Post-Op

I had my gallbladder surgery just about ten days ago, on the seventeenth. The surgery itself went smoothly as far as I can tell (since I don't remember any of it). It was done at the outpatient center attached to the local hospital. I didn't have to show up until eleven, so I had some time in the morning to get the kids off to school and clean my house before leaving. A friend dropped me off, I checked in, and they got me all prepped for surgery (I'd love to have one of those systems that pipes hot air into my pajamas for my bed at home, it would be awesome). There was about an hour delay so I got to watch an episode of Law & Order while I waited--that's my go-to show for lounging around hotel rooms and hospitals. Then they wheeled me into the operating room and an hour later I woke up back in the bed. For the next few hours I drifted in and out of consciousness. I was surprised by how hard it was to wake up, since the only other time I've had general anesthesia was when I had my tonsils out as a kid and I don't remember a lot about that. Finally I was awake enough to eat some jello and go to the bathroom, so they called my friend to pick me up and sent me home. That night my sister-in-law came over to spend the night at the house in case I needed anything. She kindly brought some big fancy pillows that made sleeping much easier. If you are having any kind of surgery like this, I highly recommend getting at least a wedge pillow to help you sleep upright. It's made a big difference for me and I'm still using it since I still feel too uncomfortable sleeping flat on my back or on my side.

Thankfully I slept really well that first night, and most of the nights since then. However, that could just be the effects of the pain medication. I did stop taking it a few days ago since it ran out and I didn't really need it. Over the last week my pain has progressed from "I can't stand up without a pillow and I can tell when my drugs run out" to "I feel a little sore now and sneezing is still awful". Recovery has been much easier than it was for my c-sections, but still a bit slower than I expected. I think at this point I am also feeling impatient because I'm not totally back to normal. I'm mostly normal, but my stomach is still bloated and my incisions are tender. I'm also impatient to get back to doing stuff after more than a week of sitting around. I can say that I've been very good about taking it easy by avoiding anything strenuous. The kids have spent a lot of time with Mr. Fob and I've had friends dropping off food. I read a few books, watched quite a bit of TV, and spent too much time playing Tetris on my phone.

As my surgery pain has eased I've also been able to tell that my previous pain and indigestion is totally gone and it's really nice. My digestive system is still adjusting, both from the missing gallbladder and the side effects of surgery and pain medication. I'm hoping that will also clear up soon as well. Generally, this has been a positive experience and at this point I don't regret doing it. When the day of the surgery actually came I was a bit scared and really questioned whether it was the best choice, but now that I've had some time to recover I think it was. Hopefully in another week or two I'll keep thinking that.