Yesterday, two days after surgery I went home. There are certain parameters you need to meet to be discharged and I put on my over achiever's hat and did them. Part of the reason I was toileting and showering without assistance was thanks to the good ol MonSter. Basically when I need to PU I need to do it NOW! And can't really wait for someone to answer my bell. I also need to go a few times overnight because hip discomfort wakes me up and i notice that sometime in the near future it might be an idea to go to the loo - in fact why not now and it seems obsessive to call them in too often.
After surgery they want your bowels to work so laxatives are prescribed, particularly if you're on morphine. That would be fine but the medication that is failing to help my swallowing is working doubly well on my lower GI tract so when their powers combined I was impelled to rush to the bathroom quickly and repeatedly and again there is no time to wait for the nurse to be free. So toileting myself was pretty much ticked off day one, I could roll myself from my back to my left to sleep the night directly after surgery, I was hiking the corridors from the afternoon of day one and did stairs on the morning of day 2 - so much easier than I had expected!
The surgeon and anaesthetist came round at 6:45am on day 2 so I had to do something to fill in the time before breakfast so a shower seemed a good idea. When armed with a grabber no clothing item can defeat you.
So I basically negotiated staying until 7pm to get as much pampering as possible before going home to a house devoid of nurses, healthcare assistants and kitchen staff. There was a misunderstanding over drugs and I nearly ended up going home on just aspirin but the most excellent nurse queried this. When you fill in your initial registration form you have to list the drugs you're on and I of course listed the pain relief I had prescribed to take me up TO the operation day. This was interpreted as my having mountains of medication at home and needing nothing. The surgeon came and offered Brufen and Panadol. I saw his Panadol and raised him Panadeine. So I've come home with aspirin, Brufen 800mg and Panadeine. Not quite the cover of the nice morphine drugs but better than nothing.
Now I am trying to adjust my surroundings. It is easier getting into a double bed than a single one so I'm not missing the electric bed too much. I've showered with the crazy spinning shower chair. I've even watched some tv sitting on a chair stacked with cushions. I'm training everyone to not leave things in my path since I'm on the double crutches for another 3 weeks or so. My next progress marker is going for a walk - I have to driven due to our steep driveway. I'm not certain when I'll be able to surmount that but I will at least manage a walk in the park this afternoon.
So my recovery commences but for now I'm going to crash until its walkies time.
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