Surgery done, worst thing?

[ajay_22_86]

Just thought I'd let everyone know I'm out of hospital and thank you for the good wishes.

Not to sound glum to future patients, but I'm interested in finding out what people think is the worst thing about the operation? Future patients keep in mind that you bounce back from the lows quickly and if you do worry a lot it's probably better not to read this thread!


For me the worst thing was the nausea from the pain killers. The only thing I could tolerate was paracetomol and ibopurofen. Anything else just made my head spin and want to throw up. What made it worse was that whatever made you sick when you were nauseas (spelling?!), made me sick even after the nausea. For example...the paper bowl they used to provide to throw up in had a terrible smell when I was sick, and even the sight of it later when I was 'better' was enough to make me gag!

 

[geebee]

So very happy that you are home - congrats.

Worst thing for me with each surgery? Hands down - the breathing tube.

 

[laurad37]

Glad you are home also and wishing you a smooth recovery. For me it was the nasua. I threw up the same night I had surgery (in the ICU)and a couple times in my regular room. I still feel sorry for the nurse i threw up all over. They gave me some nausau meds one night that didn't work and I remember sitting there with the puke bucket crying over the intercom to my nurse that it wasn't working. I was in so much pain from the throwing up so they gave me more pain pills that seemed to work. At one point they gave me anti nausua meds they use for cancer patients that's how bad it was.

The breathing tube wasn't so bad it was the small skinny tube next to it that pissed me off.

 

[ruthienc1]

I had to think hard- because it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared.......but I have to second Gina on the vent! Fortunately I was awake for less than two hours on it (and that was enough for me!). My lips were so dry and I just couldn't let them know the problem.

 

[kfay]

Two things were a tie for me...the anxiety beforehand and vomiting while I was still vented (I plan to never let that happen again!).

Glad you made it to this side! Take it easy.

 

[Freddie]

The worst?????
The draining tubes being removed and coming off (down) the morphine.

 

[Jkm7]

So happy you are safely over the mountain.

I am so incredibly fortunate that no medications seem to make me sick to my stomach. I've had four surgeries in my life and anesthesia has never been a problem for me....yet. I know that can always change.

The worst for me my first OHS was when they pulled my three drainage tubes. The pain was the worst I ever felt in my life. Terrible.

I was so frightened of it the second time, I asked for pre-meds prior to them pulling my Four tubes and it was hugely easier.

I can't really think of anything so terribly awful my second time. It went rather smoothly and pain management was very good.

 

[marie]

There's no place like home so I'm glad you're back.

The worst thing for me was the vent and running a close second was the pain in my left shoulder.

Earline

 

[Marguerite53]

Congratulations! Good job making it through!!

Fun idea to share "war stories".... sort of! I had no trouble with tube removal...any of them (don't remember the breathing tube) and drainage tubes were a "count to 3 and exhale" kind of whoosh. I had a urinary tract infection from the cath and those meds made me very nauseous and heavily tired so we had to fix that right away. Not very much about it was awful for me. What I hated the most was not being able to take a shower and wash my hair until the last morning! Yechhh.

Pain was always managed perfectly. I slept a lot. Sorry that you had such a nasty smell experience, I can totally imagine it was dreadful!!

Wishing you a successful and uneventful recovery!

Marguerite

 

[jax]

welcome home ajay. so glad you made it out of the hospital and are at home. i will be there in the next day or two myself. and considering that i was in complete heart block and thankfully i was in a good hospital i will definitely will see my home in a very different light because it did come close to me not seeing it again. the worst thing i thought of the surgery was definitely the breathing tubes. although i didn't have them in for long just the fact that i was awake and had to try to keep spitting out stuff around the tape because they weren't suctioning enough was enough to drive me nuts. the nausea i could handle and have only thrown up 3 times thankfully. So i would say the second thing that was the worst was the pain and the bumps in the road to going home.

 

[njean]

Congratulations on being home! I hope that your recovery goes smooth & please take care!

P.S My worse experience was the breathing tube, hands down. And being "hog tied" to keep from trying to yank it out didn't make things any easier either!

 

[deek]

Welcome home! Hope you have smooth sailing from this point on. For me, it was the pain, which was poorly managed, in my opinion. I thought intensive care meant "intensive care." Didn't find this to be the case where I was. I would be left for hours before anyone attended to me. Not ALL the nurses were like this was, I was just unfortunate to have the worst nurse tending (or I should say NOT attending to me) on my worst day. Finally, it took my husband to demand they put me on a morphine pump and then I was good to go. Prior to my surgery, I read a post about not having your surgery on a Friday...welll, I did, and learned the hard way.

 

[terodac]

Everybody has bad days and low days. I threw up all over two nurses in ICU, I told them I was getting sick! They were so sweet about it! I mean all over them, I know they had to go change clothes! Things do get better and life is good, be happy and be blessed to know that you are fixed now! Hang in there!

 

[Adrienne]

The nausea and even vomiting (even when there was nothing to vomit up but bile) were the worst things for me. I know what you mean about the memory of the things that made you nauseous. Even when the real nausea had passed, the smell of certain things kind of triggered the nausea.

 

[palmaceae]

Praying for a quick recovery for you!
The worst thing for me was them taking the pacer wire out! The tubes were not much better. Also I certainly did not like how I felt for 6 weeks afterward, thought I would never feel better but by God's grace I am much better now!

 

[cherylchapa]

Congrats on making it home. I don't have any first-hand experience on the worst thing for the patient as I am the mother of the patient. Can't get an answer from the patient because he was only 5 months old the last time. But for me, the worst thing was seeing my baby bloated and purple with all those tubes and wires and not able to hold him and comfort him. Second worst was handing my perfect sleeping baby over to Dweezle Zappa the anesthesiologist right before the surgery. Couldn't they find an anesthesiologist without all those tattoos and piercings? Sheesh!

 

[Tom F.]

For me the worst part were the weeks before surgery. The fear was unreal. The surgery was nothing compared to that, at least for me!

 

[Eva]

Happy for you that you are home.

Worst thing for me was 'tapping' my back every 20 minutes the first 24 hours after surgery without 'mercy' nor sympathy to my begging them to give me a break and especially at night to let me stay asleep!! In fact, I am grateful they did that...my lungs were clear and crispy in no time.

 

[Shari]

My worst was not having nurses respect my husband and myself.

I had no problems with my chest tubes being removed, because the three people that were pulling on them were cracking jokes, me right along with them. It seemed where ever I went my room was the most unprofessional.

My husband had the hardest time, because of me almost dieing with both surgeries.

 

[gustaf]

Waking up was the worst part for me. I had strange dejavu experiences of all small conversations I had in the ICU, going round and round, and for a while I thought I was actually dead, and even asked the nurses if this was the case (several times).

Otherwise, it was general pain and nausea and when they tested if I really had a full AV block or not (by taking away the temporary, external pacemaker) and when the heart literally stopped until they connected it again. Uggh. (I have now developed a secondary beat of about 40/min, which feels good).

::g