one week post donation

[rdr321]

  It has been 1 week past donation. Today is my third day from hospital. I had a very difficult time in the hospital. I think part of it is that Demerol does not work well for me. Makes me feel nervous and see things. I  feel like I have a mild flu. I am regular now with pooping but it is like diareah. Much better than if it was hard. I do not want to strain my abdomen. It is getting easy for me to get off the couch with only mild discomfort in the abdomen. I would not say that I have pain anymore but it does not feel good either, I am  tired all the time. 3 times a day I make myself get up and walk a block. Then I need to rest. This morning I did not want to walk because I felt bad (not pain). I took a vicadin and did the walk. In the hospital the doc removed the staples. Yesterday i replaced the steri straps. There was a little pus under some of them. But I think it is heeling well. It itches mildly. Tommorow morning I will see the doc again.   bye Rick

[Snoopy]

Hi, Rick.
  I hope you're feeling better.
  When you were in the hospital, did you tell them about the problems you were having with Demerol? Did they try anything else for your pain?
   Also, about the flu-type symptoms:  maybe you actually picked up some sort of bug in the hospital? Make sure to mention it when you meet the doctor tomorrow.
     Be well, Snoopy

[rdr321]

My Coodinator also asked me why I did not say anything about the Demerol so they could have changed my med.  When you are on these heavy pain killers. Your mind does not work properly, it is very simple. You think it is normal for the med to make you feel like that. It is not. My coodinater told me if I have surgery again to tell them I am allergic to Demerol. Morphine was wonderful. But you knowing this will be able to tell them if you need to.
   Also, The hospital has many procedures to go thru to get the pain med to you. Once the doc orders a pain med. It can take from .5 to 1.5 hours for it to go thru their system. I was completely without pain med once for 2 hours on my second day. I will have to say It felt like I had woken up in hell. They all apologized but it does not help. Hopefully this does not happen to anyone else. 
   

[rdr321]

 Yes and I may actually have the flu

[Snoopy]

  When you are on these heavy pain killers. Your mind does not work properly, it is very simple. You think it is normal for the med to make you feel like that. It is not. ....Once the doc orders a pain med. It can take from .5 to 1.5 hours for it to go thru their system. I was completely without pain med once for 2 hours on my second day. I will have to say It felt like I had woken up in hell.

   Oh, boy.  You had some rough sledding there.  Maybe this is one of the reasons why it's good to have somebody with you in the hospital at the beginning, somebody not fogged by meds who can run to the nurses station and goose them along to make sure you get the right pain meds at the right time.
    Had the staff discussed pain meds with you before the surgery?  Were you alone in the hospital?
             I hope you're feeling better. Snoopy 

[rdr321]

  Snoopy,
   There seems to be a belief that people have. It is that if we ask enouph questions and we cover all the bases, that we will be in control and there will be no problems. People drive themselves crazy trying to do this.This unfortunately is not the case. We never really never have much control over anything outside ourselves,only the delusion that we do. There is going to be problems in anything we do no matter how hard we try otherwise.  At the end of all this(life) we die no matter what. Try to relax snoopy

[rdr321]

One more thing. You should ask you surgeon to make the incision  look like a shark bite.That would look real cool when it heals. I did but he thought I was joking.

[bergstromtori]

Best suggestion I have heard in a long time.  I really did LOL!

[lawphi]

Shark bite!  I laughed so hard my belly ached from the surgery.

[dodger]

Oh I know just how you feel.  I had a bad reaction to a high blood pressure medicine when my BP spiked the second night.  Thought my heart would bust out of my chest and I had a horrible migrane.  Then a week after surgery I got some kind of bug and lost 10 lbs in one week. Not a great experience.  But, you  will feel better one day at a time.

Eat well, at least 25 grams of protein with each meal and 2 healthy snacks and lots of green leaf vegetables.  You don't really start start to heal until about the third week really.  You are just recovering the shock to your body, clearing out the anestetic, and getting back on your feet those first couple of weeks.  You just had a very major surgery, this is going to take time to heal.  But how wonderful our bodies are.  By 4 months it dawned on me that, hey, I'm back to my old self!  Better actually in that I went from full time couch potato and 25 lbs overweight, to excercising daily and losing that 25 lbs. 

Drink plenty of water if you can, or ginger ale, 7 Up.  Non diet!  That aspertaine is nasty stuff.  Sweeten with Stevia.

Best wishes, congratulations on your donation, and hope you feel better soon.