one week post-adrenalectomy

[Guest guest]

How did that happen - it's been a week already?! Time sure flies when one spends most of their day sleeping :)BP is still not normal but is coming down - from 170s/100s post-op to 140s/90s today, which is right back to where it was pre-surgery. Heart rate seems to have settled down to around 87, which is lower than it has been in a couple of years.Had my first follow-up with my HTN specialist, who ordered bloodwork (I don't have the results yet). He has me still taking 20MEQ of K each day.I switched from the Vicodin they sent me home with to prescription-strength ibuprofen a few days after surgery, and have felt MUCH better. It works better on the pain, doesn't upset my stomach, and lacks the depressive effects of the Vicodin. One of the student doctors (residents? I can never remember who is who in a teaching hospital!) recommended this to me, even though none of my "official" doctors even mentioned it.

The recovery is going well but much slower than I would have expected - my days and nights have been spent mostly in cycles of 4 hours awake/6 hours of sleep. I still can't drive, but have been able to manage short walks to everything I need in my neighborhood. Finally made the switch from sleeping sitting upright to lying down the day before yesterday.The hardest day-to-day things for me have been bending forward - everything from brushing my teeth and putting on shoes is far more painful than anybody warned me! - and coughing, laughing, and blowing my nose. Ouch.-msmith1928Nulliparous female, 46, 5'3", 116 lbs, polymenorrhea, hyperinsulinemia, hereditary fructose intolerance,

lactose intolerance, probable gluten intolerance. Current meds are K 20

MEQ 1x/day, singulair 10mg, norethindrone .35mg to regulate polymenorrhea, cyclobenzaprine 5-10mg when needed, fexofenadine 180mg as

needed. Low sodium, fructose- and grain-free diet. CT showed 1cm left adrenal nodule, AVS determined disease is unilateral, had left laparoscopic adrenalectomy on 10/13/2011.