I had my surgery on Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California. My physician is Dr. Luedke. I can't begin to tell you how well I was treated while in the hospital. Traditionally Dr. Luedke keeps his patients 2 nights in the hospital but due to my difficulty keeping liquids down, I was kept an extra night. I also learned that I had a hernia in my upper abdomen. My doctor could tell how old it was. I do recall having a lot of abdominal pain when in was in my early 20s but after a few months it went away. Of course I was a young adult/kid mentally so I just gave it a miss and moved on. My recovery has been considering I had a terrible recovery from my c-section back in 2008.

Here is something fascinating, I gained 10 lbs while in the hospital, even though I wasn't keeping liquids down and barely ate. They said my stomach would be swollen for a while but my arms and feet have also gotten bloated. They told me this is normal. I had a low grade fever yesterday evening and took the Norco to address the pain and fever. I still managed to walk at least 3 times per day in my hospital wing. My lungs are still not at 100% as I can't get back to inhaling as much as I did on the Incentives Inhaler. My baseline the morning prior to surgery was 2500 but i haven't been able to go beyond 500. I also find myself getting really tired and out of breath just walking around a little. I will keep working on clearing my lungs so I can use them at full capacity. The night of the day of my surgery my brother, sister-in-law and kids came to see me at the hospital. I didn't recall that they did until the following morning they sent me pictures of me walking the halls with them holding my IV pole. I guess I'm one of those who gets anesthesia amnesia. This may also explain my weird statements that my sister-in-law said I made during their visit at the hospital as well as the red socks they use for people who are at high risk of falling.

Oh here's something new, so I have a long history of eczema. You guys all know that when we prep for surgery we can't use any lotions, powders, nothing except the Hibicleans. This on top of being in the hospital 3 nights and unable to drink any fluids until day 2 and my fever I think caused my eczema to get out of control in my torso. I also found out that those little sticker discs that they use to track your oxygen and heart rate when they remove them, the adhesive makes them cause an irritation on my skin.

So now i'm home, I'm showered. I've used my eczema cream but i doubt it will improve until a week as it got very severe. I loved my hospital staff who were complete angels to me but I was also super ready to get home and be in my own place. And now to get rid of all these water bottles with straws....