Day Two. Wednesday.

Today I saw my incision scar.

They removed the incision bandage this morning and I got my first look at my scar. It actually wasn't that bad. I have photos elsewhere on the blog of the incision if you want to see it. But they use internal glue or something so the scar wasn't anywhere near as bad as what I was expecting.  

I had very little feeling in my chest, and across my chest. They told me it will take months to get some of the feeling back as nerves are cut when they open the chest for the sternotomy. It takes months for those nerves to grow back and some never will.  It was a strange sensation but not bad.

A word on pain killers.

They were giving me oxycodone 10 every few hours, along with Tylenol. I did not like how the drugs were making me feel and I asked them to stop giving them to me. I felt like I was in a woozy dream state, and I also had terrible dreams the night before.  I was taking the Tylenol and they gave me something else that was not an opiod.  But I was also not able to get comfortable, and the head NP on the floor came in to talk to me.

The NP explained that they felt it was necessary for me to be on them to ensure I was not in pain, and that without them I might feel pain that would hinder my recovery. They assured me that in-hospital use of opiods was safe and even necessary. We agreed I would go on the oxycodone 5 instead of the 10, and that I would let them know if I was feeling any breakthrough pain and needed more.

Shifting around in bed, or in the chair, was uncomfortable, and my back was sore from lying flat on it for so long.  (News flash: you will be sleeping flat on your back for a couple of months, so get used to it.) None of this was unbearable pain, but when the physical therapists came for me to take a walk, getting up out of bed and standing was uncomfortable - but I think it was mostly pain originating from the drains under the incision. 

Catheter out - able to go to the bathroom!

They took the catheter out today and I was able to go to the bathroom.  The physical therapy team came by and had me walk a little bit to show them I was able to do it. 

The nurses cleaned me off today with some wipes, but I felt damp and gross. Luckily I had brought my powder with me, so when I went to the bathroom I was able to powder up a bit and feel a little more dry and less gross. Hard to explain, but I wasn't able to shower yet.  And those wet wipes they use smell medicinal, and really leave you feeling wet and damp down in your nether area. (I say this as politely as I can.)

They took the saphenous vein from my left leg, and today I was able to really get a good look at my leg. Here are a few photos. My legs were both swollen, this one more so than the right leg because of the surgery they did to remove the vein.

So on the left is my inner thigh, and there are steri-strips covering the top incision. This was a small incision at the top of the saphenous vein. These have to stay on until they fall off. It took about 2 weeks for that to happen. 

The middle photo is the incision near the crease of my leg where they did the big incision. You can also kinda see a line that goes down my leg, following where the vein used to be that they used. 

The photo on the right shows the small incision at the bottom of the saphenous vein where they made a small incision there, also covered by a steri-strip. These didn't hurt, but I did not have a lot of feeling on my leg near the big incision. This is because some of the nerves were cut and I was told this would take time.

You will be getting up a lot to go to the bathroom.

They had me on a diuretic to remove the water from my system, and you can tell you are holding water by how swollen your legs are.  This means a lot of trips to the bathroom.  From the time I entered surgery to the time I was weighed the next day, I had gained 20 pounds. This is mostly fluid and it is from the blood and other "products" they give you in surgery. 

They also removed the drains today.

The drains from your chest are also removing fluids and blood and you see it in the bag next to your bed. I wish I had taken a photo of the drains, but I didn't. 

They have you hold your breath when they remove these, but it does not hurt. It feels a little strange, but there wasn't really any pain.  But I was very glad to have them removed and found that some of the discomfort I was feeling was gone when they were removed.