My spirit was pretty high. Not because of narcotic pain killers, but because recovery from kidney donation was MUCH easier than I had anticipated. I wasn't loopy at all, nor felt like I was being dragged through intense misery and wo, which is what I was expecting for the first whole week.
The surgeon and his transplant staff came in to answer any questions I had. I thought it was funny that they kept complimenting me for doing such a great job in surgery. Yah, because sleeping was really hard work! Haha.
The narcotic pain medications didn't take all the pain away, but the pain I experienced was manageable. It felt to me much like the after-birth pains women experience as their uterus clamps down the days after a birth, only the cramping didn't come and go, but stayed steady. It was also higher than the after birth pains. This ache was across my belly side-to-side on a muscle between my ribs and my belly button.
The nurse had certain milestones for me. To me, that is an assignment, if I want to get an A, so I made it my goal to meet each milestone that was set out for me.
The catheter was taken out, and I learned how to get out of bed and walk to the toilet and pee in a plastic hat held in place by the toilet seat. When I was finished, I pulled a string to let the attendant know they could measure and chart how much had come from me. Those were two milestones completed. Check and check.
I was disconnected from the oxygen tube. Check.
Another milestone was to take my medicine orally, rather than through the IV. Check that off, they took that portion of IV off. The kept my IV in to put fluids through me and clear my kidney, but no more regularly dripping meds in it.
The other was to get me walking the halls four times a day. My first attempt, I was super dizzy at first, then I felt nauseated, but I was determined to take that walk. When I got to the door of my room the nausea hit really hard! The physical therapists told me they were taking me back to my bed. The feeling of nausea went away, probably with a few burps.
The reason walking is so important is that it helps to wake up the bowels. The nurse said that if I could toot, the nausea would no longer be a problem, because everything would be heading south, like normal. Once or twice a day the nurses listen to my bowel, but my bowels are not making a sound.
My second walk, my personal goal was to walk two doors down, because that is where the physical therapist said is the most distance people get their first time. Well, when I got two doors down, I realized that my friend was only 5 doors away, so I went to pay her a visit. On the way back to my room, my stomach muscles were getting tired.
My third walk took me all around the hallway block, and the fourth was two laps. I felt accomplished.
Two of my closest friends paid me a visit that day. I loved their visits! Toward the end of the day I made three comments:
"If this is what I feel like with Lortab in my system, I don't want to find out how it feels without the Lortab."
"If this is my worst day, then recovery as donor is a breeze!"
"I really don't want to go home tomorrow, because this was such a good day, I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow ends up being the worst."
I called it!
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