Recovery

After my night of endless drinking I finally began to feel better. I got a shot of Desmopressin. So the crazy drinking stopped. As the trauma of surgery began to subside, my normal production of Vasopressin began to return as well.

The lab technician took a lot of blood to make sure hormone and electrolyte levels were correct. Apparently Cortisol levels are commonly screwed up temporarily from surgery as well. I lucked out and didn't have this problem.

So there I was, finally saturated with water, still hooked up to a catheter, leg compression devices to avoid clots post surgery (a bit of an overkill I suspect, but I left them on), mulitple IV's, an arterial line into my hand from surgery that monitors blood pressure from heart beat to heart beat, and a mat of 4X4 gauze taped under my nose.

There wasn't much pain, but my head felt like sore and delicate, both inside and out. I felt my temples and around the rig of my head and I had peanut sized lumps under the hair. It was then that I realized that they SCREWED MY HEAD TO THE TABLE!

Seriously? Couldn't they have used a strap? Oh well. I can't complain and I suppose when you're dealing with a matter of millimetres you can't have the patient even breathe deeply without potentially cutting something you shouldn't.
(The lumps have since receded and as I write this I can barely tell where they were.)

My sinuses were blocked completely. Every few hours I would change the gauze under my nose and it would be soaked with blood and not. Not pretty.

Little by little I became unplugged from the technology. The catheter came out at my request...."Excuse me...could you remove this tubing from my penis?"

The leggings came off.

The IV's came out as did the artierial line.

Then I was free!

Moving around was a pleasure. I had a shower and started eating some clear meals...jello, broth...etc.

Then the meals became real meals...potatoes, vegetables...etc.

After the first couple of days, the pain wasn't too bad at all. I took a couple of Tylenol one night, but when lying still it was fine. The nurses were great and doting. Make sure you keep them informed about your needs and how you're feeling. They need to keep serious records for patients that have had serious surgery.
If you're not sure who your nurse is just look for someone in a uniform like this...

* Note - Uniforms may vary.