Hospital Stay

If you've never stayed in the hospital, just thank God and pray that you never have to! In all reality, it wasn't THAT bad, but a hospital is definitely not a place that I'd like to visit again (until surgery #2). I was at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, in Marietta, GA and it really is a great hospital. The nurses, staff, and doctors are all very good at what they do and made me feel comfortable every step of the way. Here's what I remember about my hospital stay (sorry its a little long!):

After spending some time in the recovery room, I was wheeled up to my semi-private room. Yes, you read that right. Semi-private. I had a roomie! Unfortunately, it was not as exciting as it sounds. Once we got in the room and settled in, my mom and sister realized very quickly that there would be no room for them to sleep, much less sit down to visit. I was on the far end of the room, away from the door, so this provided at least a little bit more privacy. I was not able to eat or drink anything immediately after surgery (NPO) but I did have a sponge in some ice water that I could use to wet my mouth and lips. I really don't remember a whole lot that happened that night, but I do remember the nurses convincing my mom and sister to go home and sleep at my house. They assured mom that I would be fine and got her cell phone number in case anything happened. They left relatively early (8:00 maybe?) and I was left to get some rest... an impossibility in hospital land!

This first night was a little rough. Not only did they have to check on me every couple of hours and give me medicine (anti-nausea medicine, pepcid, steriods, heparin shots, etc), but they also had to check my epidural line. This required a very labored and painful roll onto my side so that the nurse could ensure the epidural was still in place and not leaking. My nurse that first night (and I think the next night too) was an ANGEL! Her name was Angie and she was very quiet and comforting when waking me up in the middle of the night to do all this prodding and poking. She is definitely very good at her job and meant to be a nurse! Sometime in the middle of the night, my roomie got some blood pressure meds that apparently made him feel very weird (I know this because he was screaming out for the nurses - he was hard of hearing, so he couldn't hear them respond to him on the PA). They ended up coming in to evaluate him and then took him for a CT Scan and finally brought him back up about 30 minutes later. Then, it was my turn to have some fun. For some reason, I got very anxious that my JP drain was very full (this drain is a small tube going directly into my abdomen to remove excess fluid and blood from surgery - it has a small rubber "hand grenade" on the outside that is squeezed to create a vacuum which helps the fluid come out). The nurses emptied the drain, and then it began to drain very quickly with what looked like fresh blood. The nurses seemed concerned, which of course made me more anxious. They mentioned that there could be an "active bleed" which was, I think, what pushed me over the edge. My heart was RACING and I felt a small palpitation every so often. Some sort of alarm started going off that alerted them to my heart rate being incredibly high, so a different nurse came to check on me. She was very gentle and kind and was able to talk me down to a comfortable heart rate and assured me that there was nothing wrong. After this, I was able to get some "rest" and got through the first night OK.

Sitting in a chair after
a walk. Clearly a little
uncomfortable!

The next few days were fairly typical hospital days. Dad came to see me on Thursday and I was able to get up and walk for the first time. This was a very uncomfortable experience since I was still very sore from surgery. I felt like an old man (especially since I couldn't stand up totally straight) pushing my IV cart around the hallway. I think I only did one lap the first time, but it felt like I ran a marathon! I was worn out. I didn't realize I was going to be THAT weak right off the bat. Also, on  I finally got a private room! It was so nice to not have to worry about my roomie. Plus, there was a "bed" where my mom would be able to spend the nights.

Eating "liquids" the
day after surgery.

I had some awesome visitors while in the hospital. I didn't expectany of my friends to drive to this side of town, but my friend Irby came by to visit. Also, Miguel and Allison came by for a little and Dana and Catherine came as well (with goodies). I felt a little bad that I was out of it while they were visiting, but my mom kept them company when I was zoned out (I think I had Percocet at this point :) ). Also, my dad brought my step-mom and half-brother one afternoon and my sister and nephew came by as well. It was really nice of everyone who came by, even for just a little bit. It's nice to know I have so many caring friends and family members.

My stoma the day after
surgery. Very swollen
with black/yellow bile. 

The most "exciting" thing that happened during my stay happened in the wee hours of Saturday morning (late Friday night). The nurse decided to let me sleep instead of waking me up to empty my pouch. Unfortunately, this was a terrible idea since it ended up getting WAY too full and started to leak. When I asked the nurse to empty the pouch around 4AM, it was so full that as soon as she pulled on it, the whole bag separated from the "wafer" (the part of the pouch that attaches to the skin) and there was poop everywhere! I use the word poop loosely, since at this point I was only eating liquids. As you can imagine, there was quite a mess. I had to get up and was bathed by one of the orderlies (definitely a humbling experience) and had to get new sheets and bedding. On top of this, we also had to put a new pouch on after having only learned the day before how to do it. It was quite an ordeal since neither mom or myself were thinking straight at this hour of the morning. We managed to get the pouch on correctly and it stayed on until the Ostomy nurse came back on Monday. She approved of our pouch patch job!

The only other exciting things that happened were the removal of tubes - both the JP Drain and the Catheter. The JP drain hurt like hell coming out. My surgeon basically just pulled and pulled. I didn't look, but my mom said it was much longer and deeper that she realized. The catheter being removed also hurt pretty bad and made it feel like I had to pee for a while, even though my bladder was empty. Also, it was exciting when they advanced my diet. I first started with all liquids - lots of Jello, juice, icees, and such. Then I went to soft foods, like bagels, eggs, applesauce, etc. Finally, I was moved to full solids but they had to be fully cooked. Overall, the hospital food was not great. It seemed like everything had this one particular taste (can't pinpoint what it tastes like exactly) that was very hard for me to stomach. My appetite in the hospital was not great either, so I usually didn't eat much of anything.

Going home!!

I was discharged on Monday, November 12th around lunch time, and endured a bumpy ride home just long enough to be painful and uncomfortable. However, finally plopping down on my own couch felt SO good! Now, the real recovery could begin!