My first week home

Whoohoo a month down, 2 to go! I have slacked off a little because I really have been so lazy, which is weird because WHAT else do I really have to do right now? So I came up with the idea to make a kind of timeline and weekly accomplishments/post thing to post and updates by weekly per post.

I spent Tuesday 12/20-Sunday 12/25 in the hospital. Not exactly a week but lets just say it was so Monday-Sunday will be the weeks...

First Week home:

This was when the challenge began. My husband Stayed home with me from Mon-Wed. Thurs my sis April drove over an hour with her fam to stay the night until Daniel could get home mid-Fri. I highly recommend you plan it so that you have someone. I literally had no one I could depend on. I had plenty of people who SAID they would help, but I knew the possibility of them actually showing up. I was worried about being alone. It is very hard to do anything you are supposed to do on your own for a while.

For the first few days I stayed in my own bed with a gang of pillows, pills at the ready, my ear plugs, and remote within reach. I also kept my grabber close because I kept knocking down my pillows to support my leg or other things fell on the floor and getting in and out of bed was not easy and I just wanted not to move. The grabber was really helpful to reach the bottom of the blanket and either cover/uncover my feet because I had the hardest time flinging the blanket over my whole body when my legs were so high on pillows. I finally got my first semblance of a shower on Tuesday. This was such a hassle. We ended up not buying a shower chair so we used the bariatric commode and my walker.  First we used a trash bag and taped over my incision to keep it dry. Daniel put the commode half in/out of the shower and adjusted the legs so it was even and I had to just sit and then he helped me lift my right leg over the edge, then I stood up and he scooted the commode in more. I sat down again and we began. I used a handheld shower head. I also used the scrub on a stick. Daniel washed everything for me. I still had the head ache and it was hard to hold my head sideways. The shower took forever it seemed like and he did so good :) It was messy but I was clean!! Then I laid down flat and let the incision air dry without the bandage on there for about 30 mins. I did this every time I took a shower until all the steristrips were off (2-3 weeks). Then Daniel cut and taped a new bandage on their and we were done. Then I would usually nap, it was exhausting!! Every little thing I did was too much and took too much out of me.

On weds, I did another dulcolax to poo :( not the best feeling having your muscles contracting to poo, and then delivering yet another baby sized dump a few days after the first. But def was having it out!! Lesson: Drink milk of magnesia in the hospital every day and keep taking all the stool softeners they give you. I had extra problems because I was throwing up a lot so I was dehydrated and that made going poo even worse. But you gotta do what you gotta do, and the nurse in the hospital scared me by telling me if I didn't go soon it can start coming out of my mouth. What is it with these med people?!? They keep telling me things that scare the "poo" out of me lol.

Once I got home I did not puke again which was wonderful. I spent most of my time finding new shows to watch on OnDemand. Which is not like me. I am a book reader! I had about 2-3 shows I religiously watched but after PAO it was so hard to concentrate and as soon as I focused on the book I would fall asleep! About Tues/Weds I came out of hibernation and ate food with my family at the table. it was awkward but I used a pillow under my arse and ate small meals quickly and then went to couch. This was hard to get used to. The first day I only sat for about an hour. It was so uncomfortable to sit in that bent up position. I had the huge hematoma that was getting bigger and it put more pressure on the joint. So after a short while, I went back to bed. About the same time tues/weds I stopped asking Daniel to help me to pee at night. I woke up every 3 hours on the dot to take my pain meds, drink and go pee. Which the commode was right by the bed and since he had to start going back to his job, I began my trek back to independence one pis at a time. Weds I took my first trip out of the house to Walmart. That was interesting. I took 2 pillows with me to support my legs. An old lady watched me walker and struggle to get onto the motocart. When I finally did, I waited for her to go through the door first and she said "No hunny, you go first." I preceded her into the store and then she came and hugged me and said, "God bless you. You'll make it through. I had both mine done." It was so strange to have that bond with someone. How did she possibly know? Well the time in the store was terrible. I had motion sickness from the time we left the house and the motocart did not help. It was not a smooth ride. Eventually I started feeling like I was actually going to throw up so we hustled out of there and went home. On Thursday my mom came over to hang until April got there and she helped a lot. She cleaned the kitchen and fed me and helped keep me company. We also slept a few hours too. :) April came and her boyfriend cooked us dinner. That is something you might ask people to do when they say "If you need anything let me." Then say, "Actually, can you bring us some food or dinner?" It takes a lot of stress off the person taking care of you especially if its your spouse.

I usually took showers every 2-3 days because it was such a hassle for everyone. By Sunday I was spending so much time in the living room with everyone else and was beginning to feel normal again. My best advice is to just take it one day at a time. I was getting better and better at maneuvering myself without help except for the couch when lifting my op leg above the pillows on the couch was hard. Just make sure everyone knows that you need to rest and to really support you in every way because you need it.