Recovery, Day 3

Well, so far Saturday has been a big day. I slept pretty good last night. I was itching due to the pain medicine I was getting, so I got some benedryl to help relieve that. As most of you know, the side effect of Benedryl is drowsiness, so I got a few hours of good sleep. I had to sleep with the nasal cannula on and apparently I didn't like it very much because at 2:30 am I was woken up by two nurses rushing into my room asking if I was OK. My nasal cannula somehow ended up underneath me and my oxygen saturations were falling below 90. (Normal is 90-100). I don't remember taking if off, but I did it a few times last night. Anyway, I don't need it anymore. They even took off the pulse oximeter, the thing they put on your finger to tell you how much oxygen your blood is getting. Yeah for that!

I also got my chest tube and catheter removed!!! I didn't realize how painful the chest tube was. It's awesome not having it in. Plus it's one less thing I have to tie me down. I have to leave the chest tube dressing on for 48 hours, then I can take it off. After that I can take a shower!!! (I'm taking sponge baths now) I should also get my iv out this afternoon. I get one more dose of iv pain meds, then I will be done with my iv. All things I'm looking forward too. I still have the epidural in place, but it's not hooked up to anything. I'm getting shots of heparin, so they wanted to wait four hours after that before they take out any lines which cause bleeding. Then I will be able to put on a real nightgown. These hospital gowns are terrible! If anyone wants to be something sexy for Halloween, you should wear one of these. Everything you want covered always pops out somehow and somewhere it shouldn't! Plus, it's backless. I guess it's legal to flash in the hospital. Anyway, that's my two cents. Let me know if anyone wants to wear it for a costume. I can sneak one home in my bag. No one will notice.

I guess that's all for now. I'm waiting for my wonderful lunch of grilled cheese. I've never had it before, so I hope it's good. If anything else happens, I'll post again. Until then...