When we got home I had a station by my chair all set up for me. Next to my chair I had my work that I brought home, my laptop, portable DVD player, DVDs, drinks and food. This time around the pain wasn’t too bad and I was able to stay awake all day and sleep all night (except when my alarm went off to take my meds). My husband set up the alarms on my phone for me since this time I was home alone). I had four different pills. I also had a tube in my stomach again that was pumping medicine directly into my stomach to help the pain. After 72 hours you are able to remove it. dealing with that thing was the most unpleasant part about this last surgery because I had to remember to pick it up before lifting the chair up and then carrying it to the bathroom (which if that’s the worst part of recovery I’d say I had it pretty well!). We set a TV tray in the bathroom so I could put the bag of meds on it. After the 72 hours were up we waited an hour after my last dose of oxycodone and I had eaten and then my husband took a break from work and came home to removed it. It was the sweetest thing watching him scrub his hands clean and then poor rubbing alcohol over them and then putting on medical gloves (which I didn’t think was necessary however, he was just at work full of children so maybe it was). This time I decided to close my eyes and not watch and that worked out well. The worst part was when he took the tape off but when he pulled the tube out it just felt like gas moving around (which I was very used to). I thankfully didn’t throw up. I’ve had so much endometriosis pain and so many surgeries that this one wasn’t that bad.
Walking into the hospital I had all kinds of nurses tell me I’ll be okay and I’m in great hands. I already knew that but they could tell I was nervous. The truth is I wasn’t nervous about surgery, I was nervous about the aftermath. I was so sick and tired of all the pain and meds and healing. But thankfully it wasn’t bad. Another difficult thing about after this surgery that I hadn’t had to experience with the others was I had to go 48 hours after surgery on a clear liquid diet. Which I had started the day before the surgery so I was very hungry. There wasn’t anything on my diet that I liked. But on top of that because I forced myself to eat the jello while drinking the laxatives it made me sick to think about eating it after surgery. Our church set up a food train for us which was so nice, but we didn’t know i wouldn’t be able to eat it. My husband tried to not eat or drink anything in front of me except at dinner. The last dinner I was supposed to be on a clear liquid diet I remember trying so hard to eat my banana popsicle through the tears. my husband said something along the lines of “I’m so sorry you have to go through this, but it’s almost over” and I started bawling. The funny thing is they were eating roast, with carrots potatoes and onions. I HATE roast but I was so hungry and hated my clear liquid diet more that I really wanted some roast. My mom(who stayed with us for a few days) read the instructions and then my husband read them and they decided I could eat. There wasn’t much left by that time. But they gave me what was left. They told me to eat it slow I tried my best but I was so hungry. That was the best roast I have ever had. Then they gave me one of my mother in-laws chocolate chip cookies and then a warm pretzel and then crackers. That is the most I had eaten in one setting in over a year (but my stomach was finally free plus I hadn’t eaten in 3 days.
2nd week of recovery
On Monday, six days after surgery, I tried to go back to work. I sat in a chair for 30 minutes but I was very uncomfortable and sweating. My husband, who is also my co-boss, took me home. I tried again the next day but didn’t last much longer. I stayed out the rest of that week. The following Sunday I was feeling better and I went to church and then we went shopping for a little bit. I went back to work that Monday and felt fine. I put in a normal shift for me which is 6:30 am to 5 pm, and then we went to get groceries and then I cooked dinner. But then I started feeling really bad. My back pain was back and my stomach started hurting. I took the next day off work. I spent the whole day in bed. My husband kept checking on me. He and my mom where both worried sick. He was worried I overdid it and was internally bleeding. Then I took Wednesday off work too not feeling any better and later that day we went to my follow up appointment. It turns out my husband was right. I was internally bleeding. He said it was the blood vessels bursting but that it was normal and the pain should go away in 6 weeks.
Weeks three and four after surgery
I went back to work. I worked my normal 6:30-5 shift. I felt great the first day but the rest of the week I was in pain. I kept my office chair with me and I didn’t pick up any children and I worked my way back up to full pace. By week four I was completely fine and getting up and down off the floor easily and picking up children and doing all the cleaning. I also started having sex again (it had been over a year). All the pain I had ever felt was gone. I am praying it never comes back and I can hopefully get pregnant. (I got pregnant a year later).
