Category: Surgery

The pain associated with this is far worse than anything else I have ever experienced. Worse than healing after jaw surgery, worse than the pain before the jaw surgery, worse than either childbirth experience or subsequent recoveries. Worse than back labor with Alice, because at least that came in waves of pain, and not a constant stream of torture.

I have been lying down for a week now. In the adjustable bed at the hospital, I could elevate my head a bit and wedge a rolled-up blanket under one buttock to take the pressure off, and thus feel like I was sitting up even when I wasn’t. At home, we don’t have an adjustable bed, so I don’t have that luxury. And I’m going stir crazy.

I just really want to be able to sit up, but I can’t. I even had Jerry go digging around in the linen closet to find the inflatable doughnut pillow that I sat on for the first 5 weeks after Helen was born. Even when we barely inflate that, it’s more than I can handle — too much pressure.

So I roll up on my hip and just wait. I know that in a month or so, I’ll be very glad I did this, but right now I have buyer’s remorse. Jerry is weary of playing scrubnurse and I’m weary of being unable to help when I can hear the kids going nutso on him downstairs.

Fast Forward to November, anyone? That would be just fine with me.

So this morning, after I took my laxatives, put my jaw splint into an Efferdent soak and pulled on my Depends undergarment, for a split-second I wondered if I’m in some sort of time warp. No, wait, I’m still in my thirties. OK.

On the upside: food is starting to taste a little more normal. Thank God.

I’m back.

The IV and the medications I have been on since Thursday have brought my taste buds to a new level of awareness, and I’m not enjoying it at ALL.

While in the hospital, I was on a clear liquid diet, which meant that they brought me jello, fruit juice, and either coffee or hot broth (chicken or beef) with iced tea.

I ate one little cup of jello, and after that, I had a backlog of little jello cups on the side table. They kept leaving them with me in case I got hungry. But they were just tooooooo sweet. Toooooo plastic. Toooo something.

After Friday, I couldn’t even choke the broth down — it tasted like straight salt to me. Jerry said it just tasted like regular broth to him, but I just couldn’t do it.

Today, Jerry brought me a couple JellO Jigglers that he made this afternoon, peach flavor — which I really like a lot. It’s the flavor I ate an entire pan of in one day last week while preparing for this surgery. Gak! So sweet! Ugh. Ate them, but ick.

And then I had plain white rice with probably a tablespoon of spaghetti sauce mixed in to give it flavor. That was good, but now all I can taste is garlic.

And now I gotta figure out how to down some mineral oil without gagging on it. As I said in a text to Nancy over the weekend, “Mineral oil disguised in apple juice is still foul.”

… Yesterday was one of the most miserable days of my life, physically speaking. I’m hoping that was the final descent and now we’re on the upswing. Today has been better. I hope that continues.

Watch ectui for updates. Jerry will post when he can. Surgery is at noon, it may be a while before he gets to the computer.