Small Bumps in the Road
Originally published at bcvsbc.blogspot.com on 04/29/18
They say that the 2nd and 3rd day of recovery after a major surgery is the worst and I would agree that is a true statement. The first day out of the hospital you are still hopped up on the "good stuff" and blissfully unaware of the hurt coming your way. I slept like a baby and didn't feel a thing the first night. But by the next morning I had entered a different dimension of feelings.
Scotty and I requested something a little bit stronger from my surgeon during our post op meeting and figured that was all I would need to be back on the road to recovery again. After the first dose it seemed great, pain was less and it wasn't making me drowsy. However, by that evening I was starting to get itchy. It started at the back of my arms, right on top of my triceps. It is seriously the only location I can't move my arms high enough to reach to scratch so I was getting pretty annoyed. The itchy feeling moved from my arms over to my neck, down my stomach below all the bandages and wrapped around to my back.
There was a lot of iodine on my body from the surgeries. My arms, neck, back and belly were covered in it. I am not allowed to get anything wet so I haven't tried to do a sponge bath because I am freaked out about causing anything to take longer to heal. Yet the itching made me think it must be from the iodine. Last night I had Scott help me use baby wipes to remove as much of the iodine as I could. Once we were done I took my last set of meds before bed and was certain all would be well in the morning.
Everything was not well in the morning. When Scott woke me up for my meds around 4 I was scratching my skin so hard in my sleep that I had cut my skin on my neck. My prediction of it being from the iodine was obviously incorrect and since the only thing we had changed was the new pain medication, it was evident that I was allergic to it.
Not a great picture but my entire body is covered in these small raised red bumps. The nurse switched my pain meds and I added another pill for the allergic reaction.
My older sister, Deni, and her family came over this morning to see me. Since I told my family about my diagnosis my sister Deni has gone into full war commander mode. She basically took over the remainder of the moving that needed to take place in our old home, set up a command center at my parents house, and started a schedule for people to help with my kids. Let's just say you do not want to mess with Deni, she's awesome, and a little scary!
While she was here my mom and her helped me take a bath. I already mentioned that how nervous I was about getting anything wet so they devised a way to ensure no water would get on me.
They wrapped me in 4 extra large beach towels from Costco, then cut an opening out of the bottom of a 55 gallon black garbage bag and duct taped it around my neck so that no water could get through. I looked homeless but afterwards I felt amazing. They were able to wash my hair (I can't even fully brush it yet), blow dry it, and help me wash all the iodine off my body. It was like heaven. Plus they helped me change my clothes. I haven't been able to do that yet because it hurt so bad to move everything. I feel like a whole new woman…minus the boobs!