Sleeping in bed required me to roll blankets up and tuck them on each side of me so I couldn’t move. I’m a side sleeper, but rolling over or stretching caused a lot of pain and woke me up, and sleeping flat on my back all night left me with a sore back. I was able to get better sleep on the couch since I couldn’t roll around a lot, but was able to fully support my back with pillows and blankets, plus it was easier to get in and out of than my bed.
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| July 21: All swollen with the orange iodine all over my belly. There's one incision on the left, one in my bellybutton, two on the right, and the tube is my On-Q pain pump. |
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| Bellybutton incision |
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| Left incision |
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| Right incisions, and my fancy mesh underwear. |
The next day I was much more alert and feeling more pain since the IV meds had worn off and I was only relying on my pain pump and Percocet. I’d been warned of the terrible gas pains I’d feel in my shoulders and I started to feel them at this point, but quickly realized they were only bad when I was upright or laying flat. Reclining on the couch made them go away, and after about three days the gas pains were totally gone.
The first week was spent mostly battling pain and nausea and taking lots of Percocet and Zofran. It hurt laying there doing nothing and my pain gradually increased over the first 3 days before subsiding. By day 5 or 6 I was completely off my narcotics and didn’t even need OTC pain medication as long as I was laying completely still. It was another story when I had to move. It hurt to get up (even with help from my husband or mom), hurt to pee (although the burning sensation gradually went away after a few days), hurt to sneeze or yawn or cough (using a pillow to apply counter-pressure on my stomach helped though), and hurt like crazy to have a bowel movement. I was dreading my first post-surgery bowel movement, and my dread increased each day when it didn’t happen for 5 days while taking a laxative. Fortunately my stool softener did its job, otherwise “hurt like crazy” would’ve been a lot worse.
I relied on simple foods like applesauce and smoothies, and only ate small quantities at a time to help keep my nausea in check. Since sitting or standing required ab strength I didn’t have I ate all meals reclining on the couch trying not to spill all over myself.
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| This is what my pain pump looked like, with the medicine in the ball and a dial to control flow. It was all in a little bag I wore over my shoulder. (Here's where I got this picture.) |
On day 3 my pain pump was empty. Initially I didn’t think it had done me any good, but once it ran out I realized my pain had gone from dull to sharp. I was given instructions over the phone on how to remove it, which was kind of nerve-wracking. I removed the dressing over it, pulled off the tape securing the tube to my body, and pulled straight up quickly. It didn’t hurt, but was kind of unsettling removing about 6” of tubing from my pubic area by myself. After it was gone though I was free to shower.
Other symptoms of note the first week were minor itching around my incisions, walking like a hunched over old lady, vaginal bleeding and discharge, swelling in the surgical area (that looked similar to my pre-surgery bloating, but hurt less because I had way less pressure), not being able to lean over at all, and being limited to nightgowns and low riding pj pants.
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