Last time I talked about the recovery process in the hospital. This time I’ll share about the recovery process between being discharged from UCSF and through my first check-up post transplant.
When I left the hospital in San Francisco, I didn’t go home to Oregon. I stayed the first night at the hotel that my husband and son had been in. Then the next day we went to stay with relatives in Modesto. This way I could be closer to UCSF for my initial check-up appointments which were only a week away.
I was sent home with three medications; oxycodone for pain, zofran for nausea, and a stool softener. I used the zofran once, and the stool softener a few times, but I will not touch oxycodone because of that whole blurry vision nonsense. I was able to manage my pain just fine with Tylenol, thankyouverymuch. I also got an abdominal wrap for support, which does help sometimes.
6 days after surgery. A bit swollen and “saggy”.
For the first 5 days, recovery was going well for the most part. I even graduated to eating things like steak, potatoes, and fresh fruits again. Then things went south. Literally, like…liquid south.
Sunday, nine days after transplant, I ate a Costco hotdog. I’m not saying that was the culprit, but that afternoon my belly was distended, gas pain/pressure was building, and by that evening I was in a world of hurt. It felt like I was in labor again. Hot packs didn’t work. Shifting around wouldn’t release much gas. At least not enough to relieve the pressure and pain. I cried.
Monday, around 4 AM, my body started dumping everything. Liquid diarrhea. The pain subsided but all day Monday I’d repeat a slow increase of bloat, then pain, then gas, then dumping liquid again. I hardly ate anything. My cousin was able to go home that day though, which was great news for everyone!
Tuesday I felt tired but…stable. I had an appointment at UCSF at 8:30 in the morning. We anticipated a 3 hour drive (ended up being 4 hours) so I didn’t eat or drink much. I didn’t want to have a mid-commute bathroom emergency.
One week after being discharged, I had my first check-up. I had already stopped taking the Tylenol by that point. I met with Ana Marie, NP. My incision looked to be healing well. She said the knot I’d found was a suture that would go away with time.
I told her about my bowel issues and the itch. She recommended Sarna anti-itch cream (which does help) and said if I was still having diarrhea by Thursday to give her a call. They’d have me come in again and check for things like a bowel obstruction or viral infection.
We talked about my appointment the following week. She suggested I do my ultrasound then so that I didn’t have to come back to UCSF in November. That way I could go home after my 2nd appointment. After that, I could get my lab work done locally in Oregon.
I got my labs done and then went back to Modesto to wait until my next check-up.
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