Post-Surgery Complaints

I can't believe that I had open heart surgery a week and two days ago.

I've been absent from my blog. I'm sorry, friends. I've had a rough 4 days. It's still very good to be home. I'm still very happy to be here.

But what sucks is that I'm still in quite a bit of pain. In my chest. In my shoulders. In my back. Why are my shoulders and back giving me trouble, you ask? Well, because in surgery after they cut the sternum open and spread it, your shoulder blades are basically parallel for the duration of the surgery. This does some screwing around with your muscles. Ouch.

So the pain has been sucking. Big time. And I only have 6 of my prescription painkillers left. These I need to save for nighttime, because all of this pain is REALLY hard to sleep with or through. I have not been sleeping very well and have yet to sleep in my own bed. I've been sleeping on the futon (unopened) in the basement with my back against the back of the futon, propped up on pillows laying kind of on my side. Not very comfortable.

So today I shall alternate Tylenol (which does nothing for me) and Motrin (which is my drug of choice) every four hours. It will be my first day without using my prescription painkillers. Wish me luck.

Here are some other not-so-fun aspects of having heart surgery (some of these may gross you out, so read at your own risk):

• The incision in my groin is really starting to hurt. It has been numb since surgery, until this morning of course.
• I really have no appetite. But that's because as a side effect of all the IV antibiotics they gave me in the hospital, I got some sort of a yeast infection in my mouth and have had to "swish and swallow" really gross anti-fungal medication four times a day. I know. YUCK.
• I've had my period for a week. And I had my period only two weeks before surgery, so it wasn't due. But apparently surgery brings it on for many women. Hooray for me.
• My incision is scabbed over, which is a good thing. But the scabs are starting to separate and then they scratch my chin whenever I look down.
• I have to wear these really tight knee-high socks that are supposed to prevent blood clots. Very uncomfortable.
• I've been drinking prune juice (which I really hate - but if you mix it with Sprite or 7Up it takes kind of like Dr. Pepper) because of another unfortunate side effect of the medications I'm on.

These are just trivial complaints.

But on the plus side, I'm walking a couple of times every day. I'm more aware of things and less out of it nowadays. I'm having no trouble walking up the stairs in my house. I'm relaxing at home in my jammies and watching movies and doing puzzles. And I'll be getting visitors today.

Considering that I had open heart surgery only a week and 2 days ago, I'm doing pretty well. The pain has been the worst thing I've had to deal with, and I'm really hoping that it keeps getting less and less very soon. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed!

Thanks for your patience. I'll try to post again tomorrow.