I feel pretty fortunate that I've been so pleased with the care I've gotten from my hospital network, and today was no exception. It really felt like they were taking good care of me. My post-op nurse especially made me feel like I was in good hands.
We arrived at 6:00 AM for my 7:30 AM surgery time. Actually, we arrived a bit early, and saw 2 other cars with patients waiting inside. Apparently, the entrance doesn't even open until 6:00 AM.
When I had my pre-operative phone call, the nurse had told me that I would not be allowed to wear an outside mask, and I'd have to swap it out for the hospital-provided surgical mask. Since I always wear a KF94, I was worried I'd have to downgrade my mask, a problem that has happened in other hospitals. But I just quietly put the surgical mask on top of my KF94, and nobody stopped me or said anything.
I had a short wait, then was taken to a pre-op room. I changed into a gown, and a nurse took my vitals and put an IV in my left hand. She also had me take 2 Tylenol to get a jump on pain relief. I've been trying to steer clear of Tylenol to help my liver situation, but figured it'd be okay to take a few doses for surgery.
One of the anesthesiologists, as she read through my medical notes and asked me questions, paused and said one sentence that actually meant a lot to me: "I'm sorry you've had to go through all this." I've seen a LOT of healthcare workers outside oncology, including imaging technicians and staff from cardiology, hepatology, GYN, and my PCP's office. Every time my medical history is reviewed, the person is generally kind and professional, but they have always stopped short of being compassionate or acknowledging that all the cancer treatment and complications might actually be taking some kind of toll on me - until today. I don't blame them, and I understand the need to stay objective and even stoic, but just having a medical professional look at my history and validate that it is a lot for someone to go through was comforting. (I should mention that my entire oncology team has always shown compassion and understanding, that's just one of many reasons why I appreciate them.)
Anyway. I got the anesthesia. One second I'm sitting in the hospital bed, being transported to the operating room, not even feeling drowsy, and then bam, the next thing I know, I'm feeling groggy in a post-op recovery bay.
There was no clock in my pre-op room, so I don't know if the surgery started on time at 7:30 AM. The GYN surgeon had estimated 1 hour, but Ken said she called him around 9:15. I don't know if we started late or if the surgery took longer than expected, but she said everything went fine. Ken said the surgeon told him I'd be ready for pick-up in about an hour, but I didn't get discharged until roughly 2 hours later, around 11:15.
When I woke up, I noticed right away that I didn't have a mask on. I figured it was okay because I was in my own bay, my nurse was masked, and she had set out some water, apple juice, and biscuit-type cookies for me. Once I finished eating and drinking, I asked for my glasses, took a new mask out of my bag at the same time, and looked at the clock.
It was just after 10:30 AM, so I think I must have woken up around 10:15 AM. I'm guessing I stayed under longer than the GYN surgeon anticipated. I was in the PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit) for about an hour, with a dedicated nurse.
There was an ice pack on my abdomen, covering the three incision areas. Also, there were inflatable sleeves on my calves, I assume to prevent blood clots.
The nurse warned me that my shoulders might hurt, a consequence of air being pumped into my abdomen during surgery, to make room for the surgeon to perform the procedure! I don't see how air in the abdomen affects the shoulders, but indeed, my right shoulder started to ache in the car ride home, and later my left shoulder started to ache too. In fact, the pain in my shoulders made it very difficult for me to sleep that night. This very helpful page about BSO surgery says the shoulder pain should go away in a few days, and walking around will help.
Also, presumably because of that air (actually, I later saw in my online medical notes that it was carbon dioxide) my belly felt bloated. The bloating caused a lot of discomfort and was also a factor in not sleeping well.
On the drive home, I used a small pillow to cushion my abdomen from the seat belt, a trick the pre-operative phone call nurse had recommended.
Once I was home and settled into bed, I noticed the area around my left incision was bruised, which was a new development. The bruise was about 4 inches across and dark purple. The PACU nurse hadn't warned me about that, so I was relieved to find bruising mentioned on this BSO informational page. She did give me 2 cold compresses, which I promptly put to work over the incisions.
Walking is difficult, but since walking helps the recovery process in many ways, I've been making an effort to get up and putter around the house a bit.
After a while, I noticed an increase in mucus in my lungs. Moreover, it's hard to cough up because coughing makes my incisions hurt. I found this web page that says anesthesia can hamper normal breathing and cause mucus to build up in the lungs. Moving around and coughing should help. Interestingly, both the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the WebMD web sites mention an "incentive spirometer," but I didn't get one. I found this laparoscopic oophorectomy informational page that mentions "breathing exercises", then finally found a related page describing specific breathing, coughing, and leg exercises that I can do.
Overall, I'm doing alright. I am taking prescription-strength ibuprofen (600 mg), which keeps pain at bay as long as I take it on schedule. I've also been taking prescription-strength generic Colace (100 mg) to help with constipation. I can walk around slowly, standing a little hunched over. The only other thing worth mentioning is that it feels kind of hard to talk, like I have to talk slowly; I figure it's somehow related to the bloating and/or mucus in the lungs, and needing to take deep breaths.
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