Surgery Update

Just an FYI for everyone...

My surgery on Tues Nov. 16 went very well - longer than originally expected, but still very smoothly. Nothing unusual was found, and surgery was a success.

I woke up in the recovery room around 12:30pm, then waited until close to 6:30 pm for a room to be found for me. Tim arrived on the floor where my room was before I did, but the area had a small waiting room so he could wait, then he saw them wheeling me into my room.

I have to say, I didn't have a lot of patience with my room mate - she was not the room mate from hell (which I've had before), but she was elderly, and seemed to need constant attention from pretty much everyone. Every time I buzzed for my nurse for something, she had to talk to the nurse too, even though it wasn't her nurse.

Seems strange to me that they would not assign the same nurse to both patients in the room, but that seems to be the way it works.

Every time I answered my phone, she would call out and start to talk to me - I finally had to say "I'm On the Phone" to get her to shut up.

Also she gave out my hospital phone number to all her relatives, instead of her phone number - so my first night in the hospital, I had to talk to at least 4 of her relatives, when I just wanted to sleep. I finally started telling them "No, xxx is not here", and hanging up.

Wed during the day was spent trying to get rid of the itchiness I get from morphine, and also it now seems, Dilodid (spelling??). I was feeling really groggy most of the day, but started to get better towards the evening.

Tim came by Wed night to visit again, and ran into my surgeon, Dr. Perugini. So we all three had a chance to chat (BRIEFLY).

I also spent the morning out of bed in a chair, and took several walks around the ward, to try to clear out the anesthesia and grogginess.

Thurs AM, I was not feeling well at all, not sure why. I decided at that time I may not be going home this day, because I knew I couldn't go home feeling that badly. But things got better and better during the day, I started walking around the ward on my own, with my strength coming back all the time. By the time that Tim came by, I was feeling pretty good and ready to go home.

So we came home Thurs night.

Friday and Sat were spent mostly trying to get in all the liquids I'm supposed to - but while my mouth is hungry (desperate for some flavor), my stomach is just not that hungry. Then I start watching something on TV, lost track of the time, and forget to have a shake.

Starting tomorrow, I'll keep track of things on a spreadsheet I'm putting together, a sort of check list for the day, to make sure I get in everything I"m supposed to, at pretty close to the time I should.

Good news/Bad news - while my diabetes is much better, I am still taking insulin. When I left the hospital, they told me to stop my long term insulin (I was taking approx. 140 units a day, just to maintain a stable blood sugar, then I supplemented with short term insulin to take care of any food that I would eat).

So no more long term insulin, and I"m using a sliding scale for short term during the day. Right now, I'm taking between 5 and 10 units of short term insulin a day, down from 30-60+ units of short term every day, on top of the ~140 units of long term insulin I was taking.

So diabetes is MUCH better, good news. But is not as better as I'd hope for (bad news).

More good news - diabetes will likely continue to get better all the time, and I do hope to get off of all insulin eventually.

Today, Sunday, I took a long walk for me - out of the house, down the entire length of the driveway (maybe 80 yards each way). Then sat outside for a while, enjoying the sunshine (out of the wind, it was not too cold to sit).

I've also been doing a lot of knitting - mostly on my New Beginnings project from the Knitters Review Retreat. Here is my project - Cabled Cardigan out of the Runway Knits book.