#23 Sep 20^th

My roommate is going home today.  Her mom is a nurse and knows what to do for her, so maybe that’s why she’s getting out after only 2 full days.  I’m a little envious of her progress and look at my left hand with disdain.  If she can do it, I should be able to as well.  I need to walk some more.

Since I’m not using the morphine pump my nurse lets me know that I can get unhooked after breakfast and have a shower.  WOW, that sounds fantastic.  She also lets me know that I don’t have to keep recording my fluid output.  That’s another positive sign that I’m getting better.  Success is mine!  The fluid part seems to be working well, but nothing is happening in the bowel department, yet.  The one question I’ve heard from the nurses several times in the last 24 hours is, “Are you passing gas?”  If the answer is yes, it means that my bowel is functional and the surgery was a success.  I haven’t yet, but I can feel gas moving around in there.  Is that good?  I hope so.

True to her word, my nurse removes the morphine pump from my hand, but leaves the I.V. needle in place, just in case. I’m disappointed with that but at least I don’t have to take that pole with me everywhere I go. Freedom!

 I enjoy having the shower water run over my sore, tired body. I wash my hair even though I’m not supposed to reach my arms up over my head.  I ask you, how can a head get scrubbed if you don’t put your arms up over your head? I was careful not to stretch anything too much, and nothing hurt more than normal after my shower, so no harm done.

All clean and feeling much better, I dress in my pj pants and t-shirt that I wore into the hospital two days ago. I almost prance down the hallway in my new look, but by the time I get back to my room the waistband of the pants has irritated my stitches far more that I’d like to admit.  I phone home and ask Tina to find my new night gown and some pants with a looser waist so Mike can bring them to me when he comes to visit this afternoon.