Yes, I’m alive! (The Post-Surgery Post)
Source*
The astute among you will have figured out that I did indeed survive my gallbladder removal on Tuesday, based on the picture I posted here on Wednesday of me looking so pretty during surgery prep! That or you read my Facebook page. 
At this point, 9 days after the surgery, being back at work for 4 of those days, I feel like I need a Retractable banner stand to set up next to my chair at work. It should read:
“I feel fine.”
“Yes, my incisions are still kind of sore.”
“No, I don’t need anything.”
“I don’t care about the surgery you had 15 years ago.”
Hehe. Everyone has their own war stories, right? Some of them just want to share them with you. Repeatedly. Every time they see you. Even if that is four times a day.
As far as my own surgery, it went very well. I never got as nervous as I thought I was going to… just a bit apprehensive. By far the worst part of the whole ordeal was waking up from surgery. I woke up sobbing and writhing in pain. Somebody LIED to me. At this point, I’m thinking it was the anesthesiologist, but it may have been the surgeon. Either way, one of the two, in the pre-op chat we had gave me the impression that I would have plenty of pain drugs in my system by the time I came around and would essentially feel no pain. LIES, all lies. Granted, they were administering pain meds shortly after I woke up so I wasn’t in pain for very long at all, but for a minute there, it was AWFUL.
I also wasn’t a fan of my recovery nurse. She seemed to favor efficiency over being friendly and soothing… She put a wad of kleenex in my left hand for coughing and nose blowing, and put my right hand on the blanket over my incisions and told me to apply pressure before I coughed. But then I kept “getting in trouble” for using my left arm when she wanted me to set it down so the machine could take my blood pressure. I don’t remember what else she kept asking me to do, but I remember telling her that I couldn’t do it, and her snipping that yes you can. She wasn’t really MEAN (or maybe she was, I was pretty out of it)… her bedside manner could use some help is all I’m saying.
Once I got home, everything went pretty well. I thought I was going to pass out before I got into the apartment, so even as lightheaded and slowly moving as I was, I practically sprinted up the stairs to my apartment to get in the air conditioning and a glass of water. My super awesome friend Amy, who took half a day off to take me to my surgery, got me settled at home and went to the grocery store to fill my painkiller prescription and pick up a few things I wanted (applesauce) or she thought I needed (gummy bears). I spent a good portion of the next couple days sleeping off the painkillers either in bed or on the couch. I also watched a lot of TV on Netflix. I got pretty restless and bored after awhile since I wasn’t allowed to drive until I was off painkillers for 24 hours, and was therefore necessarily at home, mostly by myself, for 5 days. (This? A very good decision by the way, if some of the Facebook comments I left some of my friends in a painkiller stupor in the middle of the night are any indication. As in, they made very little sense when viewed later… not a good sign for my decision making abilities at the time.)
My friends were lifesavers in that regard… but that is a story for another post, I think. This one is plenty long enough at this point and I doubt many of you are still with me! I also still need to post about the financial impact of the surgery… I’ll get that post up soon, with my financial update. Maybe even later today… no promises. I’ve been back to work since Monday… that day was rough, I assure you, but I survived and am doing much better now!
*I found this plushie through Bakerella, who posted about the kidney one that she received after her replacement. Pictured above is the gallbladder one, obviously. Now I just need to convince someone to buy it for me!
