Day 1: Bye Bye Tubes

Last night was quite the challenge. You see, I was on morphine which was causing my breathing to slow, so every time I would fall asleep, an alarm would go off and I'd have to wake up and take a few deep breaths in order to prove I wasn't dying. Meanwhile, I just wanted to sleep! It was exhausting. The nurses came in every few hours to give me my pain meds and antibiotics. After that, we seemed to hit a magic level where I could sleep without the breathing alarm going off...which then convinced me that the alarm was broken and I'd die in my sleep. I'm telling you, I just can't be satisfied!

Meanwhile, my NG tube had come untaped, which left it flapping around on my face and down my throat. A most pleasant of experiences. So I asked the nurse to retape it, and she decided to retape it so it was pretty much blocking my whole nostril. I ended up writing notes like this:

Which brings me to my next point, I can't talk right now. Like, at all. So I have a mini notepad  filled with all of these weird notes.  I'm like an old timey reporter, only with huge jowls and sarcastic comments that I can't express out loud. 

Back to my night in the ICU, a couple of nurses came in around 4:30am to take some blood.  After a couple of tries, we were able to coax my veigns out and get a sample. After that, I watched TV and dozed until one of my surgeons, Dr Lee came in to check on me. As soon as he got there, I begged him to take out the NG tube and just like that  the heavens opened up and answered my prayers. Though the process itself was not really something to get excited for! They rather unceremoniously pulled the tube out of my stomach/throat/nose, which was one of the weirdest sensations ever. But I was glad to be rid of that damned thing and it made breathing and swallowing so much easier.

The new nurse, Mary, came on duty around 7am and she was my absolute favorite nurse I've come into contact with.  Mary immediately started making a list of goals she wanted her and I to accomplish before I was moved up to the regular recovery room in the afternoon. She genuinely wanted to help me out as much as she could. She took my catheter out (TMI, but so exciting!), she had me drinking water and apple juice and even had me take a little walk with her. After that, I had my first real visitor (besides mom, dad and Kevin), Rachael! She brought me a cute little mammoth stuffed animal and it was so nice to visit with her. While the fam headed out to lunch, Mary and I worked on getting me off of my morphine and transitioning me to my oral painkillers. Soon it was time for me to be moved up to the 7th floor, which was a general recovery room.

I was wheeled upstairs and got settled in my new room, but missed the nurses in the ICU. But man, was this a welcome change of scenery:

After getting situated in my room, I had my first meal since surgery. I am currently on a clear liquids diet so I had chicken broth with some apple juice. It was the best damned broth I've ever had. I'm sure I'll be sick of it soon, but I guess I didn't realize how hungry I was! Eating took a lot out of me so I relaxed a bit more, and every couple of hours my nurses and I experimented with my pain meds to find the right blend. I'm on Tylenol with Codine and Ibuprofen, which are managing my pain, but I'm still trying to figure out the right timing between them. Then I had dinner (beef broth this time) and a Popsicle for dessert. The nurses are bringing a roll-away in for Kevin to stay with me tonight.  It will be nice to have some company. 

Well I'm heading off to rest, but I'll leave you with today's progress picture. Brace yourselves :P

Don't mind my hospital hair and drugged out eyes. Just say no kids. The swelling isn't too bad today and I don't have any bruising, yet. My doctors seem very pleased with how well I am looking and progressing, so that's a good sign!

Thanks for reading!