OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

May 13th 2007 – 2nd day after the surgery –

Thanks to the pain killer, I felt less pain when urinated or coughed that morning. Other times, the incisions did not hurt, which was rather strange. Another strange thing was that my muscles were not weak like they were after I suffered from a high fever or something in the past. Honestly, already on the 12th, I felt that my arms were strong enough to do 10 push-ups if necessary. (Of course it wasn’t.) So I thought everything was going to be easier on the 13th … until the breakfast was brought to my bed. Yes, the biggest challenge of the day came from an unexpected direction; It was “eating.”

As I wrote here on my foodblog, I guess my taste buds were a bit messed up after the surgery. Salty food tasted terribly salty and sour dish was super-sour, and I felt less sweetness in everything. And eating stringy food with such messed-up taste was unbelievably unpleasant and almost exhausting. Believe me... It was my first time being in a cold sweat just from eating.

Of course I didn’t have to eat up the meal. But since there was no painful rehab as I had fantasized about before, there was no chance to demonstrate my heroism. LOL OK, then, I’ll try and see if I can eat up all the meals served to me here. There’s not much to do while I'm here anyway… Well, there were better reasons for that attempt, actually -- I was afraid of being hungry at night. Some oatmeal raisin cookies were still left in the can as emergency food, but I couldn’t stand the smell of the spices. And that morning, I didn’t think I could walk all the way to the shop in the hospital to buy food yet. So eating meals was the only way to get necessary nutrition, I thought.

When mom came that day, the first thing she said was, “I don’t know how I do this, but I got lost and went to the annex again…” Oh, mom… I gave up on the idea of asking her to go to the shop to buy food for me. Besides, I had no idea what I wanted to eat then. (BTW, mom visited me every day after the surgery because she had nothing else to do. She stayed in my apartment room for 3 nights instead of going home after my surgery on the 11th and coming back early on the 14th. The idea was saving her time and money (because her town was apx. 100 kilometers away from Kochi city and public transportation was not convenient) and saving my balcony garden from drying up, but poor mom didn’t know how to kill time in a big city.)

Early in the afternoon, my boss’s wife (nighttime job) visited me. Right after that, I took my first shower after the surgery. It sounded like a scary idea in the beginning, but when I saw my abdomen, I understood why they said it was OK to take a shower as early as on the 12th. The incisions looked much smaller than I had thought, not bleeding or anything, and they were completely covered by very thin, transparent film dressing. Yeah, I see. This way no water could get in. Wow… These days there are adhesives like these, ha? I didn’t know this then, but underneath the transparent adhesives, the incisions were sealed with liquid adhesive (hydrogel dressing?). Of course, I felt no pain while or after taking a shower.

And soon it was time to think about leaving the hospital! I decided to leave there as early as possible on the 14th. It wasn’t that I hated staying there, but there was nothing to do there! My vitals were all OK. They took my blood sample, and I was sure it would turn out OK, too. Then why do I need to keep occupying the private room? I’m not even getting rest here! YES. This was what I learned during my hospital stay: You can’t really feel relaxed or rested when you are in a bad condition. You need a certain level of healthiness to be able to feel fully rested, I guess. That day, I was already able to adjust the bed myself, so I tried many different angles, but nothing really helped my backache. :(

Later in the evening, I went ahead and walked to the shop in the hospital. As I wrote before, my muscles were not weak, but somehow I felt like my feet were not firmly on the ground. And I felt a cold sweat everytime I felt the task I was doing was “a little too much.” But I made it. ;) I managed to buy bananas, yogurt and plain bread for my midnight snack and breakfast for the next morning. Yeah, I got tired of struggling with the miso soup and cancelled the breakfast for the morning of the 14th.


To be cont'd...


術後2日目

痛 み止めの おかげで、その朝、お手洗いに行ったときと咳をした時の痛みはだいぶマシでした。それ以外のときは傷は全然痛まなくて、ヘンな感じ。他にもヘンな感じだっ たのは、以前に高熱が出た後とかには筋肉が弱ってたのに、今回はそうじゃないこと。前の日にはもう腕なんか、必要なら10回ぐらい腕立て伏せできそうな状 態でしたもん。（必要ないけど。）なので、てっきりこの13日には、何もかもかなり楽になるだろうと思ってました…朝ゴハンが来るまでは。そぉなんです、 最大の難関は思わぬ所から来ましたわ。キツかったのは、食べることやったんです。

食べ物のブログの 方に書いたけど、たぶん私の味覚は手術 の後ちょっとオカシくなってたみたいで。塩辛いものはものっすご塩辛く、酸っぱいものはすんごく酸っぱく感じて、でも甘味はあまり感じない状態。その味覚 で、スジの多い食べ物を食べるのって信じられないくらい不快で、体力的にもグッタリ来たんですよ。いやホンマに。初めてでしたね、食べるというだけのこと にあんなに冷や汗かいたのは。

モチロン食事は残しても良かったんですけど。でも辛いリハビリもなく、他に、私のけなげさをアピールするネ タが何もなかったもんで。爆）　それやったら、ここで出てくる食事を全部完食してみようじゃないか。どうせ他にたいしてすることもないし…ということで。 まあ、他に もっとマシな理由もあったんです。夜中にお腹がすくのが怖くて。非常食のオートミール･レーズン･クッキーはまだ残ってたけど、スパイスのにおいが耐えら れなくなってたし。その朝にはまだ、売店まで歩いて食べ物を買いに行けるとは思わなかったし。この食事以外に栄養をとる道はない、と思ってました。

そ の日母が来た時、最初の言葉は、「どーしてか知らんけど、また別館の方に行ってしもうた。」…はいはい….。母に売店に買い物に行ってもらうのはあきらめ ました。どっちみち、自分が何が食べたいのかもその時はわからなかったし。（ところで、母は私の手術以降、毎日来てましたけど、他にすることなかったんで す。なんせ家は高知市から100 km離れてて交通機関は不便。11日の手術のあと田舎に帰ってまた14日の朝早くこっちに来るのは時間とお金のムダやし、私のバルコニーの植物に水もやっ てもらいたいし、ということで、彼女は私のアパートに3泊。でも街で時間のつぶし方を知らない母でした。）

午後早くに、夜の職場の上司の 奥様が来てくださいました。その後、術後最初のシャワーに挑戦。はじめはチョット怖かったけど、お腹を見てみたら、なぜ12日にはもうシャワーを浴びてい いと言われたのかわかりました。傷は思ったより小さくて、出血もなく、薄い透明のドレッシングで完璧にカバーされてました。なるほどね～。これやったら水 は入らんね。すごぉ…今はこんな絆創膏があるんや。で、この時は知らなかったけど、その透明の絆創膏の下には液体絆創膏（ハイドロゲルドレッシング？）が 塗ってあったのでした。もちろん、シャワー浴びても痛みはナシ。

そしてなんと早くも、退院を考える時が！結局、14日できるだけ朝早くに 退院することにしました。病院がイヤというわけじゃないけど、することがないですもん。バイタル問題ないし。検査のため血液を採ったけど、その結果もおそ らくOKだろうし。ならなんのために残って個室を占領してる必要がある？身体の休息にすらなってないのに。そう。今回入院して学んだけど、体調が悪い時と いうのは、本当にリラックスしたとか安らいだとか感じられないもんですよ。ホントに安らいだと感じるには、ある程度の体調の良さがあってこそ、ですわ。そ の日、もう自分でベッドを調節できたので、いろんな角度を試してみたけど、やっぱり腰痛は楽になりませんでした。

夕方遅くなってから、思 い切って売店 まで歩いてみました。前に書いたように、筋肉は弱ってないのに、なんか地にシッカリ足がついてないようなフワフワした感じ。で、これは今の段階でチョット 大変かなぁと思うような事をするたび、冷や汗がドッと。でもなんとかイケましたよ。夜食と翌日の朝食のために、バナナとヨーグルトとパンを買いました。 そ う、14日の朝食はキャンセルしたんです。もう味噌汁と格闘するのにさすがに疲れたんで。

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Categories: Dermoid