Waking Up

I have heard that some people are put under and not a second has passed before they open their eyes. This was not the case for me. It felt like a jolt hit me and I was suddenly awake, aware that time had passed and incredibly uncomfortable. I remember in the first moments they were trying to cover me up with a blanket and I was kicking it off having a difficult time explaining that I was hot. After a few seconds things seemed to settle down and I realized that I was in the recovery area. I heard the nurses talking back and forth about pain medication and one said that I was given a few shots of Morphine but thought I should be on Dilaudid since most people will not have adverse side effects with this. So they set me up with a pain button that I could push up to six times and hour. After a few minutes my Mom and other sister (not the recipient) came in to see me and told me everything went well and my sister would be coming in soon. I dozed on and off during this time and don't remember much other than giving an air-high-five to my sister once she woke up from the anesthesia too.

After a while they wheeled me away into my hospital room and my entire family joined me while waiting for my sister to get in her room as well. I talked with them a little bit but still continued to doze and don't really remember much until after they left that night.

At this point I started to get nauseous and threw up so the nurse gave me a shot of Zofran. Apparently, its an anti nausea medication that most people find amazing. However, after about an hour I threw up again and much more severe. I couldn't have any more Zofran because I had already had a rather high dose. I thought it might be the pain medication causing the nausea so I resolved to fall a sleep without touching the pain button again. Let me be clear that throwing up at this point is really painful in itself. A few hours later I woke up with incredible pain but not from the incisions. Before the surgery they pumped me with air and pulled most of it back out but can't get everything. All the left over air had settled into my shoulders. I read one website that compared this pain to child birth. I could see it as a possibility. It took about 8 pain pushes before it became better at which time I was nauseous again so I got another shot of Zofran. About another hour later I threw up. Again... I refused to push the pain button but needed to move the air out of my shoulders so the nurse suggested I get up and walk to visit my sister. Walking was actually much easier than I had expected and I made it to her room with no real issues, and the nurses help. At this point it was about 6am so I had made it through the first night.