The Cracked Mug v 2.0

[erikakaiser]

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[erikakaiser]

Soon!

[erikakaiser]

Pinterest gave me this, it knows too much

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[erikakaiser]

So yesterday I got top surgery!

My surgeon is this incredibly lovely person, and the entire experience was about as good as I could've asked for! Getting to the point where I was actually scheduled for surgery is one of the most dehumanizing things I have ever done, largely due to the VA psych system treating me as aberrant, but the rest of it was very welcoming and great.

The surgery itself was quick (for me, obviously, because I just took a nap, but it also took I think two hours + one hour in the recovery room? so that's pretty efficient) and aftercare stuff is really not bad. Drains are easy, just pop em off and measure the goo then pop em back on. Soreness hasn't super kicked in yet but so far I can squat to pick stuff up and if something's way over my head I either don't need it or can get a step stool so I am not reaching straight up. I have a pretty high body-pain tolerance so that's not bad so far.

What I do NOT have, is a high brain-pain tolerance, or a high nausea-yucks tolerance, so the part that absolutely kicked my ass was side-effects of anesthesia. Yesterday I simultaneously had the worst nausea and worst headache of my life and struggled to shake it. I threw up all my dinner (which was a very tasty and also very mild soup, so it's not like I ate something spicy or hard on the stomach) and ended up sitting in the bathroom for a while with the heater on and a rag on my forehead while I waited for another dose of anti-nausea and pain meds to kick in. Once I could close my eyes without my entire thought process being "ow. ow. ow. ow. ow." I went back to bed and slept pretty well! I woke up a few times to discomfort from the, having to sleep in a certain position, but then could adjust and go back to sleep.

I woke up again just a bit ago, so kinda early, but I went ahead and took care of some hygiene stuff, tended to my drains, took my meds, and am gonna sit for a bit and check on internet things and otherwise be upright. I'll likely end up napping after my appointment later (I have a follow-up appointment to check on things at 9ish), but for now I want to be awake.

I look like myself in the mirror, even with the drains poking out, and I love it love it love it

[Sorcyress]

Nausea is the absolute worst, I am with you on much lower tolerance for that than actual pain. I am so lucky that for my hysterectomy I was able to remember the lessons from having my wisdom teeth out (which I did on just novocaine, which was fine, but then had a few days of opiates after which made me unable to eat because I was puking so much) and tell the anesthetists in advance, and they gave me some bonus anti-nausea meds right off the bat, so I wasn't needing to throw up while simultaneously in abdominal pain. (And then I straight up just did not take the oxy they prescribed me, and managed my pain from that surgery with alternating tylenol and ibuprofen).

Congrats on looking more like yourself! That's really cool!

[erikakaiser]

me trying to shower with drains in

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[erikakaiser]

@Sorcyress yeah my surgeon is thankfully a "switch to Tylenol ASAP" believer and only gave me five pills of the Good Stuff (tm); I have two left and have switched to Tylenol today to see how that does, since opiates are not kind to my gastrointestinal system and I'm fine w/ body discomfort if it means everything is uh. running smoothly. yanno

anyways hooray for us and being gentle, admittedly via force, to our bodies by making them better places for us to be in

[erikakaiser]

puts one of these out for Two-Sauce

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[erikakaiser]

The world is scary, be scarier

[erikakaiser]

Got a wedge pillow.............game changer