5 Months Post Op today

Actually, I’m lying, I’m not 5 months today, I will be 5 months tomorrow – but that’s Saturday. You may be thinking that the Internet is still there on a Saturday, but I won’t be. Not that I’ll be away or anything but as I’ve mentioned before – I’m a weekday blogger!

So, at 5 months, how do I feel? Well pretty darn good actually. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any pain because I do, but some of that is caused by the arthritis I have at the base of my spine, and the operation was never going to make that go away! I am still getting pain from my ribs (or lack of them). The ‘phantom’ ones in particular really play me up – of course, it may also have something to do with the fact that my chest drain was really close to this area and my diaphragm got sliced in two as well. Thinking about that – I’m assuming it will take a long time before coughing and sneezing doesn’t result in a string of expletives!

I’m also getting some pain in my left hip – I had such a big sideshift that my right leg used to take all my weight. Now my left one has to do some of the work and it whinges from time to time…Oh yes, and I still have the dead thigh thing – looks like I’m stuck with it. (Not to worry, it’ll be handy at party times when we don’t have anywhere suitable to play ‘pin the tail on the donkey’). Thankfully, the feeling is starting to come back around my scar and at the rate it’s going I think I should be able to feel my podgy tummy properly by Christmas! Seriously the tummy is not as podgy as it was, just still a bit swollen over my ribs –“still have some fullness there” as my surgeon nicely(?) put it!
So, to drugs - no, not that type (!) – the ones I’m supposed to take, what of them? Well, my standard painkillers are down to about the same as they were before the op – I’m taking less of them at a slightly higher dose. I am managing to steadily decrease them at the moment so watch this space. The news on the nerve pain is not so hot. I recently went to my doctor and said I wanted to reduce the dose, as since I had no nerve pain whilst on them I thought this meant I was fixed. She thought it odd that someone wanted to get off their medication (our surgery is in that kind of area ^*1) but decided to humour me. I reduced my dosage by one tablet and the pain came back – not badly, but enough for me to realise I wasn’t ‘fixed’. I’m staying on current levels for another month and will have another go. Can’t be helped, but it’s my only piece of bad news so that’s pretty good I think.

My major problems with heartburn have definitely improved. I’m still having some attacks, but they are much less frequent and definitely less painful. I’ve been told that it can take up to a year for everything to settle into its new place so there’s still time for this to improve even more. I no longer seem to have any problems swallowing which is just great. My digestion is back to normal (mostly) – the only odd thing is the habit my stomach has of gurgling madly when I first lie down in bed at night. Hubby has gone from laughing at it to (now he’s used to it) telling me he’s finding it soothing – “rather like whale song” he says!

Apart from all of this stuff, I feel really well in myself. Of course, we’ve had a fair bit of sun lately and I love sunny weather. Having my restrictions lifted has meant that I can go out in the car and also get out and potter in the garden – something I really enjoy. It all means I’m much less frustrated with not being able (or allowed) to do anything.

An odd upside (I think) that I didn’t expect is the fact that I have had to buy so many new clothes. I thought I might like to (as different styles would now fit), but I never expected to have to replace all my trousers ^*2. It seems that enough of your lumbar spine is below your waistband to make a difference and your waistband just simply doesn’t end up being, well, where it used to be! For me, I have decided to have a bit of a new look – I am growing my hair (yes really) to a longer short style and have even bought a t-shirt recently which has flowers on it instead of a slogan. Give me another year or so and people will accuse me of growing up!

Anyway, I know this is a long post but I guess these update ones will be. The next back one will be on or around the 8th of August. Then, I shall be 6 months post op – can you believe it?

^*1 Here in Wales, everything is bilingual – Welsh^*3 and English. The signs in our surgery are in about 17 languages whereas in our old one (way over in Wooly West Wales^*4) you were lucky sometimes to find the English sign!
^*2 L. and all the other friends in US, you’d call these pants – over here pants are what go under your trousers (if you get my drift). An aside on this subject (just to save any embarrassment) is that in the good ole US of A, what you call a fanny means something very different over here. Over here it’s a – well, I can’t say, I’m too much of a lady, but it’s something that little girls have one of, and little boys don’t! Oh, and on a similar note, a gem for my Australian readers – if you want to seal a parcel, don’t ask for Durex in the UK – you’ll just get a well know prophylactic. I used this nice long word so I didn’t have to use any rude words, but if you don’t know what one of those is, please look here – don’t Google it – heaven knows what you’ll come up with…..
^*3 Learn it here, with Colin and Cumberland!
^*4Have you noticed how often www crops up - spooky eh? I wonder if it's something to do with the mice myself....