Hopsital gowns, sponge baths, and hyrdolic beds.

Exhale...
I am on day 5 of my hospital adventure. Here's my "reader's digest version" of my week.

My last post gave you the low down on Thursday and Friday with never blocks and stuff... So we can start from there.

Saturday night:
Pain. The worst pain I have ever felt. It was hard to breathe. I was grinding my teeth, crying, grasping the blankets. I am forever haunted by that sensation.
The pain pills weren't working. I kept waiting for the slightest bit of pain to subside. Al and Jeri came over to see if there was anything they could do to help. I just wanted to go to an emergency room and demand morphine.
We realized that this was more than your regular post surgery pain. My mom called the hospital. At one point I over heard someone say, "She shouldn't be experiencing that much pain." But... I totally was! After being transferred to a few more people we were on our way to SLC.
David doesn't drive that fast. But, you should have seen him. He was cruising. Go David. Al and Jeri were following right behind.
We finally arrived at the hospital and mom hopped out to get wheelchair. The pain was so terrible standing up that I screamed out. I didn't know I could scream like that... We rushed into the double doors check in. We were met by a woman who told me to calm down. Typical. I breathed deeply for a bit and it soon became clear that she was making her way to the top of my list of the people I really don't like. (Which is small) She was very patronizing. Very rude. She told me that hyperventilating wouldn't help anything. No duh. She asked for my name and birthday. I could hardly remember my name and birthday nevertheless, spit it out. My mom pipped in, "Rachel Mer..." "She can speak for herself." said the newest member of my dislike list. Jerk. Through my tears I forced my name and other information. I have such harsh feelings about that check in lady. She is the shell of a woman. She has no heart. She has no soul. She must have cried out all of her tears when she was a baby. When Jeri walked into the door I turned to her and said, " I DON'T LIKE HER!"
The rest of the night I was evaluated in the ICU and pumped with meds that did work then didn't work, ones that made me crazy, and ones that made me emotional. I would knock out and wake up frequently. I woke to the beautiful face of Julie one time. She brought me a Mucho Mango that Brett had asked her to deliver. I remember waking up to a nurse taking my vitals and pointing out my sister was sitting next to me. I don't remember much, just bits and pieces. It was uncomfortable but somehow David, my mom and I all fell asleep. I stayed in the ICU for about twenty hours.

Sunday:
I woke up with pain and more evaluations and some solutions. I was diagnosed with post compartment syndrome. A lot of physicians said the pain is worse than childbirth. I just want to throw that out there. So, I was rushed into surgery to relieve the pressure.
I woke up so pleased... the pain was gone. Drugs were lovely. The surgery went well. Some muscle looked damaged. They needed to keep the incision open to reduce swelling. So, now it was a waiting game until Wednesday. They talked about skin grafts and other scary things that might need to happen.

Monday:
Not very comfy, but good pain control. Pain meds every 3 hours. Which made sleeping harder. Lots of interruptions with nurses checking vitals. Chest X-ray. Visitors :)

Tuesday:
Same, minus the chest X-ray. Lots of napping. Nutrition forgot about me so I ate lots of jello and fruit which I didn't mind. Kind of...

Wednesday:
Very nervous. Surgery was delayed by two and a half ish hours. When they wheeled me down to the OR I was kind of teary-eyed. I guess I was so riled up about the unknown.
Before I knew it I was waking up to Martha. She was nice. I was crying. My leg felt like someone had sliced it open with a knife and removed about four tablespoons of muscle and then sewed it back up. Oh, wait, that IS what happened. As soon as the pain meds started kickin in all was much better. So, the surgery went better than we thought it would! I got some awesome huge pants from Aunt Sis. And some comfy pants from Jeri. And Rissa got me some body spray. Let me tell you, after five days of being stuck in a hospital gown and being sedated and not feeling awesome that body spray was so fantastic. It was the perfect hospital pick me up. Sigh...

Thursday:
I didn't sleep that well... My room was more busy than a grocery store on a Saturday. After breakfast I laid down for a nap. Just as I was getting to sleep the physical therapist burst through the door. (She easily could have been related to check in lady. She was a jerk and was very rude to my mom. She better watch herself. Deep breath, and proceed.) We went for a little walk.
After that I got my nap. I woke up and had a nice lunch. The physical therapist came back and we went for another walk. A longer walk. I was really tired.
This cast is plaster, not your usual fiber glass. It's a heavy sucker. At least I'm getting a work out right? Now, Mom and I are on out computers enjoying relaxing. Tomorrow I'll probably get to go home. I am so excited for real clothes and fresh air.
So excited.