Hospital days following surgery and the barium swallow

Apparently my bloods came back a bit off so while I had the drip in anyway they took the opportunity to pump me full of all kinds of other stuff. I have blurred memories of magnesium, phos-something and Panadol. Seriously, I really have to laugh that after major surgery they somehow think Panadol is going to cut it. Oddly the only morphine I had was in recovery, with some OxyContin on Tuesday the rest was Panadol. 

I do remember very very clearly how much all that stuff pumping into my veins hurt. I have small veins as it is and every time they switched something or turned up the drip my entire arm stung and burned. I wanted to scratch my veins out of my arm. Well, not all of them, just the one with the dirty pain in it. I cried. Now I'm not much of a crier as it is, and I like to think I've got a pretty high pain tolerance, but that vein made me cry. There wasn't much the poor nurse could do but add more Panadol (pfft) and slow the drip yet again. 

At some point I asked to get up to wee. I love how excited nurses get about stuff like wee. 

Anyone who thinks hospitals stays are a chance for rest are just so wrong. Observations need to be done very 2 hours, and there's just no way to check temp, wounds and blood pressure without waking you up. Add to that there were 3 of us in the HDU so by the time we had all been checked it was at least half an hour of noise. Then it felt like just as you resettled it was check time again. 

By the time it was really morning I was knackered and pretty uncomfortable. Honestly beyond the genuine pain in recovery and the freaking vein, there hasn't really been pain as such. Just discomfort. Whole tum feels a bit tight and like I've just done too many sit ups (which clearly I haven't). But Tuesday morning, I really couldn't imagine feeling ready to go home 24 hours later. 

I was nil by mouth (besides ice chips) until I had passed the nasty barium swallow, which happened Tuesday morning. OMG! Horrid. I was wheeled down to x-ray where I had to stand on the platform and drink this horrid wee yellow, aniseed flavored syrup, while x-rays were taken to ensure there were no leaks in my new stomach. Once I had passed that I was allowed back in my wheelchair where I promptly vomited. It's worth knowing I loathe vomiting anyway, it's just not something I do, but vomiting after stomach surgery is absolutely terrifying. 

Passing the test did mean that I was allowed a real drink though. The nurse arranged for me water (oh the pain of trying to swallow water), apple juice (ahhh soothing relief) and broth (meh). Later that day I was allowed a lemonade icypole. Awesome. 

It all sounds rather unhealthy, but the focus in the coming weeks is to stay hydrated however I can. Once real food is introduced after 6 weeks, the focus starts to switch to nutritional content as well as hydration. 

The other little gem about barium is that what doesn't get vomited up, comes out the other end. At quite a rate I might add. I'm certain the saying 'never trust a fart' was coined after a barium swallow test. And if I though the nurse got excited about a wee, she almost lost her mind over me taking a dump. 

Tuesday's evening nurse was the best, deciding to leave my drip in overnight as I wouldn't be able to drink much, (and she put a bandage over my cannula as I was worried i would knock it) but the overnight nurse was a shocker. Every time she woke me up, she told me off for not drinking enough. Umm, I was kinda sleeping. 

Wednesday morning came and I was feeling better. I even went for a wander to visit another sleever I'd met on our Facebook group. (There were at least 4 of us from the group done the same day by same dr). 

I tried a sustagen for breakfast, not a happy tummy with dairy. But headed home, ready to rest and recover.