The first few days in the hospital after surgery were deliciously quiet and mellow due to the morphine drip. There were a few times when more would have been better. The nurses woke me up every few hours to take vital signs and make walk around.
The next two weeks were spent in bed on my back with an ice pack attached to my incision. I got up every few hours to walk and take more pain meds because it hurt pretty bad in my entire abdominal cavity. I drank a ton of water and hot Jasmine Green tea and ate many good meals brought by friends and family.
The third week everything started feeling better and the pain moved from a general overall ache to a specific pain in the incision. It burned and itched and had shooting knife-like pains. i kept it iced and alternated rubbing it with coconut oil and antibiotic ointment. My stomach around the incision is still a little numb and I may have iced too much. I avoided infection though and that was my goal.
The third week was the best because I could finally sleep on my side instead of my back. It was so nice to get good, natural rest instead of drug- induced coma rest. I feel like I did the most healing in the third and fourth week.
I had to go back to work after four weeks and it has been okay. A few more weeks recovering would have been nice but I have coped okay. Sitting for long periods is brutal, so I stand when I can and walk around and take full lunch break to lie down on the couch in the lobby. Tylenol and Ibuprofen are always by my side.
Overall, it hasn't been terrible. Uncomfortable? Yes. But oh so necessary and once the recovering is done, so much better than the alternative.
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