Well, as usual (for me), the slight bit of trepidation I experienced about surgery beforehand has come to naught, thankfully!
The nurse kept coming in every couple hours during the night to check my vitals and to ask if I wanted to start on any pain meds, and I kept saying no. I had zero pain.
The only discomfort I’m feeling now is soreness when I first stand up from a sitting or prone position.
I did take half a dose of Tylenol before taking a nap this afternoon, to make sure I’d be able to get out of bed more or less comfortably after laying prone for a couple hours with my head up and my knees on a big pillow. I was glad when I stood up that I had done that.
The Exparel numbing agent that the surgical team gave me is supposed to wear off between 24 hours and five days post-surgery, so they told me to be sure to add Tylenol before my soreness became too great. I didn’t bring home any heftier pain meds — I don’t like to take opiates — but I can order some IF the discomfort becomes too great. I doubt that will happen. I didn’t need them for my chest masculinization surgery.
I don’t think my brain is quite back online yet because I’m typo-ing like crazy right now. I’m doing my best to catch everything as I go along, but when I check this post later I’ll probably laugh myself silly when I see what I still missed!
Jackie made me a homecoming meal of porcupine meatballs and “smashed taters” which I enjoyed about an hour ago.
Lisa stayed in the hospital room with me overnight on a rollaway cot, which was a good thing because when we left the lot this morning on the way home they spit us out on a side street that we didn’t recognize at all, so we had to finagle our way around and find the street that took us where we wanted to go. We couldn’t even see the landmark Husky Stadium where they spit us out, so we were mighty confused until we finally spotted Montlake Blvd., which is the road we needed to get back to the freeways heading for Tacoma. The signage at that hospital is just awful, BUT the people who work there are sensational. I was super impressed.
This is me today about 27 hours after surgery. I feel great. But I will be napping a lot and walking some every few hours to make sure I offset the potential for blood clots. Tonight before bed I need to give myself a bridge therapy shot and take 7.5mg of Warfarin. Same thing tomorrow. Then I taper down to 5mg of Warfarin and the bridge shot until I visit the clinic on Monday to see if my INR levels are back up to speed. My INR levels was very low this morning (as expected): 1.2 It should be between 2 and 3.
Guess that’s all for now!
Thank you to Lisa my BFF for staying with me and setting me up for success before she headed home this afternoon after performing yeoman duty for 48 hours. Thank you too to Jackie for my homecoming meal and for the many good wishes from my friends on and off Facebook.
