I’ll just include the day
after coming home and the next day in this post.
The evening I came home from the hospital, by the time I got ready for
bed, I had broken out in a cold sweat and just flopped onto the bed, and lay
there for a while. I knew I had probably overdone - washing my hair and all. I’m sleeping on the
side next to the wall, and there is barely enough room to slip along between
the bed and the wall. So as I tried to
get into bed I got my feet tangled up in the recharging cord that I had just
plugged into the pump, and I unplugged it.
Between the small space, the dark, and the charging cord plugged into
the wall beside the bed (and the long drain tubing), it is a challenge to get
into bed when you are NOT weak and sweaty.
I don’t know why this pump is so hard to get plugged in, but it is. The guy that supplied it at the hospital said
that the plug-in was being redesigned because people have so much trouble with
them. So after lying there a bit, I
groped around on the floor and found the cord, felt around for a while to find
the connection area on the pump and finally got it plugged in again.
Didn’t sleep much that 1st
night home. They told me to keep my head
fairly well elevated because it would facilitate this tube draining. I had 4 pillows in the bed and went to sleep
completely on my right side, but I must have been too low, because I woke up
with my head hurting. I wanted in the
worst way to wake Guy up and ask him to get me the crackers, Percocet and water
in the bathroom, but I didn’t. I
unplugged my pump, carefully laid the cord across the bed so I could find it
when I came back, got my feet over the edge of the bed without pulling on my
drain tube, found my house shoes, and very carefully in the dark, stepped over
the miles of recharging cord in the very narrow space, and got to the
bathroom. The Percocet helped me go back
to sleep momentarily, but I woke up with my head in an awkward position several
times. The challenge is to find a way to
fix the pillows so that you are able to lay your head down, NOT putting any
pressure on the operative area, but balance on the other half of my head in such a way
that you can relax enough to go back to sleep – and not have your back start to
hurt being in an awkward position, or your hip, and not have your legs all
tightly doubled up so you don’t get a blood clot. Believe me…..it can’t really be done. It kind of takes me back to that short time I
was teaching nursing fundamentals, and we were in the lab teaching
positioning. You had to get your patient
in good body alignment, with no undue pressure on any body part, and so that
your patient didn’t feel like they were having to “hold” themselves in that
position. They needed their whole body
in a relaxed position so they could rest.
There just wasn’t much relaxing for me that night. I kept thinking about that nice hospital
mattress that adjusted to wherever my body was.
NOT that I wanted to be back in THERE, understand…..
The next morning (Thursday), Mark
and Jeannine left about 10:00 am for the airport. Mark had to fly back to Canada for a 12-day
stint, and Jeannine returned home to Ft. Collins, CO. It was SO nice to have my family
altogether! They were such a comfort to me.
At about 10:45 am, the home
health nurse came. She was very nice and
friendly. She checked me all over and went
over my meds. She said she had no wound
care orders. That was OK; they had told
me there would be no dressing changes; it was to stay as is until I went back
to the doctor. She took a close up
picture of the area and said there were 4 staples along the edges. She measured the area and said, "12 cm…. but
don’t know how deep…..” I said, “To the
bone.” “Oh!” she said and made a bit of
a face. (Yeah, I thought so, too!) I did
tell her the pump seemed to be leaking just a bit, and I couldn’t see from
where. We decided the disposable
container needed to be changed, even though there was very little in it, and we
did that. Well, I did that, under her
supervision. That was easy. I don’t
believe it has leaked any since. There
is still very little in the tubing, even though it sounds like a little
whistling tea kettle coming out of the back of my head. She checked my vital signs, and said
everything looked good. She talked to me
about the importance of getting LOTS of protein – 80 grams a day. I’ve often been interested in reading labels
for the fat grams, the sodium content, the sugar content, but had never really
noticed the grams of protein in items.
She suggested that I get Premier Protein. This is a liquid that comes in a 4-pack, and
it tastes less chalky than Ensure and Boost, and has less sugar. AND it gives you 30 grams of protein per
container. And we talked about Colace
vs. Senna, giving me some tips in that area.
Since I seemed to have everything pretty much under control here, she
said she would see me next Tuesday, but I was to call her when I knew the next
surgery schedule.
I got on the internet to look
up foods high in protein. I didn’t
realize that oatmeal and broccoli are high in protein. I like both of those. So I made a list for Guy for the next grocery
store trip.
In the afternoon, I had just
a delightful visitor – one of my favorite people in all the world – Carol Broadbooks. She was our 1st Church of the
Nazarene pastor’s wife when we lived in Hutchinson, KS in the early 80’s. If you look In the dictionary under “pastor’s
wife”, you will find Carol’s picture.
When they made her, they threw away the mold. As I look back over my church years, those
years with Pastor Bob and Carol, youth pastor Dave and Brooksie Smith, and
music minister John and Rena Nance, those are my favorite years!! When the Lord called Pastor Bob to a new assignment,
I just knew I’d never see Carol again.
But, years later, here we are in Alabama, and they show up as District Superintendent
of the North Alabama Nazarene district.
We had many all-afternoon lunches, and each time we just picked up right
where we left off the last time. No
matter where Carol was or what her title was, she was just sweet Carol,
and she had the same concerns and hearts’ desire that I did. We could just sit and talk and talk and talk
for hours!! And we did!! When they left Alabama and moved to TN, I was
heartbroken and thought there was no way I’d ever see her again. But, here we are – years later, and we are
both in KS! God is good!!
She came by about 2:30. She had a vase of flowers and a large bar of
DARK chocolate in her hand and a Starbucks muffin in her purse. (Oh, how I love dark chocolate!!) After a big hug, I said, “Are you ready for
me to turn around???” She said, “Yes,”
and since I had my back to her, I don’t know what her face looked like when she
saw it. We sat on the couch, and she
said, “Well….let’s hear all about it!”
And again, we talked for hours, laughing and crying. She prayed a beautiful prayer for me, and
said we would stay in touch.
The rest of the day was
rather uneventful. I did go outside in
the backyard a little. It was quite
windy, but the temperature was just marvelous – mid 70s. After a little, I asked Guy to walk with me
down the street for a little ways, just so I could get out of the house. I didn’t want to sit in that recliner all
day! We did and took Annie with us. Thankfully, we didn’t see anyone, and I didn’t
hear anyone scream along the way, so I don’t think anyone saw me. There’s just no way to camouflage that big
ole tube coming out the back of my head!
It’s just THERE!
In the afternoon, I did
manage to get a nap in the recliner. I
rolled up the throw under my head/chin, and slept soundly for maybe an hour or
more. I woke up feeling like I had been
run over by a truck, but I got up and walked it off.
Chris’ mom came by to get him
and take him overnight to her house.
Dylan stayed behind because he had a Halloween party to go to. It was at the house of one of his friends
from school. After quizzing him a bit, I
stopped short of asking for the girl’s phone number so I could talk to the
parents. It sounded like a legitimate
party. When it was time to go, he came
down the stairs dressed as an “Alabama Redneck”!! He was so cute!
Before he left, I said to him, “You remember the
talk we had about parties…..if ANYTHING out of the ordinary goes on, what are
you supposed to immediately do?” He
said, “Call you.” You got it!
When he got home, I was
getting ready to head to bed. I asked
him if he knew where there was a neck pillow.
He told me Chris had two, so I went into his bedroom and took one of
them. THAT was the aid I needed! It took about an hour to figure out how to
get the pillows and the neck pillow arranged, but I finally fell into a deep
sleep. I can’t say I slept like a baby,
but I did get considerable sleep through the night – for the 1st
time since surgery. Today, I no longer
feel like a zombie!
Oh, I forgot to say that
yesterday, sometime after the home health nurse left, the plastic surgeon’s
office called me and said I was on the Tuesday surgery schedule to have this
wound closed. I said, “Uh……that’s IF the
margins are clear.” She said, “Well, let
me see if the pathology report has come back.
When was your surgery?
Tuesday? Let me look.” She was probably gone about 20-30
seconds. The LONGEST 20-30 seconds of my
life. I’m sure my BP and heart rate didn’t
know whether to race or stand still. She
came back shortly and said the report was not back. At the time of this writing, Saturday, 7:00 pm, I’ve
received no call.
I wanted to show you some of
the nice things that people have given me.
They are all SO appreciated. 1st
of all, my sister has sent me a card every day.
Bless her heart! And she sent me
this lovely, SOFT, throw – a Dennis Basso throw. It is really heavy and will feel so good on
cold KS winter nights. This picture does not do it justice. It is a beautiful deep purple.
I suppose I’m going to have
to wait until Monday to hear back on the path report. *sigh*
I remain in His hands…..
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