Monday, December 26, 2011

Update

I am at home and doing well. I just haven't been able to update my blog since my last posting. Hopefully in the next day or two...
Wow! Last night was MISERABLE!! Thankfully our bed is the perfect height for me to get in and out of with a minimum of effort, but it HURTS to move at all once I am in the bed, and getting into a comfortable position was incredibly hard. I was finally able to sleep on my side since I am finally unhooked from everything, so that at least was nice. I switched sides of the bed with DH because I needed to be able to sleep on my left side since I still have my drain in. I had to have DH help me get all situated in the bed and even pull up to covers over me. I got up once a little later to use the bathroom and DH had to help me back into bed. Then I woke up a second time, but it was 5 1/2 hours after I had taken my last pain medication and it only lasts about 4 hours! I was in a lot of pain and then I felt really nauseous! I took my pain pills and then the medication I have for nausea. It took a while but I finally felt a little better and was able to hobble back to bed, with DH helping get back in again. We were pretty trashed once morning hit so the kids had to wait a while before they could get to their Christmas/Santa gifts.

I have so many different medications that I am on that I started keeping track of them all in a little notebook so that I don't forget anything or take anything too early/late. I've found that if I don't take my main pain medication on time, I start to feel really nauseous.  I think tonight I will have to set my alarm to wake me up every 4 hours so I don't miss a dose again. Right now I am taking 4 pills of oxycodone every 4 hours. Hopefully soon I can start weaning off of that. I also have another pain medicine that is not quite as strong, but I can mix the two. I also have to take an antibiotic pill once a day and then I have to have an injection of blood thinners once a day (I think DH will be doing those for me). I also have an anti-nausea medication that I can take as needed.

The main side effect I have from the medications is just drowsiness. Some times I just sit down and feel my eyes start to glaze over and I can't keep them open. I am also having a hard time concentrating my eyes on something like my ipad screen - which is why it's taken me a little while to blog.

The hardest thing that I am going to have to deal with over the next 5 weeks is that I am not allowed to lift anything over 10 pounds. That means no picking up MJ at all!

My drain is pumping out so much fluid!! Sometimes it fills up within just a 1/2 hour! I also think it is leaking a little where the tube goes into my skin, and the stitch that is holding the tube into place is kind of irritating. I've started wearing a small towel or washcloth under my brace so that it will catch any leaks from my drain. The color is still looking fine on the liquid draining out though so hopefully I can have it removed soon.

We watched Kung Fu Panda 2 tonight as a family and I slept through just about all of it. I tried staying awake for it, but it just wasn't happening. I saw the first few minutes and then woke up at the end for the last few minutes.