As I left off, my roomie was very loud and combative. Her mom had to stay with her all night, not that it did much good. About 8pm, my nurse came in and told me that they would soon be taking me to CT. She told me its routine and that my doctor likes to do it after surgery. I assumed that meant they'd be there soon...oh no....nobody arrived to take me to CT until 1:30 am in the morning, right when the roomie was falling asleep.
This caused a huge uproar. She was screaming obscenities at me and was not happy. But I couldn't be concerned with her. I had to be concerned with the fact that this was going to be the first time I was getting up, less then 12 hours after surgery. My night nurse, Mei (pronounced May), helped me stand. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I was also on the PCA. I basically did a stand and pivot to the transfer stretcher and Mei helped me put my legs in the bed and off to CT I went.
I wish I could say the CT Techs were as gentle, but they weren't. I offered to stand and pivot to their table but the opted that I scoot from my bed to their table. Which was extremely hard for me. I felt so heavy, and so weak. It took time but I made it. But since it took so long for me to scoot, they offered to let me stand pivot when it was time to stand up and transfer back to the transfer gourney. But they also decided they were going to help me sit up instead of letting me sit up on my own. They used the sheet as a tool and yanked me up with no warning. You CANNOT do that to someone who has had spine surgery. You just can't. I cried so bad. And they were like, oh did that hurt? Pardon my french, but no shit sherlock, of course it hurt. When I arrived back in my room, Mei helped me back into bed. Thank God for Mei. She was my best friend.
About 4am, my roomie and her mom decided it was time to wake up and had their lights and television on (rather loudly). I was having a hard time sleeping because I was having severe muscle spasms. Mei couldn't seem to find an order for a muscle relaxer. She said that was odd because people normally get them. Well I decided I wanted to get up and get into the chair because the bed was not comfortable. It was causing more pain. My muscle spasmsed so bad as we were getting me out of bed that I was crying uncontrollably. Bless Mei's heart, she finally got me in the chair and said she was going to find out the issue about my muscle relaxer. At the hospital, the doctor gives the nurses the orders to put in the computer. The day nurse didn't enter my valium order. It was in my physical chart, not the computer. I was supposed to be recieving valium every 6 hours. Mei apologized profusely for the day shift nurse's mishap, and immediately gave me a double dose (okayed by the doctor) and when that kicked in I was able to get sleep in the reclining chair with lots of pillows until morning rounds.
U of M is a huge teaching hospital so during morning rounds you end up talking to like 3 residents before you actually talk to your doctor. Before I even talked to a resident, my morning nurse came in and said she was pulling my PCA and my cath. I really wasn't given a choice. She did that and gave me a dose of oral pain meds and I ordered breakfast while waiting for the doctors. The first resident came in and just talked to about how I was doing and how she felt I was going to do well. She then asked because I was a young person and that young people tend to not like to stay in the hospital, if I wanted to go home that day. I honestly was kind of taken aback by that. My doctor had said I'd be in the hospital for at least three days and here some resident was asking if I wanted to come home when I hadn't even walked yet. I hadn't even gone to the bathroom yet as I had just had the cath pulled 1 hour prior to that talk. I told her I wasn't comfortable going home yet and she said that was okay.
Then my doctor came in to talk to me, showed me the CT and said everything looked good. He said that if I did well I'd probably go home the next day. After that talk, I decided it was time for me to try and walk. I decided to start with a trip to the bathroom where I wanted to change into my own comfy clothes (anyone will agree those hospital gowns are terrible). I had the same day nurse as I had the day before, and still hadn't seen a CNA on my unit at all....so I had assumed the nurse would help me get dressed since you cant bend/twist/or lift. Oh no. She just gave me my clothes, shut the door and left. I literally was like WHAT THE HELL? So, to this day I have no idea how I did it, but I got myself dressed and decided that I did not like the staff on this unit during the day and I was gonna make myself walk enough to where I could go home the next day. I wasn't gonna put up with another day of this, which I was so saddened by because I've never had a single bad experience with U of M until then.
I spent the majority of the day sitting in the recliner for a bit, walking, sitting, walking. I honestly probably over did it, but I wanted out of there. That evening I had a few visitors, including my best friend who drove three hours from Cleveland to see me. I then spent the night in the recliner because I couldn't sleep in the bed. I could turn over or "log roll" out of the bed. My lower back literally felt like I had a cinder block in it and I just couldnt do it. So I just slept in the chair. The next morning they asked me if I wanted to go home, and I was like yes.... lets get out of this place. So I was discharged on Saturday about 12pm. And I think we will end this here and start the next entry about being home. :)
Me freshly out of surgery
The day after surgery
Before the incision bandages came off
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