Friday all day was rough. Sick to stomach most of the night until we were able to get it calmed down with drugs. Finally able to eat something and keep it down early Friday morning, but it was only very bland hospital oatmeal and apples sauce. Not a hell of a lot of nourishment, but it stayed down, so that was an accomplishment.
Not able to eat much that requires a lot of chewing due to sore jaw. That was something I wasn’t expecting – cutting the jaw muscle.
Looks like I went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson and he won.
Face is getting a bit more swollen and left eye is starting to close up. Head pain is coming and going. Taking lots of pills, but having trouble getting comfortable in the hospital bed because I have the automatic compression socks on both legs and their wires and weight make it hard to sleep on side. I can only sleep on one side anyway.
The staff in the 608 ward is fantastic as usual. And boy, they have to be a special breed. Two men needed special care in the ware and all the while the older woman next to me was having serious mental issues and cried most of the night and went on and on about how she couldn’t get her coffee until 7 a.m. when breakfast was ordered. Drove me nuts, but nothing I could do about it.
Dr. Ecker visited this morning and did a short exam and said the swelling was completely normal and that he got some great pics of both aneurysms and got all of the 2nd smaller aneurysm with a great clipping job. Love him.
The catheter was taken out at 6 this morning so I now had to get up and walk myself to the bathroom…with a walker. An occupational therapist visited mid-morning and we attempted to go for a walk with my walker, but we didn’t get too far. I was really shaky and just not up for it, as much as I wanted to. With very little food and more drugs in my system, it wasn’t going to happen. She said she’s stop by on Saturday to see how I was doing, so I had my work cut out for me.
Thankfully lunch was coming up and I was feeling good, so I ordered the backed mac and cheese and OH, that was good and hit the spot. Also a fruit cup. All stayed down and in the afternoon Dave and I took a good walk around the floor. Pooped me out, but felt good to get out and up. Had some pretty good head pain today and that required more pain meds.
I had a great dinner…even by hospital standards. Meatloaf and gravy and steamed broccoli and milk. Tasted soooo good and it all stayed down. Dave and I then did 4 laps around the floor, which was great. I felt good, but tired after that and I wasn’t nearly as wobbly as I was this morning. Things were looking up.
Dave, as usual has been my angel getting me GOOD tea from down in the cafeteria instead of the crappy stuff that comes from the kitchen and even some cookies. He stayed overnight in Portland last night and was there very early this morning. I made him go home early because I was tired and it appeared the night nurse tonight wasn’t particularly in the mood for hangers-on who weren’t patients.
Every two to four hours, I’d get my vital statistics taken and they’d do a neurological testing for my vision and balance. I believe I was doing all of those okay. Just needed to get up more. I was still drinking a lot of water which meant I had to get up and go to the bathroom more frequently, which was a pain because I was still hooked up to a few things, an IV tree and vital statistics monitor.
Thankfully, the IV was stopped in the evening, so one less thing hooked up to me.
Without waking Dave up to get me ice, I kept getting a cold clothe to put on face and was finally able to fall back to sleep for a bit, but still very uncomfortable. Breakfast, drugs, and ice helped ease the pain and discomfort. Short nap and a walk with my cane helped too, but need to make sure I do more ice today. As nine-time aneurysm surgery survivor Lori told me…ice is your friend.
Heidi's Brain Blog 