Update

It’s now 7 .5 days since my surgery and I’m still recovering. Fortunately pain hasn’t been a problem at any point. I stopped taking the Tramadol on Saturday and was perfectly fine on just the Panadol. I’m not sure I even needed the Panadol, aside from the first day or so I was home. I did continue to take that until Sunday but not on as regular a schedule. I find it amazing to have had major abdominal surgery and have so little pain afterwards.

The worst thing so far has been the tiredness. Until yesterday, I had been needing two or more naps every day. I managed to get through yesterday without a nap but was past ready to crash when I finally got to bed after 11pm last night. Unfortunately my bladder woke me at 5 am  (as it has several times now) and I simply couldn’t get back to sleep. So I am almost certain to need a top-up today. I’m thinking seriously about taking a walk around the block this afternoon in hopes to getting some energy back. It’s a bit like when I’ve slacked off on exercise for way too long and just need to jolt my body out of the lethargy.

I think Monday was possibly the low point of my recovery. I think the post-surgery blues had set in and I was feeling close to tears much of the day, for no reason I could fathom. That feeling isn’t totally gone now but is much less intense than Monday.  I did sleep a lot that but when I was awake I didn’t feel like doing much of anything. I eventually settled into finishing a book I’d started back in November then left sitting on the shelf for several weeks. It’s soon due back to the library so I guess that was productive. There were also other issues, mostly digestive, that made me feel like I’d had a bit of a setback at this point. The digestive problems didn’t continue yesterday so I’m hoping that was just a temporary obstacle in recovery.

Monday I finally braved removal of the dressings for three of the four incisions. I was expecting a bit of ugliness but none looked particularly noteworthy at all. The belly button incision is a bit more obvious if I look at it but due to its location, it’s the least visible. One just under my breastbone looks like a mere scratch although the skin feels a bit irregular. The other open looks like a bit more than a scratch and that is the one that has been uncomfortable since removing the dressing. Every time I moved, it felt like it was being pulled around and sometimes it felt like it was going to open. It’s location below my breast and near the lung area is more prone to be moved about that the other one so I’m sure this is normal. That has improved but it’s still distracting me. I haven’t removed the dressing for the fourth incision because the nurse said to wait until it looks “tatty’ and it doesn’t even though it’s been five days now. That’s where the drain was and I suspect it will be more bothersome than the one next to it has been.

I’m now looking forward to that magical two week mark where I supposedly will be mostly back to normal. I do have a ban on heavy lifting until six weeks but I don’t think that would be an issue anyway. I’m really glad this surgery is now available laparascopically and has such a reduced recovery time. I can’t imagine having several more weeks of this to look forward to.