The bitch is back

Yesterday afternoon Mother and I (with a cousin) went back home after a 4-night stay at the Philippine General Hospital. The first procedure (ERCP) was done as scheduled on Wednesday while the second procedure (Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy or LapChole, as called by the medical and nursing staff) was done on Thursday instead of Friday. I don’t know the reason for the change in schedule because I had forgotten to ask why. 

Both procedures were deemed ’successful’, if output was the indicator. The ERCP yielded 2 gallstones that were blocking the bile ducts (explaining my jaundice and the false positive result on the Hepa-C screening) and the LapChole got enough gallstones to fill a one-inch glass vial. They were as big as mung beans, with the color green so dark it was almost black. The flushing that I did 3 times wasn’t really enough to treat my condition. As my doctor said, surgery is the most effective way to treat cholelithiasis (stones in the gallbladder).

The ERCP left me with a sore throat (because of the big tube inserted into my throat) and dry mouth (maybe from the sedative) after the procedure but otherwise I was okay. Of course I remembered nothing from the time I was sedated till the time I woke up, before I was taken back to my room.

But the LapChole was another matter. I was injected a sedative before I was wheeled into the operating room. I then spent about 20 minutes chatting with the nurses because I wasn’t drowsy at all. It was only after I was given the inhaled anesthesia that I fell asleep. This was around 2PM. I woke up around 6.30PM in the recovery room, with an urgent desire to pee. I waved a hand and a nurse went to me and I whispered I had to pee. My mouth felt dry as hot sand. The I went back to sleep. I woke up 3 times more to pee and then went back to sleep. I was taken back to my room around 11.30PM.

I spent Friday in varying states of pain. Whenever one has abdominal surgery, the first 2 important things that need to happen are farting and being able to sit. This is to prevent the most unpleasant complication of abdominal surgeries, called adhesion (literally, the state where the internal organs stick together). Standing up and walking causes the internal organs to return to their normal positions after surgery. Unfortunately, both of these things are also excruciatingly difficult to do. So there, lies the rub. But, painful as they seemed, I was able to do these things.

One thing I learned is that you’ll never know your real threshold for pain until you have surgery.

Friends started to visit me yesterday, which was good because I seriously think that the sight of me in pain is only for the eyes of few people (my immediate family). Ted, Hav & Vic dropped by in the morning. My friends from college came by around noon, bringing food I had no appetite for. I’m on a full diet throughout my stay in the hospital but I had no real appetite.

I was only able to eat what I would call a full meal at home; Father cooked a sour chicken soup.

I still have one more appointment with my surgeon on Wednesday, to remove the tube that drains blood and fluids into a grenade-sized plastic bag that hangs unobtrusively from my belly. Post-operative medications aside, I am fine.

And if I feel consistently this way in the next few days, then I can whole heartedly say that the bitch is indeed back! Thanks to those who wished me well; you know who you are, darlings! To those who didn’t, all I can say to you is, ‘Belat! Buhay pa ako!’