Recovery.

I woke up and found myself in a bit of a daze. I felt sore and not very mobile. The doctor came by and told me that the surgery was a success. I was wheeled into my room and was told to move myself onto the bed, which I somehow managed to do through the pain.

I got strapped with leg pressure devices and left to rest and recover.

I tried to fall asleep, but things kept bringing me back to consciousness. A loud sound here, a little pain here, trouble breathing there. The time went by quickly and I do remember feeling famished. I asked about food and was given a box of apple juice to drink. It tasted wonderful, despite the fact that I do not like drinking apple juice.

I spent the remainder of the night trying to drift off to sleep, but could only manage short naps that felt like mere moments.

It became easier to fall asleep when the sun went down, but the sleep was not very restful. When I awoke the next morning, I was cleared to eat some orange flavoured jello and another box of apple juice. I went back to trying to rest and relax. I was supposed to be discharged by noon, so I wanted to make sure I got as much time to recover as possible. The doctor came by to tell me that everything went well and I was on track so I was to leave that day.

For lunch I finally was able to eat some solid food, so I started gobbling down the salad, soup, and chili, but halfway through, I hit a brick wall. My stomach could not hold any more food. The mind was willing, but the body was weak. I figured that my wounds prevented my stomach from expanding and leaving me with a much smaller appetite.

Soon after, I felt hot and woozy. The nurse just happened to be taking my blood pressure at that time and did not show me the results. She said that my blood pressure was low and I should lie down. Oh, and also you need to pee into this urinal.

I had no urge to pee, but I did drink a lot.

I kept drinking.

After a few hours, I was able to go and things looked good so I got MJNL to pick me up. I asked for something for the pain and was wheeled out to the car. We headed back home after the hospital and stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my medication. A detour that managed to put me through a fair bit more pain, but I did make it home and was finally able to lie down in bed, after much effort.

Afterward, we set up a regimen where I would continue taking pain killers around the clock so that I could get some proper rest and healing. Since the two different medications had 4 and 6 hour intervals, I had, at most, four hours of rest in between. Usually it was much less.