[Nairek]

PART 2

The morning of day three, Dr. Hoppenfeld came to see me. He commented on my noisy neighbor and when I told him what happened the night before, he was shocked. So he ordered me a regimen of pain meds to help control my pain as well as a sleeping pill so I could try and get some sleep at night. The same day they started with the colace and laxatives to help me along in “that” department. The gas pain was excruciating! My intestines were still pretty sleepy and I was beginning to suffer from distended bowels. If I was able to double over from the pain, I would have. It was that bad.

I believe it was the night of day four that I was taken down to radiology to have x-rays taken of my back. It was pretty painful to try & get on the table and to roll over onto my sides but the tech was a really strong man who helped me. I asked the tech if I could see the x-rays when he was done and he was kind enough to let me take a peek. It looked like there were six screws and two plates in my back. It was weird to look at the x-rays and think wow, that’s what I have inside of me now!

By day five I was cleared by physical therapy to go home. I was able to walk on my own with little assistance since day three and I was able to walk up and down two stairs. However, I was told that I couldn’t go home until I produced a “meaningful” bowel movement for them. I was like you have got to be kidding me right? I had been on a liquid diet for five days, so I didn’t think anything would ever happen!

That evening, things began happening and I was in a much better mood. Baby steps I guess but it was something to be happy about. The morning of the sixth day, I was told by Dr. Bitan’s PA that if I could handle solid food for breakfast and lunch, then I could go home that day. I was so excited, that I called my husband as soon as the PA left at 6:30 a.m. to let him know.

Breakfast came and I was so happy to finally be able to eat solid food! I still didn’t have a huge appetite but did manage to eat a little bit and felt so much better. I went for a twenty minute walk after breakfast and was so tired and short of breath afterwards that I had to lay down for a while. Dr. Bitan’s PA came back to visit and we chatted for a little bit. I told him that breakfast seemed to go very well and he told me that he will more than likely discharge me after 2:00 p.m.

My husband arrived shortly after 11:30 a.m. and I told him the awesome news. When lunch arrived, I was shocked at how much was on my tray and how good it looked. I was even more shocked by how it tasted. I expected hospital food to be horrible but it was surprisingly tasty. Even my husband was like, wow, that’s a lot of food!

After lunch, my husband was helping me to get dressed when there was a knock on the door. It was Dr. Bitan and his PA coming for a visit. (Dr. Bitan visited with me every day except for the weekend. I expected a colleague of his to check in with me, not him. I was impressed by this.) He said he was glad to catch me before I left and that he was sorry for keeping me over the weekend but he didn’t feel comfortable sending me home on Friday like he had planned. I told him I understood with all of the crazy things I had happening to me. It was better to err on the side of caution. There was a lot of happiness in that room and I was glad that there was a noticeable difference in my pain. That’s another post though since I think I may have put most of you to sleep by now.

And now the new chapter of my life begins……….