Good luck, Khadaji. My family and I send our best wishes, prayers and warm fuzzies to you.
Good thoughts and prayers headed your way!
GT
Good luck and good thoughts!
Well, I have super good luck so I’m sending along some extra good vibes 
Best to you.
Khadaji, you’ve wished many a Doper well over the years. Here’s hoping that some of that good Karma comes back to you 10-fold.
Godspeed, my friend.
You won’t see this now before the operation, but I’ll pray for a safe and speedy recovery.
Good thoughts and vibes and stuff, Khadaji.
Late to the party, but thinking about you and hoping you are are already out and on your way to a speedy recovery!
Prayers and good thoughts headed your way from south Georgia.
Offering prayers now for Khadaji…whether they be retroactively applied, or for his recovery.
I hope all went well for you today. Wishing you a speedy recovery and good drugs to ease the pain.
Let us know how you’re doing as soon as you’re able.
I wish you the best of luck. My wife has been through about 30 abdominal surgeries for treatment of her open wound, so I can empathize with you. It’s frustrating as hell. I wish you the best of luck, my prayers are with you. I hope the wound stays closed and everything heals properly. If you need to talk, I am always here.
You will be fine.
So let it be written.
So let it be done.
Also late getting to this thread, but adding my hopes and prayers that all went well and you’re back here with us soon!
Satch
Well, it is Monday and I’m out. It was an interesting experience. Armed with Doper good vibes I went in there Thursday morning rather calm. I know that sound like a stretch, given how hard I was trying to pretend I wasn’t scared, but it is true. Once I got there Thursday morning I was calm as could be. People here can put it in whatever light that works for them: God touched me, psychosomatic calmness, however it works in your mind, I’ll let you think that.
For me I just woke up Thursday with the feeling that everything was going to be OK. That’s it. Nothing magical. No one SPOKE to me. I just suddenly felt like all would be well.
And it was. I woke up Thursday night full of pain, but that was all. I know what you are thinking - only pain? Well, yeah, it wasn’t the pain I was dreading. It was the recovery process. The weakness and the days and days of lying around knowing that tomorrow would be just as bleak and boring and filled with hopelessness as today.
But I woke up Thursday and had strength and yes, there was pain, but I knew that I would be up-and-about soon. OK, it took the nurse too-damn-long to get my pain-feed set up and I was feeling rather aggressive towards her when all was said and done, but once that was sorted (mid day the next day) I was good. They took me off the morphine on Sunday. I came home today. The doc says I can’t go back for 3 weeks at least, but he also said I could do stuff on the computer from home, so I won’t be too bored.
Just before the operation I ran into a man I roomed with in college nearly 30 years ago. He works for the hospital and came to visit me late Thursday night (I should have been asleep, but they didn’t have the pain pump working anyway, so I couldn’t sleep.) That was pretty cool. Not cool enough that I would want to have another op but heck, if I had to be there, it was nice to see an old friend.
They got the pain pump working late Thursday night. But it was delivering a low dose. I had some stupid macho thing going where I didn’t want them to up the dose. I can’t give you a single rational reason, I just didn’t want them too.
Finally my day nurse talked me into it. Within an hour life was pretty darn good. She was wonderful (I made sure I told her so, in fact I’m sure she thought I was trying to hit on her. I wasn’t, I just thought she was wonderful.) Most, but not all of my nurses were good. I had a few that were mediocre, but mostly they were good.
Last night I started choking up, like I had asthma. I couldn’t breath and was panicked. They gave me breathing treatments, but I was fearful that they might keep me in because of it. I was all the more fearful because I was pretty sure I was reacting to something in the room. So I feared some ugly cycle that would not be broken. I finally convinced them it was something coming out of the radiator and they covered it with towels. This brought a calm to my lungs and they all agreed I should get out of there ASAP.
The part that I was frightened of, the part that I was dreading, was going through recovering. The last few I went through took months and it was so bleak I just couldn’t emotionally go through it again. I had a great support group with lots of calls and visitors, but it still was dull.
This time, I have the strength and energy to be up and around and I’m in my own home. It just feels better. Sure, I know that I’m still gonna nap most of the day all week and maybe next week too. But I’m here and that makes a difference. And when I’m not tired I feel pretty strong.
OK, funny/not-so-funny story. My friend was driving me home. I am drifting off. He says, that seat goes back if I want to nap. I reach down, pull the switch and the seat goes flying back into the horizontal position. I cannot describe the pain as I lay there looking at the ceiling of the car and he almost wrecks the car thinking he has killed me. AFAIK it did no damage. It is kinda funny and I laughed when it happened, but I hope it doesn’t ruin was was done!
Anyway, thanks for all the good thoughts and everything. It may seem silly to you, but it made a big difference to me.
Good to see you posting! It’s good you can do stuff on the 'puter, and fend off some of that boredom.
Am I evil because I laughed out loud at your story? 
Welcome back! (Sorry…I laughed too.)
GT
OK, I am now starting to think that I am adversely effected by OXCODONE. I took a dose of it last night to help me sleep and had trouble breathing. I took a dose tonight and am having trouble breathing. I don’t think I am in real danger, but it is uncomfortable. The only thing that is mentioned in the literature is: Oxycodone can depress breathing, and is used with caution in elderly, debilitated patients and in patients with serious lung disease.
You can bet that I won’t be taking it again. My pain is such that it helps to take something to fall asleep, but not such that I will endure *this *again.
After more research, I think it is the new blood pressure medicine that they put me on. Side effects of Metoprolol include: Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:
*
slow or uneven heartbeats;
*
feeling light-headed, fainting;
*
feeling short of breath, even with mild exertion;
*
swelling of your ankles or feet;
*
nausea, stomach pain, low fever, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes);
*
depression; or
*
cold feeling in your hands and feet.
I believe that I am in no danger tonight, but will go off the metoprolol and call my doc in the morning.
Definitely call in the morning. It could also be the meds in combination (IANAD or pharmacist or otherwise clinically qualified person).
Good luck.
GT