What are the first couple of days like at home after the surgery?
Michele J.
Westwood, CA

To try to really answer that in a detailed way, it would take a book. But let me try to summarize:

Scary.

1. I was so weirded out by my new wiring because I was afraid I’d bust it, rip it open, stuff like that. At the same time I was trying VERY hard to eat all the protein shakes (one shake took over 2 hours to get down for the first 3 weeks) I was assigned and slowly attempting to add food items off the approved list – things like egg salad and tuna salad are commonly approved after the first week, but I was too afraid that eggs would gross me out and cause me to vomit which you are ALWAYS afraid will happen.

It’s funny…after the myriad vomit warnings, I did not throw up ONCE. Not once.

2. I was warned that I would be really constipated from the hospital medications so I actually had to have someone insert anal suppositories for me because the doctors are eager for you to keep eliminating. They need you regular Wheee!

3. Between those blasted, chalky shakes and my new intestinal avenues, my breath would have KILLED someone who came within ten feet of me. I am serious about this. And no one in the doctor’s office had EVER mentioned this to me (surprise surprise). It actually had me so freaked out that I reported it to my surgeon’s office but they just shrugged (another surprise). So I started doing Internet research. I learned the why, I just didn’t learn the how long. Thankfully, that went away after about a month so if you are in that time frame, Do Not Worry. The frighteningly evil breath will go away. I promise.

That’s a very, VERY basic summary of the first few days at home, Michele. Not terribly illuminating, to be sure, but it's my job to give you the lowdown truth, so there ya have it!

GB Girl