Day 4: Thankful for God and the sonogram sound I hear every hour to know the muscle flap has good blood flow. Also, everyone praying and parents who give up their time to stay with me.
Day 77- My day started with a ball of nerves and both parents at my side. Surgery #18 went from 8-4. I woke up in the ICU in excruciating pain. My plastic surgeon did not prepare me for the pain. He took my left Gracilis muscle and put it in my right ankle. I woke up unable to move. My left arm is in a soft cast and has an IV in the shoulder. My left leg is stitched up from the muscle and skin graft and my toes and leg are tingly. My right leg is broken and has the grafts. My right arm has a weird IV thing in my wrist (that if I bend my wrist something bad will happen). This means I can't do anything by myself at all. After somewhat getting the pain under control, I convince them to take out my wrist IV. I am also bleeding/oozing what seems to be a LOT! I can't get comfortable because I can't make my muscles relax and my ankle feels like someone is ripping out staples. We keep trying to adjust it, but I don't know what to tell my nurse to fix it. All of my leads are draped across me and go every which way. I am miserable. Every time I close my eyes, I feel like I'm rocking on a boat. I finally get a wee bit of sleep.
Day 78- This day brings more pain. There's also this issue of having to keep my foot warm for good circulation and no constriction of the blood vessels; this means no A/C. Just a fan that can't blow on me, just around me to circulate the air. I have to get the muscle flap checked with a sonogram every hour to make sure it still has a pulse. This is not only painful, but also stressful. The pain gets so bad I give into morphine. The blood and ooze that I'm losing have to get a dressing change, sponge bath, and a sheet change. This is by far the most horrifically, unbearably miserable experience I've had so far. To accomplish these tasks, it takes 4 people to roll me side to side. This is awful. It makes everything hurt. I end up getting a syringe full of muscle relaxer. When they've finally finished, I get some sleep. Later that night I have to go to the bathroom which again requires rolling. This is the worst part of my hospital stay so far.
A little later I get two units of blood. More blood tests to determine if my hemoglobin count is acceptable. I have to get pain meds before I can get the dressing on the graft changed. I do not like this one bit. I also can't balance the meds. If I get a lot of pain meds, I feel out of control and get sleepy, but not a comfortable feeling. If I have less meds, I get more pain. I can't win...yet. My parents and the nurses sometimes can't understand my speech because of the meds. I have to repeat myself, which adds to the overall frustration.
Please continue to pray for me and my family as we push through this rough spot.
And that's life...
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