When I was fully awake and had taken one dose of oral pain medication, we were allowed to leave. We made one quick stop on the way home from the hospital to
buy Chloraseptic spray, thinking maybe that would help stop the pain. Wrong!
The spray merely irritated the incision area. All I had was the codeine (which burned
terribly when I swallowed it) and ice chips.
The ice helped more than anything at first. Arden kept me supplied with it all
afternoon. Fortunately the lasting
effects of the anesthesia helped me sleep off and on throughout the day. I would read a paragraph of my book (the same
paragraph about 10 times) then sleep for half an hour, then read it again, then
sleep. (The Chloraseptic did start helping about 4 days post-op, when there was no longer a fresh wound in my throat. I'm still using it now.)
I don't remember having anything to drink that day except
water. I may have had a little bit of
ice cream that evening but I don't think I did that until the next day. I took my codeine every three hours like a
good boy, trying to ensure I didn't hurt any more than I had to. I kept ice water and ice chips in two
separate cups by the bed and had all my medications and supplies within
reach. And I apologized to Arden
numerous times (before she even got into bed) for disturbing her, as I knew I
would throughout the night. She was
great and told me not to worry about it.
I did sleep off and on that first night - mostly off, I
think. After dozing all afternoon my
body wasn't really sleepy anymore but the drugs helped. The next morning I felt well enough to get up
and go to the kitchen for coffee. It was
an experiment - I wasn't sure I could drink anything hot but the coffee
actually went down pretty easy. I let it
cool a little so I wouldn't scald my throat and it tasted good. I drank one cup and started on a second
before my body said "It's time for you to go lay down now." Arden wanted me to try eating something but I
wasn't up to that yet. I went back to bed
and read and dozed and read and dozed....
As I said earlier, I think I ate a little bit of ice cream
that day. I'm not a big fan of sweets or
dessert so ice cream and pudding, etc., weren't really something I wanted
anyway. But I knew I had to be careful
what I swallowed and the doctors and nurses all recommended cold things rather
than hot. (They obviously didn't
understand about the coffee...) The ice
cream did help my throat feel better and I ate as much as I could, knowing I
needed some kind of nourishment. That
night I didn't sleep well. I read on my
side of the bed (with a book light) while Arden went to sleep and was up until
around 3am, I think. It seemed the
codeine might be having the same effect as the Vicodin - making me anxious and
unable to sleep. When the reading began
putting me to sleep I put the book down and turned off the book light. I wanted to sleep - just was having trouble
doing it. I think I slept about three
hours that night.
The next day (three days post-op) I don't think I ate
anything. I was actually feeling pretty
good - my throat didn't hurt and all my other aches and pains (arthritis and
old injuries) actually didn't hurt anymore because of the pain medication. But I just wasn't hungry. Arden kept trying to get me to eat something,
anything. But my body didn't want
it. By then I had lost almost seven
pounds (which was OK with me) and I was figuring I'd lose at least three more
before it was over. I was hydrated -
between the ice chips and water I had no problem in the hydration
department. I just didn't feel like
eating. (I did drink some milk to make Arden feel better.) I actually slept that night as well, but it's
because when I took my codeine I also took half a Xanex. Probably not the smartest thing in the world
but it worked. I slept.
On day four I woke up in pain again. I didn't understand it. I was almost pain free the day before but
woke up hurting even worse the next day.
I called the doctor's office and the nurse said it was perfectly normal
to have different pain on different days.
She said scabs build up on the incisions and when they come off it
leaves tender tissue underneath. So
while I was feeling really good the day before - feeling really bad today was
normal. I have to say I was less than
thrilled with that answer...
Days five and six were up and down. I'd be pain free for a while then would hurt
for a while. I tried hard to wean myself
off of the codeine so I could sleep a little better but still had to take it a
few times a day in order to eat without intense pain. I was learning a new trick though. While eating, if you keep a glass of ice or ice water handy, if something
hurts you simply take a drink or eat a piece of ice really quickly.
The thing about this pain in my throat is that it's
different than a regular sore throat.
With a regular sore throat you can gargle with warm salt water and the
pain will go away. With this one, salt
burns like crazy because it's an incision and not just inflammation. Cepacol and Chloroseptic don't really work
either for the same reason. Ice helps
and eating very cold, soft things but swallowing anything but liquids hurts as
well. Even scrambled eggs hurt going down. I know it's all temporary but geez, it's
difficult to live with.
Friday, a full week after surgery, I had a good day. I took a small dose of codeine (less than
half the actual recommended dose) in the morning and didn't take any more until
we were getting ready to go out for dinner.
I decided to take a full dose to prepare for dinner so I could hopefully
eat in relative comfort. We went to our
favorite Italian place and I ordered gnocchi with an Alfredo sauce - no spices, soft. I thought that would work well. But the sauce had some spice in it I wasn't
expecting so, as good as it was, I still had to sip on ice water while I was
eating. (The good thing is I brought
half of it home and I can eat it in a couple of days when I'm finally
better...) One other note - it's amazing how many foods have more salt in them than we realize. Salt really hurts my throat right now and I can tell you from the first bite whether or not there's an excess of salt in something.
This morning I'm feeling pretty good. The first conscious swallow of the day (I took
a drink of water) hurt quite a bit so I took a half dose of the codeine to get
me started and hopefully won't take anymore the rest of the day. One thing I can say for sure about this
surgery.... I NEVER want to do it again! One of the good things, however, (besides the
obvious life-saving benefits) is that I've lost eleven pounds from not being
able to eat solid food. That's a great
start on the twenty I've been wanting to get rid of!
Since I started posting this blog I've heard from several
friends who also have this condition.
They all use a CPAP at night and that's quite acceptable to me. I have a touch of claustrophobia anyway so if
I can avoid the CPAP I will. Hopefully I
haven't discouraged anyone from taking their own steps to correct their sleep
apnea. It's a dangerous condition that
some people don't even realize they have.
Of course, there are stubborn people like me who know they have it but
just keep putting off getting treatment for it.
Sleep apnea can and does kill. If
you think you may have it, have the test done.
Your loved ones will appreciate you for it - even if it simply helps
them sleep better at night.
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