Week two (of being home post-op) began with my husband's Christmas Party as part of a corporate weekend retreat.
We were both quite looking forward to this event as it was at a beautiful hotel and it was a nice weekend away. However, I don't think we factored in quite how taxing it would be on me. For starters, packing was a strain. The majority of my pain (and medication) was a result of doing things I shouldn't and overdoing it. Bending, lifting, twisting, standing up and sitting down then standing up then sitting down (repeat) were all things that did me in. These simple acts could easily wear me out, and packing is full of bending, lifting, twisting, reaching etc. That and the ensuing car ride made it a long ride - I was still sensitive to every bump in the roads, and being winter, there were a few. What I would have done differently is brought my Bunny Earl with me to put between the seatbelt buckle and my body - the consistent pressure was not comfortable after the first five minutes of being in the car.
I think my issue was I was underestimating how taxing healing really is on the body. Just because I hadn't done anything other than get up off the couch a handful of times, doesn't mean I wasn't exhausted at the effort and in a bit of pain. The pain wasn't really too bad, all in all, but it was worse when I did physical things I shouldn't.
The Christmas party was spread over two nights, and it was here that I was able to notice something I never had before: phantom pains related to digestion. I will admit I had phantom pains before this, however I attributed those to my body getting used to one kidney and learning not to send anything to Earl for processing. This, however, was different. I could feel a phantom pain on my left side within 20-40mins of eating/drinking less that ideal substances. Example: I got a twinge about half an hour after eating a batch of salty fries, or having more than 1 glass of wine. I noticed 'fake' food (junk food), foods with a high concentration of sodium, and alcohol would trigger these pains. They didn't typically last very long, but it was a bit of an internal jab reminding me that this early on I needed to be a bit more careful with my diet.
In Week 2, I slept a ton. I was on my own at home, and thus getting water, in and out of bed, up off the couch, showering and dressing, all these simple tasks that I had been doing before were more draining now as I had to do more for myself which typically required more movement, and thus I was exhausted at the simple things. For walking I could manage about 5 blocks without feeling anything major, but after that I really did notice my body was just not ready for that kind of work, it was still doing too much inside. My incisions were still very tender to the touch and tight fitting clothes did not go over well at all, nor as I found out, did pantyhose.
As I posted in Week 1, being alone is hard, and I was able to notice that more so in retrospect as in Week 1 I had my Father In Law and in Week 2, after the Christmas Party, I did not. I would reccommend magazines for Week 2 - books can be a bit overwhelming, I didn't really feel up to reading anything, and tv can get old, real fast. Magazines are strong enough to hold attention, not mentally taxing, and something that is easy to pick up and put down between naps.
What did you find worked in this early stage of recovery? Any tips/tricks you would like to pass on? Any questions about the recovery process? Love to hear from you - your comments inspire me to keep blogging about this. Thanks!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think a lesson can be learned for other people that one must listen to doctors and if they say do not do something, then it must not be done. Not good should a donor be injured during their recovery and perhaps burst the internal stitches or cause other problems. What were you doing eating salty fries and other sodium heavy foods? Did they not tell you to watch sodium intake? A junk food diet just after any operation is not good especially kidney removal when the remaining kidney needs to take over. You are overworking it no end. Not surprised you got pains after eating. Did the hospital not give you diet instructions or tell you what you should or should not be eating or drinking? When I had my kidney removed for donation was given strict instructions (life time changes as now only one kidney) to drink at least 1.5 ltrs water per day, must keep hydreated and kidney well flushed so toxins flushed out. Not to take any NSAID's including asprin. Check with doctor mentioning only one kidney if he prescribes. They can (although unusual but has happened) thin the blood too much to the only kidney and prevent it from working properly. Keep off sodium as much as possible. Having a kidney removed is major surgery and of course it will take longer than a few days to heal. Going to a christmas party was not really a good idea. Did the hospital not tell you about recovery times? that you should not do too much for the first 2 weeks, that includes testing how far you can walk? Seems they were very lacking in their recovery instructions to you, that is not good. I was given a list of what I definitely must not do in first two weeks, what I could attempt to do and all things like that. Their main instruction was for me to be OVER cautious unless I wanted to end up back in hospital with busted stitches or an infection. Internal damage can be done by you doing things too soon, such as bending twisting etc. Pain is very good, it is telling you Dont do something!!
ReplyDeleteGet well soon, but listen to your body and remember you ARE ill. you have had major surgery and must not treat that as lightly as you are.