I feel much better today and I have passed some significant milestones. Walking around is much easier and less painful. It also really helps diffuse stomach pains from my digestive system waking up. This morning I started going to the bathroom, the normal way, after that silly bag business for two months! It's so nice to feel like a human being again, not a poop bag lady (to put it bluntly).
The doctors unplugged me from my IV pole because I have proved that I can drink enough liquids on my own. Now I can move around freely and jump from my windowsill to my bed. Just kidding.
I am now on pain pills instead of liquid painkillers. Although pills aren't as strong as liquid painkillers like dilaudid or morphine (which I was on until this afternoon), they last longer in the system as long as they can be absorbed well enough. After I had been drinking liquids and keeping down jello, my doctors moved me to pills, which I prefer, because liquid painkillers make me feel pretty strange and they wear off quickly.
My surgeon said I could switch to a full liquid diet today, so milkshakes and pudding should be allowed, but somehow it didn't get put in writing so I am still eating jello. They only seem to have three flavors here: lime, lemon and orange.
In other news, they took off the bandage of my stoma incision site. I was expecting something circular maybe, considering how my stoma was circular, but of course it isn't. It's about two inches long and has four big staples attaching the two sides of the incision. If I leave the hospital on Saturday, I will probably have to come back in next week to have them remove the staples, but if I leave later, they will remove them before I leave.
I'm still getting used to having everything back where it should be. Now that I don't have my external bag, I realize how much it sucked. It truly was inconvenient. I'm so glad they could put me back together. Now I can wear all those short shorts I was missing out on in the beginning of the summer. I am really looking forward to getting out into the real world.
You're right -- lime, lemon, and orange is it for the Jell-O. I asked. Glad to hear you're all put back together and feeling better. Hopefully you'll be out soon.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I've been having issues with my stoma -- intense burning pain on the surrounding skin. And there's no (or at least very little) signs of redness or irritation on the surrounding skin, so the cause is somewhat unclear. Nonetheless, I changed my bag yesterday and applied some stoma powder. No relief yet, but hopefully it will do the trick. Did you experience this? Do you have any suggestions?