Posted by dirtywater on March 20, 2008 at 21:19:13:In Reply to: April 1, 2008 Surgery posted by marklamorie on March 20, 2008 at 04:23:43:
I just had MMA surgery there. They were very good to me. Specific suggestions:
-In the week before the surgery, I was advised not to take vitamin E or any supplements containing it.
-Set up your house / apartment so you won't have any heavy lifting to do when you get home.
-Clean the house; you won't have much energy to do so when you get back from the hospital.
-If the air in your house is dry, buy a humidifier or two.
-Get plenty of exercise and relax.
-I would suggest putting a clipboard at the kitchen table, and a clipboard wherever you keep your meds. On these clipboards, note what you eat and what meds you take. This will keep you from forgetting anything.
Make sure you have the following ready at home:-Lip balm
-Soft foods
-Blender
-Ensure / protein powder
-Entertainment (DVDs, for instance)
-Stool softener (e.g. Colace or the generic equivalent)
-A syringe to clean your mouth with
-Pillows to prop yourself up with in bed. Your surgeon may insist you stay propped up for a few weeks post-surgery.At the hospital:
-Being wheeled into the operating room is truly surreal, if you've never been there before. Not many places can boast 38 operating rooms!
-In the ICU / recovery room, they will remove the catheter. At some point after this, you'll need to pee. They might give you a jar and tell you to pee in it while lying down. Now humans are divided into two groups: those that can urinate from a prone position, and those that can't. It's a psychological thing. If you're in the latter category, don't let them give you a hard time... insist that they let you get up out of bed and pee in a standing position. You will feel so much better :-) They will still make you go in the jar though, because they need to measure your fluids in vs. your fluids out.
-Don't bring too many books or magazines to the hospital, you probably won't have the energy to read them while you're there.
-The oral surgery dept. might give you a real crappy toothbrush to take home. Throw it away. The nurses on the hospital floor will give you a much better one (Toothette). I got 3 or 4 Toothette kits from the nurses.
-Bring your cellphone and charger. If you have friends, they will call you :-)
-Once you're out of the ICU / recovery room and into a hospital bed, get the nurse to show you how to take off the pressure boots and put them back on. If they won't show you, you can figure it out yourself pretty easily. You don't want to have to call the nurse every time you need to urinate or every time you want to get out of bed and stretch. Just turn the pressure machine off when you take the boots off, or else it will alarm after a couple of minutes. Turn it back on when you put the boots back on. Also note that the IV isn't tied to the wall; you can grab the IV and walk to the bathroom with it.
-You might want to bring earplugs; they're demolishing an old wing at the hospital and the jackhammer noise is pretty intense between 8am and 4pm.
-They'll bring you a liquid diet menu. Order a bunch of stuff, and drink as much as you can stomach. You'll need the calories. I lost 6 lbs during my 3 days in the hospital.
Post-surgery:-The only surprise I had was oral thrush. It's this disgusting white stuff that grows inside your mouth and on your tongue. It's normal and it's a result of the antibiotics.
-Read the forum archives, and the blogs. Lots of good post-op advice there. I'm young so I recovered a bit more quickly than the average MMA patient might. Your mileage may vary. Remember to keep a positive attitude! It really does help.
Good luck!
Jeremy
- Re: April 1, 2008 Surgery marklamorie 04:33 3/21/08 (3)
- Re: April 1, 2008 Surgery dirtywater 12:01 3/21/08 (2)
- Re: April 1, 2008 Surgery marklamorie 04:34 3/24/08 (1)
- Re: April 1, 2008 Surgery dirtywater 06:29 3/24/08 (0)