Saturday, September 30, 2006

Back home again


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Originally uploaded by jaanus83.
Woot! Finally, I'm back in the comforts of 'the fortress'. It's damn fine to be home! :)

So I went in to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to start iv's again on Wednesday last week and didn't really do a whole lot until the operation on Friday. I then went to the Memorial Hospital from the RAH and got admitted there. It was all done fairly quickly as I was meant to be admitted at 11, x-ray at 11.30 and op at 1. But since I took my sweet arse time getting ready, we didn't get there until about 11:20am, so eveything got postponed. I ended up being in theatre at 2.

So I got dressed up in the swanky clothes they provided, laid down on the table, and as per usual, due to my crappy veins, it took a couple of goes to get the drip in. Finally done, I felt the sitng of the anesthetic enter my veins, and I was off in la-la land.

Four and a half hours later, I hear the familiar sounds of the recovery room; nurses talking, machines beeping, footsteps all around me, and the lights. Such bright lights! I remember the first thing I checked when I woke up was if I had a catheder or not. You seee, the surgeon told me that this procedure can sometimes take a while, like 8 or 9 hours, and if that was the case with me, they would have to insert one to help my bladder. Definitely something I didn't want. But luckily it only took 4 and a half hours, so as I woke up, I remeber checking down there, and thinking, 'Thank God!'. It then wasn't long before I felt another familiar feeling - sick. So I leant forward and out spewed the magnificent dark red blood that had been filling up my stomach for the past few hours. Yum. I was also sweating prefusely and was extremely hot. They had to put an ice pack on my neck but that didn't really help. So put that together with throwing up, being connected to 5 billion machines, all sorts of tubes in your arms and on your chest, your nose completely packed with gauze and bolts in your head, and these compressor things on your legs to stop DVT, and I wasn't a happy chappy.

There's not much to remember from the recovery room. I was pretty out of it. I hate waking up from an anesthetic. All you want to do is to be able to function properly and be alert, but your body just doesn't want to. So annoying. I was then wheeled into the Critical Care Unit where I was to spend the whole night.

My mum and sister were there to greet me, and it wasn't long before Alice came down from work and spent the evening with me. Even though I was really out of it and pretty much just sleeping, it's so nice just to have someone there when you wake up for a minute. So comforting. I love it. But then she had to leave, and I had the whole night ahead of me. I couldn't wait.

Still connected up to all the machines, along with the compressor things on your legs, and only being able to lie on your back and move your head from side to side, doesn't leave a whole lot of room for getting comfortable to sleep. So your night consists of about half an hour naps. The night goes sooo slow. And all the time you are still feeling sick and miserable, just waiting for the next day to come.

Strangely, I remember waking up from one of my naps thinking that it could only have been 2 or 3am, but I saw the sun light coming through the curtain. Ahhh, I couldn't believe it. Such relief! It wasn't long then before I hear the familiar voice of Alice talking to the nurses and walking up to my bed. Such a good girl - 8am and there to be with me while I wake up! :)

The next hour is spent with me talking, trying to sit up, drink a bit of water, bascically doing everything I can to just feel a bit more 'with it'. I then get out of bed and walk down to the shower, trying not to fall over. Lotsa fun. The surgeon then came in, took the packing out of my nose, which wasn't as bad as last time thankfully, and said that I could go back to the RAH when I was ready.

Mum came, picked me up, dropped me back in my old room at the RAH, and I spent the next 5 hours watching footy on my bed and half falling asleep. So nice to be back.

On Tuesday they took out the pins in my head. They put two pins in your forehead to help keep the sinuses clear of infection after the op. They flush saline through them about 4 times a day. It works pretty well. Only it hurts. You know the feeling of an ice cream headache? Well, this is ten times worse and you have to take quite a few pain killers just to take the edge off. But they say it has to be done and it really keeps it cleaner, so who am I to disagree.

I think that's about it... so like I said, I got back home yesterday, and am feeling great for that. I'm still getting headaches, but they aren't as bad as they were a few days ago. I'm feeling healthy, and I can breathe perfectly through my nose, but I'm still quite lethargic and flat. But that's from the anesthetic. It'll take me a while before I get back to my normal self. It could be a week or two, or a couple of months, but it will happen eventually. I just gotta make sure that I keep up with physio and exercise in the mean time so that I can make that recovery time as quick as possible. And now that my sinuses are clear of infection and stuff, that shouldn (theoretically anyway) make my lungs a bit better. AND the weather is getting really nice, which is making me want to get out more and do stuff.

Oh, one last thing. Last night we went to see Ben Folds and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Simply stunning. I mean, if you're not a fan of Ben Folds, then obviously it wouldn't have been the best night out. But the arrangements of the orchestra was just beautiful, and along with some of his songs, well, we just loved it. We managed to snag tickets 3 rows from the front, and being seated and all, it was so nice to not have to stand up for 3 hours, being pushed by sweaty fat men, and to even be able to have a snack! But yeah, he was awesome, and had lots of funny tales to tell, as always, but being in Adelaide, which is now his second home, it had an extra intimacy feel to it. He even told us of his addresses, one being William St, where we are! Pretty cool...

I think that's enough for now. Cheers for all the words of love and support that you've been sending to Alice and I. It means alot.

Rating - 6.5

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We've already chatted a couple of times so you know how delighted I am that you're back home and doing better, but I wanted to say one thing about your picture:

Despite feeling as poorly as you did and having the hardware in your head ... the beard is still looking top-notch, my man. ;-)

peace and blessings to you and yours!

mb

Janka said...

Ah...cheers for the detailed description of the surgery and the aftermath....now I can't wait to get mine done...;)
Lovely pictures though and of course I'm just so happy for you to be home again!!
xxx