Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Recovery - Day 2

Day 2:

After feeling bad yesterday (Day 1) – kind of an indefinable, bad feeling, not a terrible pain anywhere – I took a Vicodin. I felt so much better within the hour that I started taking it every six hours as the instructions said. That made for 3 by the time I went to bed. This morning I woke up with a headache and when I went to take a shower, I couldn’t even stand up. I ended up throwing up. I managed to get a shower, then couldn’t figure out how to put my compression garment back on.  (Incidentally, when I took the garment off for my shower, I saw my chin and neck looked pretty good, even with the swelling!  It looked better than before surgery!)

I called the doctor but couldn’t make sense of how he said to put the compression garment on. He did tell me that it was the Vicodin that had made me sick. (He had prescribed some meds to counter nausea in case that happened, but I hadn’t taken any -- because Vicodin has never made me sick before -- and my solution has been to just quit the Vicodin.)  A friend came over to help take care of me and I threw up a second time while the doctor told her over the phone how to put the garment back on. My friend helped me get the garment back on, and after she left, I lay immobilized on the couch. Too miserable to do anything, including take the antibiotic et al I had just thrown up, I called my husband and he came home from work to take care of me. He got here around 2pm (having stopped at Walmart to get some things we needed). I threw up a third time, then managed to eat chicken and noodle soup and have some ginger-ale. I then went to sleep until about 5 pm. It wasn’t until about 6 that I began feeling normal.

I put the black elastic chin band back on just for extra support, but after about an hour started getting another headache. So I took it off.

I feel much better now. But the nausea lasted half the day and I still don’t feel great. But at least I can get off the couch and do some things for myself. My neck feels sore only if I touch it, and it’s a bit itchy. I haven’t needed the gauze on my incisions at all today – barely needed them after surgery yesterday.

I am convinced today would have been as good as yesterday if I hadn't taken that Vicodin.  I’ve only taken Tylenol today when I start feeling bad. There really hasn’t been any pain, but I just have it in my head that Tylenol will help any general bad feeling I have.

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