I woke up at 6am and the epidural stopped, the blood was done and my IV was actually stopped earlier yesterday because I was drinking water at a great rate and peeing into my pee bag just fine. So things were starting to get turned off one at a time now. After my morning bath, I also asked the CNA if I could put on a normal shirt which would help me feel better and plus the tape on my back from the epi makes my back sweat SO bad, a fresh shirt was going to help a lot. I was feeling better already.
So when the epi turned off, I got 10mg of OxyCodone and Tylenol (which helps Oxy absorb). I always get nervous when the epidural gets turned off because I want to make sure that nerve down my thigh wasn't touched during surgery so I constantly touch my leg as the numbness wears off.
Dr. Millis and Erin came to visit this morning around 9:30am, he asked the nurse if my catheter was out and she said 10:00-10:30am and he said no, 6am! :-( I finished the visit with Erin and gave her a little outfit for her soon to be little bundle of joy, she told me she's supposed to be giving ME a gift, not the other way around. She looked SO cute in her little Ralph Lauren dress! I was glad to see her, a familiar face. She said to email her if I needed anything. Millis came back and said how cute...then he told me to put on panties because there's children on the floor and I can't run around naked... (see surgery day for the joke). They left and the catheter came out, one of THE worst parts of surgery, it does not feel good coming out that's for sure. SO, the next time I have to pee, it's out of bed!
In the meantime, Megan came to visit me! For anyone who doesn't remember, she was my roommate for both of our first PAO's back in January 2011. Then she came to see me for my second and I saw her for her second and now she's seeing me for my third, and she's preggo!! Congrats Meg! She is such a sweet girl and so glad we met and keep in touch. We have this bond that is hard to have with other people. She also brought me "garbage" magazines which was awesome and kept my mind off the pain a lot of times. Just as she was getting ready to say bye, PT came in. It was a little chaotic for a few mins, but a mood lifter to see Meg and also give her some goodies for her baby boy!!
They told me PT would be in later in the afternoon to get me out of bed and basically just sit in a chair. That's the most they do for the first day out of bed. Before PT came, I had been out of bed twice because I obviously had to PEE! I need help swinging the leg out of bed, stood up and had to pivot onto the commode and they wheeled that into the bathroom. Then back into bed, twice. PT came in and we told them what I had done and she was SHOCKED! She said well if you want, we can go to the gym and work on the uneven bars and then come back and sit in the chair for a while. So I said sure, lets go. She couldn't believe I said that. Off we went in the wheelchair to the gym with my mom, brother and Kevin. She went over the basics of walking and asked if I remember which I did. I walked down the parallel bars - better than I did the last times I think and she was so impressed. I have a little more thigh strength than I have before so I can bring the leg forward easier than before. I turned around and walked back to the chair and she wheeled me over to the middle of the room. I then crutched to the wall and back. She said we could to the stairs, but we all agreed that was enough for one day (which was FAR more than she's ever taken anyone on the first day). I get it, it's a lot, but it's also my third PAO...I know the pain, I know what I can and can't do, I know what it's going feel like...so it just makes things easier. We came back to my room and I sat in the chair for an hour until I became exhausted and back to bed I went!!
I stayed in the bed the rest of the day unless I had to pee. Mom and Kevin left around 8pm or so and I stayed up to read my magazine and listened to music. I slept pretty well overnight but was in pain when I had to get up to pee every few hours. The pain was almost paralyzing at times. At one point, I laid in bed and had a few tears but put it behind me and knew I would just get more meds and get over it.
I was also wearing an ice pack at night as that has helped my hip soothe as well.
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