Warning – I am writing this post under the influence of a healthy dose of Vicodin. Please excuse anything that may not make sense in this post .
On Wednesday this past week I was released from the hospital. That is 10 days after the Ivor Lewis Esophagectomy Surgery I had.
What is that you may ask?
That is a pretty major surgery where they remove half of your esophagus and half of your stomach and put then back together again. I was in surgery for 5 hours and they made 2 incisions – one down my belly – the other between my ribs on the right side. I was in ICU for the first day (this is standard because of the length of the surgery), on the cardiovascular floor for a day (because of a heightened heart rate), and the rest of the time I was on the pulmonary floor (due to my chest tubes). I am happy to say that I do not remember the first 2-3 days after the surgery.
My recovery went pretty well in the hospital other then having a little air trapped above the outside on my right lung. They monitored it for several days and then figured it wasn’t a big deal. I think the hardest part about recovering in the hospital was the lack of sleep. It is amazing that they expect you to get better when they are waking you up every couple of hours.
I am glad to be at home now to complete my recovery. I am having some pain in the area where they went in near my ribs. I have been able to get a handle on the pain with a heat pad and taking the right dosage of pain medication. When I was in the hospital they were giving me 10ml’s of Vicodin. When I got home I assumed that it was the same. Only after talking to my mom about my pain did I read the label and discover that I was supposed to be taking 15ml’s. Those other 5ml’s make a big difference. So for the most part I have a handle on the pain.
I am pretty swollen in the rib area though. If it does not go down by Monday then I will go in to the doctor to see if there is anything that should be done. I would rather play it safe then have something that could have been easily treated turn into something big.
I want to say thank you to everyone who came and visited me and reached out to me while I was in the hospital. It is always nice to see a friendly face or hear a familiar voice.
Out of the Hospital from Surgery
Warning – I am writing this post under the influence of a healthy dose of Vicodin. Please excuse anything that may not make sense in this post
.
On Wednesday this past week I was released from the hospital. That is 10 days after the Ivor Lewis Esophagectomy Surgery I had.
What is that you may ask?
That is a pretty major surgery where they remove half of your esophagus and half of your stomach and put then back together again. I was in surgery for 5 hours and they made 2 incisions – one down my belly – the other between my ribs on the right side. I was in ICU for the first day (this is standard because of the length of the surgery), on the cardiovascular floor for a day (because of a heightened heart rate), and the rest of the time I was on the pulmonary floor (due to my chest tubes). I am happy to say that I do not remember the first 2-3 days after the surgery.
My recovery went pretty well in the hospital other then having a little air trapped above the outside on my right lung. They monitored it for several days and then figured it wasn’t a big deal. I think the hardest part about recovering in the hospital was the lack of sleep. It is amazing that they expect you to get better when they are waking you up every couple of hours.
I am glad to be at home now to complete my recovery. I am having some pain in the area where they went in near my ribs. I have been able to get a handle on the pain with a heat pad and taking the right dosage of pain medication. When I was in the hospital they were giving me 10ml’s of Vicodin. When I got home I assumed that it was the same. Only after talking to my mom about my pain did I read the label and discover that I was supposed to be taking 15ml’s. Those other 5ml’s make a big difference. So for the most part I have a handle on the pain.
I am pretty swollen in the rib area though. If it does not go down by Monday then I will go in to the doctor to see if there is anything that should be done. I would rather play it safe then have something that could have been easily treated turn into something big.
I want to say thank you to everyone who came and visited me and reached out to me while I was in the hospital. It is always nice to see a friendly face or hear a familiar voice.
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