6 Days in a Hospital

Tuesday, March 17
Checked in to the admittance at 5:00 AM. Anesthesiologist told me to be prepared to be on a breathing tube after the operation.

In the recovery room, I checked stuff out. I didn't have a breathing tube, I could hold and move my head, My right arm worked fine. That was all good stuff.

I did have about the most sore throat you can imagine and swallowing was almost out of the question. Later in the evening all the sore spots in my throat started spewing liquids and I could feel that moving into my lungs. That was not good. I was putting out about a teaspoon every 5 minutes. A little math and that was plenty to drown me if I fell asleep and it all got in my lungs. I was still a bit goofy from the anesthetic.

None of that mattered. Every time I fell asleep, someone came in my room and woke me up. After waking up at 3:30 AM to get to the hospital, I didn't get more than an hour of sleep the first night.

Wednesday, March 18
I was on a clear diet that was inedible. Even if I had been able to swallow with any efficiency, that stuff could not be tolerated. Think in terms of beef bouillon cubes mixed with hot water at twice the recommended strength. I told them at every meal I couldn't swallow anything hot. Hot stuff was the basis of every meal. Jello that could barely be chewed and stuck in my throat was another staple. Robby started bringing me yogurt from home.

I finally found a way to lay that minimized the problems from the liquids in my throat. I also found that morphine slowed down the liquid production in my throat. I think I got 4 hours of sleep that night.

I also had my favorite, "Mr. Suderman, I'm sorry to wake you, but..." moment on Wednesday. Someone woke me up (during the day) to ask if Housekeeping had done everything I was expecting of them. Doc never showed up, but I wasn't expecting to go home.

One time I tried to swallow an antibiotic and I thought I had it. Then I coughed and it popped right out. That was an omen of things to come.

I figured out how to get some sleep, if you consider 4 hours to be some sleep. 4 ml of Morphine and I could sleep 2 of the next 3 hours, even around all the wakeups.

Thursday, March 19
The nurse told me I had to eat and drink before I could go home and this was the day I was expecting that. The torture du'jour was Cream of Wheat. 1/2 cup of milk, 1 pat of butter, one tsp of sugar, and some salt later, it was still awful, but I ate every bit. I left an absolutely clean plate. Yogurt, orange juice, and I think something else.

Doc came in and liked the way everything was healing, but he was concerned about my swallowing, so he ordered a swallowing test. That looked like a potential setback.

Before the results of the test came back, I looked at the suction tube I was using for all the liquids in my throat. It was filling up with Cream of Wheat that I was coughing up out of my lungs. I knew I wasn't going home. I had to have a feeding tube.

I will not go into the details of having a feeding tube inserted. It is one of the most unpleasant things I've experienced in my life. Gentleness from the doctor will not get the tube inserted. After it was inserted and I didn't have to swallow, it was pleasant.

Friday, March 20
When the doc came in I explained my problems sleeping. My medications that night included more stuff than I had ever seen before, but I really slept well. Even with everybody knowing my need for sleep, I was still woke up 6 times in the first 7 hours after trying to go to sleep. I didn't actually become alert until some time Saturday afternoon, but I needed the sleep.

Saturday and Sunday
Not much to do except wait to be released. I slept without medication and very well Saturday night. We got all the arrangements made for the home health care professionals and the formula for my home feeding unit.