Today I go in at 1:45pm for my first post-op appointment with my doctor. I don’t know exactly what they do at the appointment to check on my progress (ultrasound? exam?) but it’s good to get some less medicated face-time with my doctor. LOL The last time I saw him was the morning I was discharged and I was still on morphine at that time.
Things are better since Tuesday’s bowel nightmare and I feel like I’m back to making progress again. I haven’t had any re-occurrence of the constipation issue and in fact, things have gone too far in the other direction as of this morning. Now I’ve moved past “soft stool” straight into “diarrhea.” Joy. (Aren’t you glad you’re reading this? LOL) Part of my post-op medication schedule is stool softeners 2x a day and a high fiber diet with plenty of liquids. I’ve also been eating prunes once a day too. So I think I might need to back off a little because with my IBS system, it’s too easy for my system to swing to extremes. Trying to walk this fine line of keeping things moving easily but not too easily is a challenge.
Yesterday, I talked to the doctor’s nurse because I was in pain still from Tuesday’s pushing/straining and I didn’t want to take the percocet anymore. When I was taking it regularly the first few days, I didn’t really notice the side effects because it was in my system more continuously. When I started stretching out the doses and taking it less frequently (such as for the first time in 24 hours Tuesday afternoon), it made me REALLY sick. Super dizzy, loss of appetite, headache, etc., so I just said I’m done. I’m not taking it anymore.
So when I called, of course the doc was in surgery. (Duh! Wednesdays are OR days obviously!) So she checked with one of the partner doc’s in the practice and she authorized some vicodin for me instead. I guess it’s in-between the ibuprofen and the percocet in terms of pain-killer strength. Took it last night and didn’t notice any huge side effects and it seemed to help take the edge off a little.
I haven’t taken any yet today because I haven’t felt like I needed it. This morning, I woke up with another headache (third day in a row I’ve had headache problems) so it’s something I want to talk to the doctor about too. I’m not sure if it’s just all these meds in my system or if it’s my ovaries maybe waking up and fluctuating my hormones or what. But I was thinking I might have a transitional period of bad headaches/migraines coming off the Lupron and getting back to my natural estrogen but I don’t know if it would happen this quickly or not. I’ve read it can be difficult for the ovaries to come out of their dormancy after hysterectomy (and sometimes they don’t at all and despite keeping them, there’s a risk of going through menopause anyway! Sheesh!) So I don’t know.
Last night, I walked down the 3 flights of stairs, over across the parking lot to my car and back up the 3 flights successfully. It was my first time since coming home last Thursday. I wanted to get a trial run in since I have to do it today for my appointment. I didn’t really have any problems so that’s good. Today is a challenge though because it’s the most I’ve been up and about since surgery. When I talked to the nurse yesterday, she was like, take it easy! You only had surgery a week ago! and I laughed to myself because she’s right. My expectations were a little high based on hearing stories of some women back to work in like 3 days and crap, so it was a good reminder that it’s still ok to take it easy. (In fact, she told me specifically to “put my feet up” and “relax”)
Anyway, think I’m going to go start getting ready. I haven’t done my hair or makeup in over a week so that’s a weird change of pace. Going to wear a pair of yoga type gaucho capris that I use as pj pants since I still can’t do anything tight on my waist. At least I have an excuse for not wearing “real” pants out of the house! I’ll probably update later with info from the appointment. For now though, feeling pretty good and hoping for a clean bill of health!
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