OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

May 12th, 2007 -- 1st day after the surgery --

I know this sounds stupid, but since my childhood, I had fantasized about me being an inpatient once in a while. …Visitors would be surprised to see me being unbelievably weak in bed and I’d be flooded with sympathy. The doctor and nurses would be impressed to see me going through a painful rehab bravely with absolutely no complaints but a smile on my face… But the reality was far from it. LOL

Early in the morning on the 12th, the day after the surgery, my drip was finished and the urine catheter was removed. (I guess the ECG patches had been removed before that, but I don’t remember exactly when.) Everything seemed OK. That morning I passed gas and told it to a nurse and my doc who came to check on me. My throat was perfectly fine -- it was not sore or anything and I had absolutely no problem speaking. Looks like the trainee did a good job inserting the tube. :D But the biggest surprise was: my incisions still did not hurt almost at all! The only time I felt pain was when I coughed, but that was it.

When another nurse came later, she raised the head of the bed and set a side table, and brought my cup, toothbrush and a container to spit into so that I could brush my teeth and gargle there. She said I could take a shower that day, but I didn’t feel confident – I thought I might feel dizzy, so later she brought me warm towels to wipe my body.

I forgot when Mom came that day, but when she was with me, she told me how it was after the operation on the previous day. Right after the surgery before I came back from the op-room, according to her, my doc came and explained her how the operation went and showed her my cyst. She said it looked like half-dried fig or something. (It must have shrunk a little by the time she saw it. )

BTW, originally I was going to stay in the private room on the day of the surgery only. But a nurse said there was no request for a private room on the 12th and no surgery was scheduled for that weekend, so I decided to stay in the same room until the 14th, unless someone wanted a private room.

Now, I was so absolutely completely hungry that morning. No food for more than 30 hours! Oh how anxiously I waited for lunch that day!! When it was finally served, (See the photo of the lunch here), I gobbled it up in no time.

A couple of hours after lunch, I walked to the bathroom, escorted by a nurse. (I needed to be escorted the first time only.) I had no problem, and I even had the bowel movement then. Gee, I know my digestive system has been so anxious to work, but isn’t it a bit too early??? … It must have been the leftover from before the surgery. :P

After lunch, instead of going back to sleep, I decided to try and find out what I can do and how much on the day after the surgery. (One reason was that my back pain was getting worse and I felt easier sitting than lying in the bed.) So when my boss (daytime job) came with a beautiful flower basket, I was sketching this. Looks like my eye-hand coordination wasn’t too terrible 24 hours after the operation, don’t you think? Anyway, the first thing the boss said was, “Oh, you’re looking better than when you’re working in the office.” Looking better?! Come on, what happened to the flood of sympathy?! :O Another visitor, my colleague (nighttime job), came around dinner time and updated me with what was going on in the office. To be honest, eating required quite an effort then and it was really hard to carry on a conversation at the same time during my dinner. I felt guilty that I couldn't concentrate on what she was saying.

Perhaps it was a little too much for me to take on the first day after the surgery. My fever went up a little that night, and for some reason, I started feeling a pulling pain in my abdomen when I urinated (more precisely, as the bladder emptied). Other than that, I still felt almost no pain at all, except the time when I coughed. But I decided to take a pain killer (Voltaren) with rebamipide, as I had been advised to do, hoping it would relieve my back pain that night. Again, it was my biggest mistake that I hadn't thought about getting a bed back support cushion for this hospital stay...

To be cont’d...


手術の翌日

ア ホな話ですが、私小さい頃から、時々自分の入院生活を妄想してました。…弱々しくベッドに横たわる私を見て、お見舞いの人は驚き、もぉ同情の嵐。ぐちひと つこぼさず、笑顔で果敢につらいリハビリを耐える私に、お医者も看護師さんも感心する…。いや～、現実はほど遠かったですぜ。爆）

12日 （手術の次の日）の朝早くに点滴は終わり、尿の管も外されました。たぶんその前に心電図も外されてたと思うけど、いつごろだったか忘れた。何もかも順調み たいでした。その朝にもうガスも出て、診に来てくれた看護師さんやセンセにそう言いました。喉は痛みも声枯れもなく、しゃべっても全然大丈夫。あの実習生 さん、うまいことやってくれたんやなぁ（良かった…！）でも何よりオドロキなのは、傷が全然痛くない。咳をした時だけはひびくけど、それくらいのもんで。

後 で別の看護師さんが来て、ベッドを起こしサイドテーブルを持ってきて、私のコップと歯ブラシと、口をゆすいだ後に吐き出す入れ物とをそこに用意してくれま した。そこで歯を磨いてうがい。その日にシャワーも浴びていいと言われたけど、なんか頭ふらっとしそうで自信なくて、と言ったら、後で身体を拭く蒸しタオ ルを持ってきてくれました。

母が来たとき、前日の手術の後の様子を聞きました。手術のすぐ後、まだ私が戻ってこないうちに、主治医のセン セが来て手術の結果を教えてくれて、嚢腫を見せてくれたらしい。なんか、ちょっと乾いたイチジクか何かみたいやった、だそうで。（摘出してから母が見るま でに、いくらかしぼんだらしい。）

ところで、もともと私は手術の日だけ個室にいるつもりだったけど、看護師さんが、12日は他に個室のリクエストはなくて、手術の予定もないというので、他に個室をリクエストする人が出てこない限りそのまま１4日までいすわることにしました。

で、私はとにかくこの朝、壮絶にお腹すいてました。30時間以上の絶食の後ですもん。もぉお昼がどんだけ待ち遠しかったか！やっとお昼ゴハンが来たとき（写真はコチラ）、瞬時に平らげましたね。

1,2 時間たってから、初めてお手洗いに歩いて行きました。（最初の1回だけは看護師さんが付いて行くことになってるそうで。）問題ナシ。ついでにお通じまであ りました。えぇ？いくら私の消化器官が働く気マンマンやったからって、あんまり早すぎやない？？？たぶん手術前から残ってた分ですかネ…:P

昼食後はまた寝るかわりに、手術の翌日にどんだけの事ができるか試してみることにしました。（ひとつには、腰痛がひどくなってきて、寝てるより座ってるほうが楽だったんで。）なので、昼間の職場の上司がキレイな花かごを持って来てくれた時には、私こんなモン描 いてました。術後24時間の時点での目と手の働きはそんなに悪くない、でしょ？で、入ってくるなり上司曰く、「あら、事務所で仕事しゆう時より今のほうが 元気そうやんか。」今のほうが元気って？！ちょっと、同情の嵐は？！もう一人のお見舞いは夜の職場の同僚で、夕食の頃に来てくれて、職場のニュースを教え てくれました。正直、その時は食べること自体にすっごい努力が要って、同時に話をするのはしんどくて、彼女には悪いけどあまり話に集中できなかったです。

た ぶんこれは手術の翌日にしてはちょっと盛りだくさんすぎたらしく、その夜はちょっと熱が出ました。それとなぜか、トイレに行って膀胱が空になっていくと き、それにつれてキューっとひっぱるような痛みが出始めたんです。それ以外の時は咳をしない限り痛みはなかったけど、言われてたように、痛み止めのボルタ レンをムコスタ（胃粘膜保護の薬）と一緒に飲んどきました。それで寝る時の腰痛が楽にならないかなぁと思って。とにかく、今回の入院に、腰痛対策の腰枕か 何かを持ってこなかったのは最大の失敗でした。

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Categories: Dermoid