It's now Thursday evening, 11/07/13 and I am home from the hospital. I can honestly say I am a little sad to be leaving the hospital just because the care and attention I received was better than a 5 star hotel. Rebecca picked up a walker for me to use until I am comfortable getting up without assistance.
I pretty much came home and crawled into bed to get some uninterrupted sleep. I was bombarded with cuddling partners but the only one who wouldn't accidentally push me off the bed was Gabriel so for the time being I let him stay.
For the first time in months I got a full nights sleep which was great in one aspect but horrible in another.You see I am on a 4 hour rotation for my multiple medications and went way longer than 4 hours between doses and let me tell you I suddenly realized how much trauma my body went through during the operation. I am an emotional kind of guy so I am no ashamed to say I cried until the medicine started working again. Even though I was in pain I still tried to have a sense of humor so when Rebecca asked me what was wrong I told her I felt like I was in an automobile accident!
Later Friday afternoon I decided I wanted to get up and move around. With the help of my physical therapy training I was able to get up and out of bed with my walker and most importantly without causing more pain. My abdomen is bloated but with the adjustable girdle they gave me I am able to keep the swelling to a minimum most of the time. With the help of my wife / private nurse I finally got to take a shower and change the dressings on my incisions once again. I took pictures of them for comparison throughout the healing process but I won't post them here because some may find it too graphic.
Now that I was clean, mobile and well medicated Rebecca made a spreadsheet that I could use to keep track of what medicine I took, how many and at what time. This way I wouldn't miss a dose or even worse double up on something that could cause respiratory issues. The nice thing about having this chart we knew when to set my alarms so I could wake up before I was due to eliminate any future occurrences of being in a lot of pain when it could be prevented.
With the help of my amazing wife, my sweet walker, the medication spread sheet, and my two awesome children I have been able to get through the weekend without any major setbacks. It is now Monday 11/11/13 and I am just trying to maintain the pain throughout the day and keep my mind occupied with writing, reading, movies and hanging out with my amazing family. I am praying that the next 2 weeks go by quickly so that I will get approval to travel in a vehicle which will allow me to go out and about even if it's just for a trip to the store once in awhile. One thing that is for sure the past week has gone better than I could have ever expected and I believe that everyone's prayers on my behalf have been the biggest contributing factor, so "thank you" to everyone who has kept me in their thoughts and prayers since my accident until now.
2 comments:
Hopefully, this is the toughest part of the journey.
Charlie, I cried while reading what you are going through. I am proud of you that you cry when you feel a lot of pain. It is good to get that out. Sometimes at night, the pain from many different things cause me to cry too because it is so frustrating to know this is how I feel when the meds I take wear off. I have been praying for you and hope to see you soon, but, if not, I will see you at Thanksgiving!
Mom
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