LTHR Recovery Day 9. The last week has been very rough for me. My first 2 days out of surgery went very well - good appetite, etc. Second night I had a lot of pain in back and incision. Thought nurse would give me another Percocet, but she gave me Tramadol instead. I slept 2.5 hours and was grateful. Next day my occasional nausea increased. I kept a bucket nearby during OT and got sick in the middle of the session. They gave me anti-nausea med through IV which helped a bit. But it felt like a steel wool pad was constantly scraping my stomach area. After that, I couldn't keep any food down. They gave me a different nausea med. Hospital said I had to go home that day. I said I felt very nauseous with pain in head and stomach and weak with dehydration. I was still on Percocet for pain. No constipation thankfully. Said they couldn't keep me in hospital for nausea - hip was doing well. As they were wheeling me out to the car to go home I threw up in my trusty bucket again. Felt horrible on ride home and got sick again when we arrived.
Called OS the next day. He said to stop Percocet (I had already.) He thought I was having a reaction to the meds. I was only having ice cubes and mint tea that day. Stomach pain was bad and head was throbbing. I couldn't read or watch TV without feeling sicker. (Missed Bonesmart so much! ) This went on until Day 6 sometimes with dry heaves. On Day 5 OS said that I might've gotten a stomach bug. I felt I was just going downhill and late afternoon Day 6 went to emergency room.
Waited 3 hours to be treated, sitting there crying sometimes with poor hubby rubbing my neck and daughter squeezing my hand and reading her Harry Potter. Hospital was at "Code yellow for hospital capacity". It was like a big party in the ER on Saturday! My stomach and head pain and nausea were worse. Mouth dry no matter how many water sips I took. I just wanted to lie down.
Finally they took me and put me on IV fluids for the dehydration and gave me anti- nausea med as well. I mercifully slept. They did EKG, bloodwork and took x-rays to check for obstruction which turned out fine, but showed a lot of gas in intestinal area. I started to feel a bit better but head still hurt, so they gave me a motrin like pain reliever through IV before I went home. Also gave me an anti-nausea Rx in case I needed it.
Next day at home I felt a bit better and could have some yogurt, soup and saltines without losing it. All pain was subsiding but still couldn't read or watch TV much.
By Day 8 I was happy to catch up on Bonesmart a bit and could respond to some family and friends online who were wondering why they hadn't heard from me.
All this time I continued to meet with home nurses, OT and PT and to walk when I could with crutches or walker.
OT is here now. Will continue this tedious account later.
United States
