Breast Reconstruction Surgery Recovery in the Hospital Before Home - Tuesday

Disclosures: I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse. I am not a medical professional whatsoever. If you are concerned about your health, I encourage you to talk to your doctor. This post contains a few affiliate links. If you click them and buy something, I might earn a small commission, at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All opinions are my own. I am also NOT a photographer. I work at a creative firm and we hire photographers. My photography is quite, well, awful. 

Tuesday morning arrives quickly – I’m sure I slept, but every hour + for visitors. I meet my day nurse, Renata (she’s lefty). And my vital tech nurse. The night nurse pretty much tells the day nurse your story. And then a resident doctor comes (I can’t remember his name and never really chose to – in fact, I figured he was my back up doctor for the stay and I wouldn’t see Dr. Beale since I was at Baylor, not Medical City). He checks on stuff, but can’t authorize anything – I really want those ice chips that Dr. Beale promised me and the little spongy water swab doesn’t really cut it, but does help). 

Swabby thing (we took one home)

And then Blake comes.  She says today I get clear liquids, including ice chips! And that at some point I would get out of the bed and sit in the chair to my left. I have a view from my window, but keep the blinds closed most of the time. And that should pretty much be my day. They ask my pain level, 1 to 10, but that is the weirdest ranking. 1 to 10 compared to what? I don’t feel real sore so not a lot of pain. But I’m in pain because I’m stuck here, thirsty, have trouble reaching the buttons for the remote, etc. If I could include all of those, it’d be a 10 pain in the ass wise. So I think I basically said 5 most time they asked.

Oh, I also got a breathy thing (OK, an incentive spirometer. For more understanding: Incentive Spirometer  – but don’t like theirs (it makes weird noises) and ask Tony to bring “mine.” 

Medline Spirometer

And bendy straws because Baylor doesn’t have them???? Bendy straws are the best thing EVER when recovering! Tony also brings Blackberry for the rest of my visit.

Important: Bendy Straws

They bring the liquid food – chicken broth, cherry j-ello, apple juice, frozen ice. All poorly presented on a trey with grey plastic holders. Very unappetizing presentation. And the presentation was better than the taste. The chicken broth tasted like a dirty, oily sock. The cherry j-ello was lukewarm and lukewarm j-ello is awful. I don’t like apple juice (but Renata keeps me going with a stash of cranberry juice!) and the frozen ice tasted like Ludens cough drops. Yuk. Yuk. Yuk. I had ice and cranberry juice (I’m sure that Renata was not happy having me as a patient). The only time Baylor seems to ask birthday and full name is mainly when they drop off food. Odd.

Tony doesn’t stay long and comes back later in the evening. Renata does get me up – ouch getting the first up – and sitting in a chair for a while. It does take a lot out of you, but I sit up for an hour. No golf channel so I’ve been watching a lot of Friends. I never really watched much Friends.

Lunch: I refuse it and again ice and cranberry juice.

Dinner: I refuse it and again ice and cranberry juice. But, Renata brings me some broth from their station that at least had flavor, even if it was overly salty. Thank you, Renata. She’s worried that I need some nutrition in me, but understands that I think it’s just awful.

Before I know it, I have Komal (sp) assigned to me as night nurse. And Adele (sp – a man, not the singer) assigned to me. I ask Renata if she’ll be with me tomorrow and she says probably, if I don’t mind (guess I wasn’t TOO difficult).

Tony comes for a quick visit. Good to see him, but I know it’s tough just sitting next to a morphed up person (I have a pain button – but never feel like I was out of it. And think I mainly pushed it to try to sleep, not for pain). Tony comes and we put it on Monday Night Football – I know I can sleep with that on. It’s the Colts/Ravens. And from what I heard – I didn’t watch, just listened – the Colts lost a big lead and it went into OT and the Ravens won. 

Oh, and other big news was John Gruden “resigning” after some real stupidity on his part over emails. I hope any of you who read my blog or follow me on social don’t see me posting any stupidity. It may be stupid, but I think I’m pretty even on all fronts. In fact, I’ve only trashed Baylor’s food so far (I can’t wait for that survey to complete!). [Note: I’m writing this blog at home trying to remember and have already screwed up time – this was Monday, not Tuesday. TV sucked on Tuesday night and I turned off the TV. But unwilling to fix this post]

Tuesday night will be a lot like Monday night, only just TWO-hour interval check ins!

Another last note: I know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but I really have no desire to wear pink, go pink, talk about all of this because it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I also am writing this blog while many of my friends/family don’t maybe even know about this year of BC. I believe in causes, but guess I rebel against a certain month or color.