Operation Day, continued

The happiest part of my day was when visitors from 7 doors down the hall came to visit. My recipient friend's husband, his mother, and my recipient's father came to meet me, thank me, and brought flowers... A dozen fuchia roses wth yellow lilies, most of which will be opening once I get home, and purple flox. They were still waiting for my friend to wake up in the recovery room. It would take her about two hours of sleeping before waking up. This is normal for the recipient. I wasn't even sleepy anymore.

Later that evening I had some pain on my neck near my shoulder. That, they said, was normal. When they operate, they pump air into my body so that they can see where they are going and navigate the tools. The pain, pinching really, was the air moving to escape. It just felt like the muscle between my neck and shoulder needed a massage and a pinch in my neck.

Something I have very much enjoyed are the compression bubbles on my lower legs. They were put on me before being wheeled into the operation room. They wrap around my calves and have a tube coming from each leg that hooks into a pump. The pump pumps air into the bubbles around my legs to squeeze one for 5 second, then releases, then squeezes the next leg, then releases. It is meant to keep my blood and fluids moving during the operation and recovery so there is no pooling. I love the massage and keep it going all the time, including while I sleep. Others can't stand it, and after the operation it is optional.

As I was about to get into bed, there was no warning...I had to throw up right now. When it came out, it was only 5 soft burps. After they were expelled, no more nausea. Belching and gas from the other end are celebrated here, because it is an indication that the insides are waking up from the anesthesia. As I reclined my seat into a bed, I had another horrible and sudden wave of nausea. This time it was not gentle burps. My body heaved, only to produce a hard, raspy belch. I decided to sleep in a half sitting position.

That night I was awake every hour to push my pain med button for my IV, every 2 hours for my vitals to be taken, every 4 hours for a vial of blood to be sure my body was healing from the artery nick, and several times when my IV beeped to let us know that there was air in the tube or my IV had to be changed out. I was always surprised that I could get back to sleep just fine.