Recovering (Warning: it's long)

My surgery "went well" they say.  I was completely SHOCKED as to how much it HURT afterwards.  They seriously should not be telling people that it's like recovering from a tooth extraction!  Here's how it happened.

Friday I went to the hospital (my visiting teacher took care of my kids- thank you Melayne!) and they took me to a surgery prep room.  Handsome Husband was with me the whole time and that was great.  They kept us pretty busy.  I had an EKG (to check my heart), they gave me a PAINFUL IV in my hand (I don't think I'll ever let them do one in my hand again!), a nurse came to check the baby's heart tones (she was the labor and delivery and so she was used to women bellies about to pop- she was trying to hear the baby's heart through my pubic bone!  Seriously, at 15 weeks the baby is not THAT low!), and the anesthesiologist came and spoke with me about my going under.  I also spoke with the surgeon and one of his assistants.  They gave me a cool hospital gown that hooks up to a tube and blows warm air on you, so I was definitely warm enough.  We were all ready to go at 1:30, but we ended up having to wait THREE MORE HOURS because the surgery ahead of us went over that much!  Wow, the person being operated on had tongue cancer (yikes) and they said it had spread much more than anticipated.  I was getting a headache from fasting.  They couldn't give me any pre-op anesthesia to help with nerves because of the baby.  The nurse said that he'd never seen that before, but it's probably because it's abnormal for a pregnant woman to be operated on.  So FINALLY, it was time get in. My surgeon had gotten a nap, but unfortunately he was going to miss a concert date with his wife that evening.

They wheeled me away from Handsome Husband who gave me a kiss or two.  When I got into the OR they had me scoot onto the operating table and they strapped my legs.  The surgeon came in and briefed everyone.  The anesthesiologist shot some medicine into my IV (and it HURT! I seriously should have made them move my IV out of my hand) and then she told me that I'd start to lose consciousness.  FINALLY! I was so looking forward to that part!

I woke up to a nurse saying my name and telling me that I was in the recovery room. I think it looked like a big open room, but I can't remember much.  I heard them talking and saying that the surgery took longer than anticipated and that it was 8:45pm.  I threw up a few times. They were talking about whether or not they should be checking for fetal heart tones and I kept trying to tell them that they should be able to hear them, that it wasn't too early in pregnancy.  It seemed like they weren't listening.  Later, I checked with the surgeon and they DID check the heart tones and the baby was fine.  I vaguely remember them moving me from one bed to another.  Then I woke up in my normal room.

I stayed in the bed until I needed to get up to go to the bathroom and that's when I realized how much I hurt!  Breathing was weird, my neck felt swollen and when I tried to clear my throat I made really weird throaty, gaspy sounds.  I felt like I couldn't move my neck too much and so I kept it in a tense position, which ended up giving me SOO MUCH muscle pain in my neck.  Anyway, once I got back in bed from the bathroom I got super nauseous.  It was a while before I could keep anything down.  I spent my time listening to a book on tape and dozing in and out.  I would push the nurse button for pain meds.  I would nod off and feel like I'd beeing sleeping for hours only to look at the clock and see that only 20 minutes had passed.  

Handsome Husband brought the girls for a visit and that was great.  Sweetie climbed right in bed with me and snuggled.  Baby Dragon was scared of the IV tree and "owie" on my neck, so she didn't come too near me.  But she was happy to see me.  They brought me roses, tulips, candy and a little devil bear and a St. Patrick's Day bear decoration. I was excited about the St. Patrick's Day bear since I don't have any St. Patty's decor. :)   They stayed for about 40 minutes or so.  The girls were excited to share some of my jello and pudding with me.  I nodded off as soon as they left.  The nurse brought in a pretty flower arrangement from Handsome Husband's work.

The surgeon came in and pulled a drain out of my incision, that was weird.  It was like he was pulling this long tape worm out of me.  GROSS!  But he said the site looked great.  He said the surgery took longer than expected because my parathyroids were so small and hard to find.  He said that it was also a more extensive surgery than a normal thyroidectomy since they had to remove the lymph nodes behind my thyroid because that would be the first place the cancer would have spread to.  We're still waiting on test results on what they pulled out of me.  I had to request ice for my neck, but that definitely helped with the pain.

Handsome Husband came back (his parents watched the girls- thank you!).  He brought flowers that my friend Summer had sent me.  Thanks, Summer! We watched some of Mama Mia! on our portable DVD player.  Weird movie, but fun music.  I also finally had the nurse take out my IV, it was STILL hurting me.  They put a new one in my wrist, but never ended up using it.  I started to fall asleep about halfway through the movie, so Handsome Husband left and let me rest.  I stayed at the hospital on Saturday night.

I was discharged Sunday morning.  Summer watched the girls while Handsome Husband came and got me.  I slept most of Sunday.  The girls were excited to come and see me when they got home from Summer's.  Summer had helped them make me some cards, that was really sweet.  The girls stare at my incision, Sweetie always says "Ow" and points at it.  Whenever she comes over to me she says "soft" because she knows she's not supposed to be rough with me.  Baby Dragon is more comfortable when I cover up the incision.  It's not pretty.   I was able to be awake for dinner and Handsome Husband put the girls to bed and we watched Psych.  

I feel a lot better today.  The pain isn't as bad.  I have been sleeping SOO much!  I've been so surprised by how much I can just sleep.  I'm so glad that Handsome Husband has been able to be home from work and that he's helped so much.  I'm also grateful to the people who have fed us and helped with the girls.  I'm really hoping that it won't be too hard to care for the girls in the next few days.   I'm glad I'm feeling better.  That first day was HORRIBLE!  

A weird side effect that I'm not happy about is that the sweet taste buds on the right side of my tongue are not working.  So if I have anything sweet and it touches that side it gives off a very weird taste.  I do not like it and I REALLY hope it's temporary.  Otherwise, I may have just lost my sweet tooth! Hmmm, maybe that's not a bad thing...