
I slept on the couch and was fairly miserable, but today I've been changing the dressing less often and it's been less messy each time. I can almost breathe in through my nose. I'm not really comfortable breathing out through my nose yet, but the sooner I can stop breathing entirely through my mouth, the better. My throat and the back of my tongue are still pretty achy from the breathing tube, and nothing really helps that for long. Otherwise I'm not in much pain at all. (Which is good, because the painkiller they gave me is tylenol with codeine, which I've had before and loved - and it doesn't seem to be touching me this time. Doesn't kill the pain in my throat, doesn't put me to sleep. Sigh.)
Today I had a shower, which was fantastic. Not very hot (don't want to dilate the blood vessels too much) and not as much pressure as usual (have to be gentle!), but it still felt really good.
