Hospital Stay - Day 1

Day 1 — Woke up early to take my final pre-op drink and a glass of water. After that I was not allowed to consume anything. Mum and I were at the hospital at 9 and went through admissions relatively quickly. But then the waiting game began! Because I was third on the list, I ended up waiting until almost midday to be called in.. Got to wear the super sexy hospital gown with the paper undies, gorgeous hat and booties! 

. Once I was in a bed, I was taken through to a room just outside the surgery room. This was meant to be the quick and easy part but because I was so dehydrated and my veins are just generally a pain, the anesthetist broke my record for most tries to get a cannula in... After 7 attempts, I was finally connected to a drip. All the nurses praised me though for being so brave about being a pin cushion 😂

. After this "fun" fiasco, I was sat up in preparation for a spinal anesthetic. The anti-bacterial paste was SO COLD! And they had to wipe me 3 times with this bright pink paste. After that, I was given some local anesthetic and was asked to lean forward and push my back towards the nurse administering the spinal... Apparently not only are my veins a pain but do is my spine! 😂 according to the nurse, my vertebrae are very close together so it was hard to get the needle in.. But they eventually got there and it came into effect almost instantly! My toes went fuzzy and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move my legs. I was then taken to the surgery room and the next thing I know, I'm waking up in recovery and it's almost 6pm! . I had a lot of abdominal pain so I had a look at my stomach. The stoma site had ended up on the opposite side that was planned due to the original planned part being too short. So there's a ostomy bag there that's filling up with brown liquid 💩, and my great big incision scar that runs from above my belly button right down into my groin area is covered in blood . 

I'm also connected to a drain which is getting rid of all the excess fluid in the area. I have a catheter so that I don't have to get up and pee! 😂 I also have two pumps.. One is local anesthetic to try and keep the pain down, and the other is a pain-killer pump which has a button that I can press every 5 minutes. So I'm basically a cyborg now 😜😂 . After waking up a bit more, they moved me to my room. I'm sharing this with 4 older  men.. One who snores in his sleep 😅😓 The nurses are all lovely and come and check on me every hour... But I am struggling so had to keep my eyes open! I keep dozing off for maybe half an hour at the time. Poor Tony was sitting holding my had while I slept then woke up for 10 minutes, them fell asleep again 😅 oops. 

. Sleeping is hard though because I have an oxygen tube in my nose, massage braces on my legs for blood circulation... And every time I move.. It hurts! . Thankfully the lovely nurse on duty helped me get out of the terrible hospital gown and into some undies and a nightie of my own. This did not tickle that's for sure! 😣 . I keep dozing off and on but almost every time I get to sleep, a nurse came in the check my obs 😂😓 . I'm not allowed to drink or eat anything yet.. All I'm allowed is ice to suck on.. I'm so dehydrated 😲😷 . Tomorrow I will be asked to get up and walking... So we'll see how that goes 😅