POST Myotomy LONG POST

[Guest guest]

Well I am back from hospital yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 27/06/06) following

the

operation on Friday afternoon (23/06/06).

Prior to the operation on Friday morning as I was waiting to be called down I

began to get

a bit apprehensive about what the hell I was doing there, and was I doing the

right thing.

But as I laid there in my surgical gown I worked through the process I had gone

through in

making the decision, reading things on the net and the first hand reports on

this group

web site and decided that the operation was the best course of action, and that

if little old

ladies (naming no names ) ) can get through the operation then me as a fairly

fit 35yo

should be able to cope.

I suppose the only other negative I had in my mind was the fact that due to the

speed I

was admitted as an emergency 3 weeks ago and tied up with this surgeon I had no

choice

over who was doing the surgery and so many of the suggested questions from this

web

site to ask went unanswered. All I really knew was that he was the most senior

surgeon at

the hospital, he had carried out the procedure before and had never to date had

any

complications.

The operation took about 3.5-4hours and I woke up on morphine with a button to

push

and a drip. I kept pushing the button as and when I could not because of the

pain, really

just to see me over the night as I did not want to find out how much it did hurt

and just

wanted a good night sleep.

SATURDAY - On the Saturday mid morning they took me off of the morphine and took

me

down for a barium swallow, all was fine, the barium went straight into the

stomach.

On returning to the ward after a few hours I started to feel uncomfortable as

the morphine

was wearing off and so I enquired with a nurse about further pain relief. An

hour later the

drugs trolley came around on its usual visit (as the original nurse had done

nothing to

help me) the drugs nurse said that I was not down for anything. I politely

explained to her

that I had had a significant operation less than 24 hours ago, I was suffering

pain (mainly

from the gas) as I was taken off morphine over 4 hours ago and I still needed

the tablets

that I was taking to prevent spasms as it is well documented that spasms can/do

occur

after surgery. She gave me the medicine I required.

*** One thing to comment here is that during my whole stay I continually had to

advise

staff (especially drugs nurses) of my needs, it seems that there was no care

plan for me as

there were patients undergoing day to day surgeries. The other patients nearby

actually

commented that the nurses don't seem to know what to do with me, and they found

it

amazing that I was constantly having to ask for the basics ***

SATURDAY PM - Within 18 hours after surgery (after being told by a physio that I

could not

damage the surgery by moving around - within reason) I was walking around, a

little

further at a time down the long hospital corridors. Saturday night had what I

believed to

be heartburn (as I was still taking spasm tablets).

SUNDAY - 48 Hours after surgery I had a very small bowl of soup and jelly & ice

cream (it

would have been a bit earlier but I stupidly told a nurse that I felt a little

sick first thing

Sunday morning). Sunday night I was given a little antacid mixture - but still

had what I

thought was heartburn.

MONDAY - Kept up the walking (between rest stops) and was allowed to move onto

sloppy

diet. The surgeons number 2 told me that there was no way it could be

heartburn/acid.

Monday night I had a bigger attack of the chest pain that I could now recognise

as a spasm

(as it made my teeth ache)

TUESDAY - Allowed home. They have doubled the dose of my spasm tablets.

The incisions are smaller than I expected and by the time my belly furs up again

I am sure

any scars (if any) will be invisible (did I paint a nice picture there? LOL)

*** This is the interesting bit that I want those considering or waiting for

surgery to be

aware of - PAIN

I was aware that this was quite an invasive surgery, and as I had never been

under the

knife before and never carried children, I was not really aware of what level of

pain to

expect.

In recent years I have suffered (because of A) with spasms, these have become

overwhelmingly painful this past 6 months. To give others an idea of pain scales

for

surgery I would rank them on a pain scale of 1 to 10 as follows (10 being most

painful)

10 - Heavy Spasm

8 - Pulling the sticky tape off of my hairy arm and stomach

7 - Standard Spasm

6 to 7 - Intermittent pain from operation gas

3 to 4 - Pain from surgery

I am amazed how little pain I have from surgery, it is more like a discomfort or

ache than

pain. ***

Anyway, must go and find the sun cream, as its a week of leisure for me )

Regards to all