As far as I know surgery went well and according to the plan. The acute pain team did a abdominal nerve block and then had me on ketamine and lidocaine drips. The ketamine made me feel terrible! If I kept my eyes closed I could talk to people and seemed somewhat with it, but when I opened my eyes the room was spinning and I had double vision. Closing my eyes was okay, but I had visions of mountains in a coloring book that someone was slowly coloring in. I felt myself smiling when the black and white outline filled with color. It was kind of like watch a Bob Ross episode in my mind. Needless to say, I asked if we could stop that! The ketamine came off last night. For those of you I texted last night, sorry if it didn’t make sense. My eyes were not doing well focusing on letters on the phone. I’m a little unsure of the timeline and don’t remember much about recovery at all. I got up to a room at 6:45 PM (perfect timing for the day nurse to get a new patient right before shift change). **I can’t figure out how to change the orientation of this photo and get it to save, so it will just have to be a sideways view!
My pain has been pretty well controlled with the lidocaine and I did ask for one PRN dose of hydromorphone this morning. I have one JP drain and several laproscopic port sites, but the majority of pain is coming from the drain area. I have been able to get up and go to the restroom first with assistance and now I am able to do it by myself. I just changed out of the cumbersome hospital and put on a bra, shorts, and tank top, so I am feeling a bit more like myself. I’m looking forward to watching some movies and trash TV today and plan to walk the halls after each time I get up to go to the restroom. Feel free to text and if I’m awake I will chat, but don’t get worried or offended if it takes me a bit to respond.