Mikaela’s Blog: 1st Week After Surgery
August 27th, 2009
The First Week. I almost feel back to normal on the fourth day following surgery. I still have some swelling around my stomach area, which feels uncomfortable and awkward, but it’s getting better every day. I can do many things without discomfort, like take a shower, wash and style my hair, wash dishes, and get in and out of bed. It feels good to be able to do these things for myself again. It was getting frustrating to need help with everything, because I’m usually really independent. Although I still can’t do many activities until I’m healed, I’m using this time to get used to my new computer for college! Overall though, I’m feeling great: stopped taking pain medication after the third day. Now, all I have to do is just take things slow and make sure I don’t overdo anything! It’s nice to have a nurse in the house and my mom is keeping her eye on me.
Please check back to follow my recovery during the next couple weeks.
Mikaela’s Blog: Mother’s Perspective on Recovery
August 26th, 2009
The Drive Home. Mikaela informs me that she doesn’t have much discomfort at all and that she can’t really even remember being in the recovery room. Ha-ha! Again, that is completely normal.
First Week of Recovery. At first Mikaela was content to just sit with bags of ice on her chest. I encouraged her to walk around every hour or so and she drink tons of water, which she does all of the time anyway. Her appetite was fine by the first evening. By day 3 she was bored, as one can only watch so many episodes of Sponge Bob and The Office. Mikaela had used her graduation money to buy a new computer for college, so she decided to use this down time to work on getting everything transferred over and become familiar with how it all worked. She wanted to stop taking all of her pain meds early, but I had to encourage her to continue through day 3 for the anti-inflammatory benefit. Besides, the maximum swelling doesn’t happen for a while and some pain might accompany that swelling. Of course, that’s why ice is so important to keep the swelling to a minimum.
Please check back to read Mikaela’s reflections on surgery and her recovery.
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