Sunday, January 18, 2009

Third Day after Surgery





My day started at 5 AM.  Doha, my night nurse, thought that she would like to be the one to remove my catheter and remove my line for my morphine pump before she was off at 7AM.  Doha was great.  She is from Lebanon.  She told me about an uncle who lives there who lost both arms below the elbow from a bomb explosion.  He also has an ostomy because of injuries from that blast.  She told me that he has been that way for several years and he is able to manage his appliance without his arms.  That is amazing.

After removing the catheter it was much easier to get up and move around.  I emptied my pouch for the first time.  It was a pretty simple task.  I had no problems.  I had watched a video that a guy posted on U Tube.  It was actually a big help.  I washed up and changed into my own clothes.  It was good to be out of a hospital gown.  I found that the easiest way to clean up is to use Wet Wipes.  This will have to work until I can take a shower.

After changing I took another stroll in the hall.  It was nice to be in regular clothes.  Those hospital gowns can be a bit drafty.

The rest of the day and night was uneventful.  I had a lot of visitors and really enjoyed that.  It made the day fly by.  It is still a little challenging learning to mange the pain without a PCA, but I am learning.  I'm on oral pain killers now, every three to four hours.

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