Hospitalization (still cont'd)

DAY 8: Tuesday, April 8, 2008
This morning I woke up and ate nothing, drank nothing. After sitting around short of breath for an hour or so due to being unplugged from wall suction in the waiting room for surgery, they drugged me for operation, and to tell the truth I remember nothing. Not even being wheeled into the operating room nor into the recovery room. Good thing is I didn't feel very nauseous afterwards - I understand that is a common unwanted aftereffect of general anesthesia. The surgery went well I suppose...the doctor, surgeon, and anesthesiast all seemed happy about how things went. I continued the day eating broth and jello, and drinking juice and water. They also moved the chest tube to a lower location along my side, and now it hurts a bit more. During the night I asked for 3 doses of Diaudid (morphine), and I still couldn't fall asleep for real until 1:30 AM after going to bed at 8:30 PM. I guess I was stressing out a bit over catching up with schoolwork once I get back, which I managed to resolve a bit by emailing professors.

DAY 9: Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Recovery day after surgery. I ate a fake breakfast of broth, jello, and juice again, but the doctor said that I could have real food so they trayed in a real breakfast at 10:30 AM. This resulted in me pushing back lunch and dinner by about 2 hours each. Plus, my appetite with the tube shoved in a uncomfortable location has been shot down a bit.

Today I got a new roommate. This guy appears to be a 28-year-old guy who just had surgery for his tonsils. He seemed a bit grumpy at first, but now he seems a bit more cheery. The nurses said he'll probably be discharged tomorrow. In other news, during these past 10 days of having foreign objects inserted into my right side and therefore hindering my right arm movement, I have gotten pretty used to eating, brushing my teeth, and putting on socks with my left hand, as well as urinating in a bottle (the nurses like to call it a "urinal"). I even try to write with my left hand when I fill out each day's menu, but it seems like the only thing successful with that is circling menu entrees with my left hand. In order to get my proper amount of time on my feet, I've been eating and using the computer while standing up. I feel sometimes standing up is more comfortable for some reason. I know sleeping in a semi-sitting position during the night kills my tailbone in the morning, but I need to semi-sit up because the drainage needs to flow down the tube.

It's kind of funny - now that I'm in my second week stranded in the hospital in the same room, I'm starting to have the same nurses and aides for the 3rd and 4th time so far during my stay. Some were surprised to see me still here yesterday and today after meeting me for the first time early last week. Oh well. At least the people here are nice, especially when they give me my dilaudid/morphine. Dilaudid is awesome.