# Surgery Monday, wish me luck! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 11, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625 "2009-09-11T00:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/41 "2009-09-14T15:09:15Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > **Norine** , did the doctor tell you that you’ll wake up in a bathtub full of ice? Thanks- you had us both laughing. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/42 "2009-09-14T17:00:49Z")
I will drink some beer for you later since you won’t be able to, **norinew**. 🙂 Enjoy the Good Drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/43 "2009-09-14T18:08:33Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Will be thinking of you, hope everything goes well. > Prayers and good vibes on their way. Damn you! I wanted to revive the thread to show **Nori** that I actually did have her in my schedule to send good vibes too. _Beginning transmission of good vibes_ ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/44 "2009-09-14T22:53:25Z")
Here’s hoping everything went well. I’m having a beer tonight in honor of your kidney. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/45 "2009-09-14T23:07:15Z")
More good wishes! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/46 "2009-09-17T00:50:35Z")
Well, I’m home. According to the doctor, the surgery went very well. Only took about 40 minutes. He didn’t even make an incision long enough to reach into, only long enough to hack it into pieces and pull it out. The first 12 hours or so were very rough. Even with _lots_ of heavy-duty narcotics, my pain level never got below a “5” on the hospital’s typical 1-10 scale. It’s improved pretty rapidly since then, though. I’m tired, and of course I’m sore. But they sent me home with lots of good drugs, and I have my hubby home with me for the next five days to help out. I don’t really have any restrictions other than “no lifting” and “listen to your body”. I can even shower! W00t! As long as I take my meds on time, my back “aches”, but unless I try to stretch in a way it doesn’t like, it’s nothing unbearable. It’s just really good to be home. Hospitals are no place to try and rest! And the beds aren’t very comfortable, either. Thanks for all the well wishes, apparently they worked! ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/47 "2009-09-17T00:54:32Z")
Hooray!🆒 ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/48 "2009-09-17T01:08:49Z")
Good to hear! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/49 "2009-09-17T01:32:52Z")
Yay! I saw one of your posts from last week in another thread tonight and was wondering if you were home yet. Home is good. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/50 "2009-09-17T05:09:20Z")
So I went to bed at 9:30 last night, got a couple of solid hours of sleep. Now it’s 1AM, and I’m up waiting for my latest round of ‘quality pharmaceuticals’ to kick in so I can go get some more shut-eye. Fortunately, my hubby is here, so if I can’t manage to drag my ass out of bed too early in the morning, _he_ can oversee **mudgirl** eating breakfast and getting ready for school! So, what kind of bee did y’all drink for me? 😃 Oh, btw, when I say ‘quality pharmaceuticals’, I mean _quality_. I’ve got a bottle of Roxicet, which is liquid Percocet. I can take up to 2tsp. every six hours, which is equivalent to 10mg of Percocet. I also have 10mg Lorcet that I can use “in between” if I have to! Yikes, if I wasn’t in so much pain, I could make a fortune selling this stuff on the streets! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/51 "2009-09-17T12:18:40Z")
Glad to see you are home - wishing you a speedy recovery. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/52 "2009-09-17T12:27:42Z")
How is the pain management going today? IME, the unmedicated pain tends to fall off exponentially unless a bone is involved. Following my gastric bypass, I could sleep after the 3rd night without medication, but I had a low level, unspecific feeling that I described as ‘being hit by a truck’. That lasted about a week. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/53 "2009-09-17T14:27:11Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > How is the pain management going today? IME, the unmedicated pain tends to fall off exponentially unless a bone is involved. > > Following my gastric bypass, I could sleep after the 3rd night without medication, but I had a low level, unspecific feeling that I described as ‘being hit by a truck’. That lasted about a week. Pain management going pretty well today. In the middle of the night last night (in a fair bit of pain), I tried a little experiment: 1/2tsp of Roxicet (normal dose 1-2tsp.) and 1/2 of a Lorcet (normal dose 1 tablet), kicked up with an Aleve Liquigel. The Roxicet, being liquid, kicks in pretty quickly. The Lorcet and the Aleve are longer-lasting. Combined, it allowed me to sleep until 9AM this morning, not counting the few minutes I woke up to mutter helpful comments to my hubby about getting our kid ready for school. I’m going to keep using this, except for extreme circumstances, as it allows quick relief, without over-using any of the narcotics. My experience, with gastric bypass as well as other major surgeries, is that it’s often ‘two steps forward, one step back’. The best way to avoid this is to avoid pushing myself. So, I’ve half-way emptied the dishwasher this morning, am fixing myself something simple to eat, and after I eat, I will shower. After that, I’ll probably nap. 😉 You’re right, though, it seems to improve exponentially. Also, all my other major surgeries have been abdominal. Having a back incision is totally different. Rolling over in bed is definitely difficult and painful. _But_ the things that abdominal surgery make so painful (laughing, sneezing and coughing, walking up and down steps, etc.) are not nearly as painful with a back incision! So the pain is getting better, and my plan is to stay on top of the pain instead of letting it get ahead of me (I know from experience that that’s a _bad_ idea), and rest as much as possible. Oh, I’m also going to walk down to the corner to meet **mudgirl’s** afternoon school bus today. I usually let her walk home by herself, but short walks will do me good. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/54 "2009-09-17T15:14:24Z")
Glad to know that things went well. Hope the ‘exponentially’ part keeps going. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/55 "2009-09-17T16:31:55Z")
Same here – best you you always and in all ways! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/56 "2009-09-17T18:37:36Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Glad to know that things went well. Hope the ‘exponentially’ part keeps going. Boy, I hope so too. I wore myself out this morning, simply by: emptying a few things out of my duffel bag that I took to the hospital with me; emptying the silverware tray from the dishwasher; watching an episode of West Wing with hubby; showering; warming up a piece of chicken to eat. That was enough to do me in, so I went to nap, and unfortunately slept a half-hour past meds time, so woke up to some pretty bad pain. As such, I took a dose of pain meds that was pretty close to maximum dose. But I’m starting to feel much better now. You know how narcotics are: they take away some of the pain, and make you care less about the pain you _do_ feel. Thanks for the good wishes and kind words, everyone! Oh, and since I’ve got narcotic pain meds, I still can’t drink beer. So keep drinking the beer for me too, huh? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/57 "2009-09-17T23:13:50Z")
I had _minor_ surgery once upon a time and was amazed at how thoroughly it knocked me off my feet - of course, silly, said the doctor, your body is doing _work_ when it is healing! I can only imagine that with major surgery this effect is much, much more evident. Glad to hear the surgery went well and you are recovering. Please don’t hurry yourself. Keep the pain under control. Best wishes. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/58 "2009-09-18T00:02:39Z")
Glad everything’s going so well. Thanks for keeping us updated. More good wishes for a quick recovery! ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/59 "2009-09-18T00:54:20Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I had _minor_ surgery once upon a time and was amazed at how thoroughly it knocked me off my feet - of course, silly, said the doctor, your body is doing _work_ when it is healing! I can only imagine that with major surgery this effect is much, much more evident. > > Glad to hear the surgery went well and you are recovering. Please don’t hurry yourself. Keep the pain under control. Best wishes. Yes, healing is _astonishingly_ hard work. I just got up from my _second_ nap of the day! 🙂 In another hour and a half, I’ll take pain meds (maximum dose since it’s bed time), and go to bed for the night. I figure for the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sleeping _at least_ 11 hours per day. I’m running a little bit of a fever now, too, adding to the fun. Nothing that would concern the doctor (he said to contact his office immediately for a fever over 101; so far it hasn’t gotten above 100), but still, enough to drag me down a little more. I did get up from my nap a bit ago so I could tuck my 9YO into bed. As she was getting ready for bed, she asked me to fix her pillows for her. I told her “I don’t think so!” 😉 At 9, she can straighten her own damn pillows! Thanks for the good wishes, **gardentraveler**! ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625/60 "2009-09-18T02:21:01Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Oh, and since I’ve got narcotic pain meds, I still can’t drink beer. So keep drinking the beer for me too, huh? 🆒 \ Well, if I must I must --------- but ONLY to make you feel better. Besides, I got some good vodka I can chase it down with. \ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surgery-monday-wish-me-luck/509625.md?page=4)