Month: October 2008

Just got discharged from the hospital. Dave’s coming to pick me up. It’ll be good to be home again, feels like I’ve been stuck in there forever.

Here’s the photo my surgeon took of my gall bladder. Keep in mind a healthy gall bladder is robin-egg blue.

Mine was very scarred and damaged. The surgeon said it looked like it had been in bad shape for awhile.

I did have an ER visit a couple years ago that was probably a gall bladder attack (the did an x-ray instead of an ultrasound, so would have missed it).

Here’s the pic of my diseased gall bladder. Eww.

Hospital monkey that Sarah brought me.

Some of the buggers that caused all the trouble. About the size and shape of Nerds candy. Just picture hundreds or thousands filling a 3.5oz leather bag. That’s what my insides were like!

I get a biohazard bag to take home!

In laparoscopic gall bladder surgery, they inflate the abdominal cavity with gas, to give room for the laparoscope to move around. After surgery, pockets of this gas remain in the body, causing arthritic-like pain in places like the back and shoulders.

In “classic” gall bladder surgery, they make a large incision in the abdomen, slicing through abdominal muscles to make the hole. This takes a long time to heal, during which time any use of abdominal muscles causes severe pain.

Since my surgery started as laparoscopic and switched to classic, I get the worst of both worlds during recovery.

Small movements are difficult – I feel really accomplished now that I can get up out of bed and go to the bathroom or take a short walk ALL BY MYSELF!

They say the best treatment at this point (besides the IV saline drip and morphiene button) is going for walks.

So every time I get up to go to the bathroom, when I am done there, I go walking up and down the halls, pushing my IV rack, wearing only a thin johnny and a pair of socks.

Ah, this life of glamour I lead!

Today I get to switch from sucking on ice cubes to drinking liquids. Whee!

Sarah, Adam, Brent and Raven came by to see how I was doing, and brought presents!

Sarah got me a monkey in a johnny, and Brent & Raven got me a cozy GIR blanket!

Sarah got me a bunch of gadgets from home to keep me entertained, and Adam tossed in my copy of “Trauma Center – Under the Knife” for the DS, so I could do some surgery of my own. 😉

I have these leg things on, designed to prevent blood clots while I’m in the hospital bed. There is one on each leg, and they periodically inflate and deflate, alternating legs, like blood presure cuffs. When they deflate, they do so with a low hiss, that sounds like a car going by in the distance, or someone breathing.

Also, the Apple stock I bought yesterday (well, first thing this morning) went up by the close of the market – I made $250! If I sold it now, that is. I’ll hang onto it for a year or two at least… Seems like as long as Steve Jobs doesn’t kick the bucket, the stock should do well long-term.

I was walking around today, so hopefully I’ll get to go home tomorrow night, or Sunday afternoon…

For now, I think I’ll get some rest, at least until the nurse shift change at 11pm, when they’ll wake me up to take my vitals…