Overnighter at the Hospital

"You're lucky"

were the final words from the impatient nurse in the recovery room.  I was wheeled to my own room where I would spend the next 30 hours in bed with a bloody drainage bubble stitched to my neck.  Sooooo Lucky, let me tell ya!  Well, apparently it was intern/nurse-training week because not only did I have a registered nurse in the room with me,but  I had two other young ladies who looked and acted like they'd never been in a hospital room before.  When I complained of feeling sweaty and extremely hot, the RN went rummaging through my covers and found extra folded blankets underneath the two that were already covering me, "are you saving these for later?"  she asked jokingly and so as to instruct the interns.  I also had several scabby cotton balls on various parts of my body where blood had been drawn or meds administered, so they went to work to get rid of the unnecessary bandages to make me look (and feel) more human than trash bin.  I could not move my neck; it was extremely stiff and every time I happened to glance down, the bloody-drain bubble made me want to gag or pass out or something.  I mostly rested, watched tv during the day.

The nurses asked me to let them know when I needed pain meds or if I felt any tingling in my hands (hypocalcemia).  My blood pressure, temperature and oxygen saturation were monitored closely, every hour I believe.  Several different nurses seemed to come in shifts.  One nurse had had her thyroid out and showed me her barely visible scar.  Two of the nurses were male, both very attentive.  One of the nurses was female but might have once been male?  One nurse came to check my vitals, one nurse came to help me go to the restroom, one nurse came when I needed pain meds, one nurse came when some machine attached to me started beeping loudly (no big deal my leg compressors turned off somehow--those were weird no way to sleep with those things squeezing your legs every 30 sec.), one nurse came in to give me a calcium IV when my hands went numb, one nurse came in to remove the calcium IV when my Dr. told her to take it off (wouldn't know why specifically until later), the day blended into the night.  With only a few hours of sleep and a diet of jello and chicken broth, I felt pretty blah the next day. 

I made it through the night, so the next day I just had to wait for Dr. A to release me.  My drainage tube was showing very little, I had little to no pain and all of my vitals were fine.  Just had to wait for Dr. A.  So, we waited. and waited. and waited.  My best friend who was going to spend a few days with me through the recovery came down and had to wait with us at the hospital for two hours.  I was feeling pretty good, just tired and stiff necked.

Finally, Dr. A rolled in and apologized.  He said my tube looked good and proceeded to rip it, literally RIP IT out of my flesh!  I have never felt more pain!  My friend asked if the little hole from the tube (which he was applying pressure to for several seconds) would show beneath the incision site.  He said no but that is not true!  But, I will describe my scar in detail later.  He placed some steri-strips over the incision and we were free to go home!  I felt fairly normal, relieved at having endured the worst part...but I was wrong...