May 7th, surgery in two days.

Not eating solid food isn't terrible. I was hungry after missing my first meal, but since then it hasn't really gotten any worse. Perhaps it's because I'm skinny and used to an irregular eating schedule, but the worst impact is really social - sitting around while other people eat is the worst thing, or waiting in the hotel room while they go to breakfast.

We took a taxi down to the Thai Factory (what an odd name) to get our clothing fitted. Lots of adjustments to be made - the neck on my dress was way too tight, the under arm too tight, the thighs on the boyfriend's pants too tight, the blouse too loose on the other friend, etc. They'll go back on Thursday (in four days) for a final try-on and adjustments if necessary, but I'll be recovering from surgery then. I'll instead go back on the 22nd (and maybe postpone further, depending on how recovery is). They want you to check in and pick it up at least two days before departure, in case and final adjustments needed.

The proprieter of the shop also asked if we'd like to tip our tailors - straight from his hand into the hands of the people who do the work. We asked what an appropriate tip was, and he said "whatever you feel in your heart, but 200, 500, 1000 baht is very generous." We passed him 2000 for the three of us.

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After getting things fitted, we headed back to the docks for our water tour. There's a sign there, which we hadn't noticed the previous day, warning about strangers offering discounts on water tours, and offering the phone numbers of the Thai tourist police. Well, turns out the very insistent salesmen negotiating with you out front... I was right when I thought something was fishy there.

We paid 1500 baht for a 1 1/2 hour tour, with a half hour stop at the 'floating market'. This is obviously a very popular tourist destination - out boat also had a trio of cute Japanese ladies, and on other boats we saw lots and lots of fair skin, sunburns and sun hats.

The boat ride was fun, getting to see Bangkok from ground level, and it was refreshingly cool on the river. The floating market itself though was something of a let down - it had lots of tasty looking food (tummy growl), but nothing else worth mentioning. No where near as exciting as the night market. One of the friends bought a cute stuffed elephant for her grandmother.

On the way back, we asked to be dropped off at a temple the boyfriend had been interested in rather than the docks. At the temple warf, an old lady demanded 10 baht per person debarking - I'm not completely certain she wasn't just someone taking money from tourists, but we paid her and went on our way.

The temple, apparently, was another long-pants + sleeves affair, and wasn't fit to enter in my sun dress, so we wandered around the outside and found ourselves in a maze of twisty little passages all alike. A bit of wandering later, I was starting to sunburn and we'd found a major road. Hailed a taxi and came back to the hotel. Another day successfully accomplished, and if it was a little shorter than the previous one, well, I didn't have calories in my system to recharge with.

Back at the hotel, 17:00, it was time to take the first dose of laxatives. This set was pretty mild, apparently, and didn't trigger anything immediately. At 20:00 I did the enma using a provided little kit of saline solution. Laxative still had relatively little effect on through the night.

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May 8th, surgery is tomorrow.

This morning at 9:00 I took the first half of the bottle of swiff. Ick, so nasty tasting. Oily. I felt fine for about 10 minutes, then... well... let's just say that for the next two hours, I ran to the restroom every fifteen minutes or so, without warning. Chett gave me a bunch of electrolyte packets to mix into water, and instructions to drink a bunch. The powder tastes nice. Next dose of Swiff is at 5:00. I am not looking forward to that.

Not eating didn't bother me much yesterday, but today it's starting to be annoying. I keep thinking of dumplings and gravy - sounds so tasty right now.

I'll try to post again tomorrow morning before surgery. Wish me luck!

Good luck threewestwinds ! I am sure it will go well !!

I hope you the best at what time do you have the surgery?

May 8th, surgery is tomorrow.

The first dose of Swiff was tolerable. The second one was terrible. I sat in the bathroom and lost everything, then lost more, then lost more, then went to bed and drank two bottles of water, then back to the bathroom... it finally culminated with my vision going black. I flushed, wiped, staggered out of the restroom, and literally collapsed on my boyfriend croaking "water". Greyed out, came to a few seconds later, drank water, felt better, didn't go to the bathroom for half an hour.

Ick. It was one of the least pleasant experiences of my life. I wonder if it was worse because I'm so thin? Don't know, just... be warned. The lead up to surgery is not pleasant. I'm hoping it doesn't get any worse than this.

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May 9th, surgery is today.

I'm writing this from the clinic, laying in bed. I arrived at 1:30, they had me get into a hospital robe, then lay me down and took my vitals. Then shaved my groin, went over what to expect when I wake up tomorrow, and left me alone with classical music for two hours until the anesthesiologist arrives. ^^;; Hurry up and wait, I guess.

It's quite cold here, but I have a comforter, and not yet to the point where I'm going to ask for a second (though it would be nice).

So here's what they tell me to expect: when I wake up, the anesthesiologist will ask me to take deep breaths, to prove I'm awake and able to breath normally on my own. Then they'll take the tube out of my throat. I should expect to feel sore in the throat - that's normal and will go away in a few hours.

My legs will also feel heavy, almost like they're gone entirely. That's also expected, and please stay still, don't try to move them to prove they still work. My first job is to go right to sleep. There'll be a nurse in the room overnight.

In the morning, I will, with assistance, walk downstairs to my private room - this is partly to verify that my legs still work fine. Other than that, I'm not supposed to move or walk or anything. Once I'm in my private room I'll be allowed to start sipping water, and if nausea permits, drinking liquid foods. I really should have mentioned I'm vegetarian by now, but I keep forgetting. I'll do it when they show up to put me under.

This is really it! No more posts until after the operation.

Fingers crossed !

Peace. . . .

I hope all went well. Have not seen an update. Does anyone know if threewinds is ok?

I was wondering as well.  (don't know her just been following the thread)

I am well, all is well, no complications. I just never got around to pulling out my laptop while in the clinic. Am now safely ensconsed back in my hotel room, and will write a bigger update shortly.

Quote from: threewestwinds on May 12, 2017, 09:06:39 PM
I am well, all is well, no complications. I just never got around to pulling out my laptop while in the clinic. Am now safely ensconsed back in my hotel room, and will write a bigger update shortly.

So glad to see you posting. Can't wait for all the feedback. Dr. Chett is atm 95% my choice.

*hugs*

So happy to know that Wish you the best recovery

May 9th, surgery is today.

The anesthesoligist shows up at around 4, as promised, says hi, shakes my hand, and they mheel me off to the operating room down the hall. An IV goes in my left arm, and holding my hand, he says ""I'm going to put you to sleep now. Four, three, two, one... ok, you'll feel sleepy now in three, two... going to slee..."

May 10th, day after surgery.

I woke up back in the room I had first laid down in, upstairs but not in the operating theater. HOses coming out of me everywhere. The IV from my left arm, then an epidural block in my lower back (that one hurt a bunch), then three different tubes coming from my swaddled up pelvis. Two of them were drains, occasionally witha little bit of blood, the other was a catheter.

They asked me to breathe deeply, which I did, proving that it was safe enough to remove the intubator from my throat and let me breath on my own. They replaced that with oxygen, a little under-the-nose thingie. I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up a bit later, they had me take some pllls, I fell asleep again.

My friends showed up for the first visiting hour, we chatted a bit, I don't remember a word that was said, and I fell asleep again.

They fed me soy milk with something floating in it and hot chocolate. They told me to drink more water, and I tried, but I'm just a very dry person generally. I fell asleep again.

I woke up, couldn't get my eyes to focus well enough to read the wall clock, drank some water, fell asleep again.

... you get the picture.

May 11th, two days after surgery.

Every four hours of so they came back to do one or more of: feed me liquids, tell me to drink more, empty my catheter, feed me pills (lots and lots of pills), ask how I was doing and give me a sponge bath. I did a little bit of reading, but mostly just slept.

Today though, I got soup. Creamed corn or creamed mushroom. I went with the corn. I was tasty, though probably that's just a side effect of not having eaten in nearly a week. Anyway, I scarfed it down... and fell asleep.

Second visitor period went much as the first. They showed up, we talked, I held their hands and got head scritches, then I fell asleep.

May 12th, three days after surgery.

See above. I slept a little less, read a little more, but otherwise it was just more of the drug-dazed same.

May 13th, four days after surgery.

Back to the hotel! At 6:30, they had me get dressed (a slow but surprisingly painless process), had me trundle slowly out the front door of the clinic to their can, and drove me back to the hotel, where I was set into a wheelchair and wheeled up to my room.

I can eat food now! But only light food. Specifically, "small amount of full liquid and soft diet before vaginal packing removal (Cream soup, Cereals, Soft Breads, Pancake, Milk, Scrambled egg))"

The catheter isn't as bad as I'd feared it would be. I just have to be careful moving with it. My friends left today heading back home, but my mother flew in earlier today, so I still have someone here to help take care of me - just a different someone than before.

Sitting up hurts, so I'm spending my time in various stages of laying down. Definitely feeling stronger though - rolling over on one side is no longer a multi- minute operation like it was the first few days post op. Now that I'm back online and cogent, expect me to go back to daily updates for a bit.

Next big medical step is on the 16th, when the vaginal packing gets removed and the nurse starts teaching me how to dilate. Joy.

Glad you are well

So happy for you and all the best.

I'm glad you made it through, sounds like SRS went well. Hope you have a speedy recovery!  Love you!

I am really happy for you. I sincerely wish you a fast and successful recovery (with as little pain as possible).

May 14th, five days after surgery.

Rough night. I had a hell of a time falling asleep, and finally only managed it around midnight when my mother moved into the bathroom to isolate her snores. I felt terrible about that, but combined with more water, some pain killers and a brief foot rub, I finally got some sleep.

This morning we putzed around with pillows and chairs and positions a lot, trying to see what would work best, before finally deciding that the only acceptable position is either laying on the bed or half-propped up on the bed. No going down for breakfast, even in a wheelchair, for me yet.

I can however eat food again! In limited amounts, but still. Very much looking forward to room service cereal for breakfast. I can get up and waddle around the room on my own if I take it slowly. It mostly feels like my balance is shot, rather than a muscle problem, for what it's worth, though I do get dizzy pretty quick.

The drug schedule is pretty manageable - antibiotics 4x/day on an empty stomach, anti-swelling drugs 3x/day after meals, painkillers as needed. I pain killers have been needed so far. >.> What hurts most is actually my lower back, where they removed the epidural block - I would have expected the cut up bits to be worse, but they're pretty manageable.

Going to lay low today, do internet things and try to drink a lot of water. Take care, you all.

May 15th, five days after surgery.

Slow day today. Again antibiotics 4x/day, anti swelling meds 3x/day, pain killers as needed - in my case yes, needed. I can't sit upright right now. The bandages are sort of like a hard diaper, which means that sitting upright - even with a doughnut pillow - puts too much pressure on still-healing parts. For now all I can do is lay down and prop my head up, or stand and waddle very slowly.

I'm still on a 'soft food' diet, which is much less well defined than the 'clear liquid' one they had me on before surgery. To quote the only instructions given: "You are allowed to take small amount of full liquid & soft diet before vaginal packing removal (Cream soup, cereals, soft breads, pancake, milk, scrambled egg)." (sic)

The nurses stopped by at 11:00, first time I've seen them since I was discharged. They looked at the bandages and surrounding flesh, asked if I'd had any bowel movements (no), and said that I should try to walk around a little to keep my legs in good shape. That answered one of my questions - if I should be staying as still as possible or if I should be moving around.

Tomorrow morning they come back to remove the bandages, and they said that I can have anything I like for breakfast! Sweet!

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May 16th, six days after surgery.

Thu nurses are going to stop by today to remove the vaginal packing - which means I get my first look at the results! And that I can eat anything I want, and that I can sit upright (if pain allows it), and that I'll soon have to start dilation.

Mostly I'm nervous - so many 'what if's, all along the lines of 'what if it didn't heal right'. Well, we'll know one way or another soon enough!

Six days, May 16th?  It's still May 15th here!  but you were always ahead... 
Glad you can eat now.  Wishin' you waffles.  and eggs!

Can't wait for your updates now and can't wait for my surgery too  hope your "unpacking" went well