I awoke to
the sound of a person bellowing about pain. Didn’t sound heavenly with the
expletives but didn’t look like hell so I must still be alive.
I was
just completing an inventory of my body parts, all of which moved or wiggled
when a young blond haired female face popped into my curtained enclosure
whishing me hello and welcoming me to post-operative care.
First a
few inane questions about who and where I was. Next – “You just had major
surgery, are you in pain?” ... "No!" Obviously
she doubted my cognitive abilities as I was shown some silly pictures of smiley
and non-smiley faces and asked to pick a picture. I picked the happy smiling
face.
“That’s because
of the epidural! They rarely last so I suggest you take some morphine now
before it wears off. Is that OK?”
Sure why
not! …
“What time zone am I on? What country am I in?
It doesn't matter, it's five o'clock somewhere.”
Alan Jackson
… Next I
remember contemplating that I was laying on the most comfortable mattress I
have ever been on or possibly I had become a floating smiley happy face.
Standing
and walking were the next major buzz words. Sounded great to me except for the
major freak out moment when I discovered a tube up my penis. A deal was offered to
remove the tube and I would have two hours to pee in some plastic urinal to
prove the epidural was not in control of my bladder.
I had no
problems standing or walking since I felt no pain. I believe I was up and
walking around post op within an hour or two of when I woke up. I even had my own
roadie pushing my machines around on a cart. It was cool!
Obviously
happy smiley faces are not welcome to stay in ICU. Surgery was at Noon and later that afternoon, I was waving
good bye to ICU as I headed upstairs with my new best friend the ‘Epidural of Fentanyl’
to recover.
Patrick Leer
BLOGS:
Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/
My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/
health
lung cancer
hospitals
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