Hello, world, post-appendix edition
Hi, world! I’m still here, now free from that pesky appendix, and only lost a small extra bit of intestine in the process. All went as well as it possibly could have, as far as I can tell.
Saturday was Day 5 post op and I’m feeling good enough to write. (altho that is in no way the same as feeling fine.) So here’s a boring summary full of random details from the previous days.
Day 1, surgery. I had a fabulous pre-op nurse named Omar. He set my IV, and when I remarked it ached a bit, he immediately did some magic with tape bits that looked complicated, made the ache disappear. That secured things so well I had zero bruising when it came off the next day. ZERO. Magic. He also warned me about tasting the IV flush liquid when it went in. Weirdest sensation. Less freaky with the warning.
I also got my blood sugar checked, met the surgical nurse and anesthesiologist, was greeted by my surgeon. Soon after that drugs went into the IV, and then it was hours later in the post-anesthesia recovery area where a nurse gave me my glasses and I worked on making things in the middle distance focus again.
I was mainly watching the wall clock, and the uneven progression of time as I woke up was kinda wild. Once I was alert enough, staff started looking for an inpatient bed for me, I amused the nurse by asking if everyone had to be dissuaded from trying to touch their nose and eyes during wake-up. (Yes.)
ANYway, my inpatient Monday at the hospital for observation started around noon when I got to my room and met my nurses. I was not nauseous, and big excitement, I was allowed to choose from the FULL liquids menu, so I picked cream of wheat, jello, pudding, and broth for lunch and dinner.
Other thrilling activities included playing with my new fidget toy incentive spirometer, taking two wobbly walks around the recovery unit, and resting comfortably on the chair and in my bed while wearing fancy inflatable leg warmers.
Recovery wards are noisy, busy places. I’d planned to bring noise canceling headphones, but forgot, plus I did have meds scheduled though the night, so I did not get the best sleep despite being pretty exhausted.
Day 2, I was cleared for solid food early, albeit on a “soft foods” diet & “low-fiber” plus one exceedingly cautious about my food sensitivities. That meant no banana, (too much fiber) no greek yogurt (citrus? really?Whatever.) The dietician worked patiently through options with me, & I enjoyed the heck out of my breakfast taters, peach yogurt, and dinner rolls. The surgical residents approved me for discharge soon after that, the hospitalist eventually got around to signing off, and I was home by 4 and dining on a celebratory Portillos vanilla shake and fries. Which I split across two “meals” so as not to shock my body with too much food too fast.
Since then my current daily routine is simple: hygiene/wound care, meds, breakfast, relocating to the couch and watching brainless bad tv & movies, eating wee meals through the day n evening, plus hourly pacing around the house so I do not become a complete barnacle.
Every day I can handle more activity and move a bit easier. Today I even walked outside once! Around the block! But that was major exertion, and I had to take a long nap, after. I can almost bend over again. Almost.
Pain is a funny thing. The IV toradol I was on in the hospital was dramatically effective. I was sent home with Big Tylenols and Big Buffered Advils that are doing just fine at keeping things muted down below 4 on the ouch scale.
As of today I’m down to 2 doses of Tylenol per day and an Advil between, plus a Lyrica at night. (I was also prescribed Norco but declined it, not out of stoicism or fear of addiction, but because my experience w/opiods has been that the pain reduction isn’t worth the awful side effects.)
Anyway. The biggest excitement was Day 3, when Spouseman had to make an extra grocery run to procure a better selection of Easy Soft Foods.
The directions for “Soft Food Diet” are along the lines of " you can go back to eating your normal foods in moderation, except for <insert the long list of forbidden foods here>
The problem being that the Venn diagram of the forbidden foods and my normal foods overlaps nearly perfectly. (high-fiber grain products, raw vegetables, lettuce & other greens, nuts, seeds, fruits with skins…)
There’s a lot off the table until January. Lean protein is highly recommended, however, and potatoes are allowed, and CANNED FRUIT gets a thumbs up.
So I am all good. I’m gonna be finding lots of creative things to do with fully-cooked grilled chicken slices. Turkey sandwiches will likely be a staple. Baked apples. Peanut butter toast. White cake.
Basically, I’ll be eating like 12-year-old me, only without the nutritional guilt trip I got back then. And it’s a good thing I have the typical ADHD high tolerance for choosing the same foods over and over, cuz there’s only so much that can be done within the limits.
I’ll be asking about hummus and bacon at the surgical followup on Tuesday because I’d really like to celebrate with some bacon & pancakes.
BUT I DIGRESS. So you know I am still me, even without my appendix.
My other big restriction these days is the usual “lift nothing heavier than 10 pounds for 6 weeks” instructions after getting stitches in one’s belly.
That wouldn’t be a big deal, I’m not planning any ambitious physical activity after all, except that Pippin weighs 22 lbs.
Thus he’s a bit miffed at me these days, as I am not picking him up like I usually do. He is accustomed to being carried everywhere on demand like the pampered prince of the world that he is.
He also currently annoyed about being forbidden from sleeping with me. Alas, he cannot be trusted not to plant a paw on sutures or somewhere else sensitive whenever he decides it’s Pet The Cat O’clock, so the door stays closed to him at night. Poor, sad, neglected cat.
He is getting a lot of extra treats as compensation, though. He’s certain all the extra yogurt and chicken on the menu is for him, of course.
That’s enough nothingness for this post. Behold, here be highlight pics of the week. Which of course mostly means Pippin.
What’s on your bookshelf?
This is the part where I talk about my books.
Relics From A Traveling Show
The newest of the new! A collection of all my short fictions in one handy volume, available now from your favorite booksite or local shop.
Or! OR! if you like your local library, you could request a purchase. Free for you, sale for me, everyone wins.
Most libraries need the following info for ordering print books:
Title: Relics From A Traveling Show
Author: K. M. Herkes
ISBN: 9781945745201 (paperback)
Every library system does things a little differently, but most want their collections to serve their communities, so most of them are very responsive to patron requests.
If you like novels more than short stories, I recommend my series The Rollover Files for hopepunk tales of about an alternate world where moms with midlife crisis superpowers have been saving the world and making the military nervous since 1943.
I also have a completed, quirky slow-burn science fiction thriller duology with a romance chaser: The Stories Of The Restoration.
All my titles are available from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Hoopla, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Overdrive and many other fine booksellers.
Support your favorite independent bookseller! Find a local shop via Indiebound
Be a potato.
" Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground."
Terry Pratchett (Small Gods)