I had my surgery on Wednesday and was discharged home today.

They managed to do the surgery and removed my uterus, both ovaries and both tubes. But they weren't able to remove any lymph nodes because they were too deep.  The doctor said that from a visual perspective, there was nothing outside the uterus which is reassuring, however, it is still possible to have a contained cancer that has spread into the lymph nodes.

It will be about 3 or 4 weeks before the pathology report comes back, so I won't know if there is going to be a need for radiation therapy or not, until them.  Even if the pathology comes back clean, because they weren't able to sample any of the lymph nodes, they may opt for some high dose radiation treatment anyway.

I'm having huge amounts of pain right now. 

My hospital stay was "ok".  I wanted a private room and would have had one the first night had it not been for some woman who also needed to be monitored for sleep apnea post op. So because she needed monitoring, they put me and her into the same room together and had on nursing assistant monitor the both of us. I didn't get a single minute of sleep that first night. If it wasn't one of my pumps going off, it was one of hers. And there were people coming in and out all night long to check pumps, empty catheters, refill water jugs, relieve staff etc.

They almost didn't give me a private room the second night either because they said they were full and they weren't going to move people around. I kicked up a huge fuss and told them that I had been promised a private room and that I was paying for a private room and was told that if someone was in a private room that wasn't paying, that they would be moved out and I would be moved in. I got my private room. I guess they got tired of me nattering at them!!

With the exception of one nurse who refused to increase my pain medication as instructed by the pain service people (because in her words "it is too much of a hassle for me!"  Meaning her), which ultimately resulted in my having pain 15 out of 10 on a pain scale, the rest of the staff were great.

I'm just waiting for my brother to come back with some fresh produce for me and then I'm going to take something for pain and head to bed. I didn't do much today other than walk a little, shower, get dressed and pack to come home, but I feel like I've done a marathon.

 Glad to hear the surgery went well. Hopefully all the nastyness is now gone :) 

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Good to hear it went fairly well. 

I would lodge a formal complaint about that nurse. When I was in hospital on pain meds it was the hospital pharmacist who was checking every few hours to make sure drugs were being administered strictly  on schedule or as needed. I was on pain meds and blood thinners. It apparently makes a difference to your recovery time if you are in pain.

I will get my wild rabbit to rub its feet for you too. 

I totally feel for you, Acadia. I deal with pain every day in recovery, and I know how bad it can get. That nurse who said it "was too much of a hassle" for her should be fired... or demoted to bedpans. Nursing without any sense of caring for patients has become more the norm than the exception these days, I'm sorry to say. Over-worked, underpaid and totally disregarded in the workforce, the rate of burn-out among nurses is incredibly high.

In our hospital, we have a pain service that does nothing else but monitor patient pain levels and jumps in to relieve acute pain like what you were having.

Why the heck didn't they give you a PCA???

There's no excuse for that nurse's attitude... none at all. I hope you get some sort of patient feedback form from the hospital: if you do, please cite this nurse.  And it can't hurt to send a letter to the ward thanking those who took such good care of you, whilst expressing sorrow for those nurses who find relieving pain of their patients "too much of a hassle"... just a few ideas.

As far as the pain goes: it is terrible pain... it was a big surgery, hun. Take your pain medications regularly to try to stay on top of the pain as much as possible. I so feel for you, Acadia... and wish you much strength and the fastest-possible healing.

God bless... my prayers are with you for a speedy recovery.

I hope you start to recover and feel better...glad to have you back!

Welcome back, L!

Wishing you a speedy and complete recovery.  Little Samuel would love to see you (so would we), if and when you can visit.

Take good care of yerself, Kiddo.

Pain is nasty stuff, sad to hear you are having so much of it. My best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Glad you are Home!  You are in our prayers.

Quote - I totally feel for you, Acadia. I deal with pain every day in recovery, and I know how bad it can get. That nurse who said it "was too much of a hassle" for her should be fired... or demoted to bedpans. Nursing without any sense of caring for patients has become more the norm than the exception these days, I'm sorry to say. Over-worked, underpaid and totally disregarded in the workforce, the rate of burn-out among nurses is incredibly high.

In our hospital, we have a pain service that does nothing else but monitor patient pain levels and jumps in to relieve acute pain like what you were having.

Why the heck didn't they give you a PCA???

There's no excuse for that nurse's attitude... none at all. I hope you get some sort of patient feedback form from the hospital: if you do, please cite this nurse.  And it can't hurt to send a letter to the ward thanking those who took such good care of you, whilst expressing sorrow for those nurses who find relieving pain of their patients "too much of a hassle"... just a few ideas.

As far as the pain goes: it is terrible pain... it was a big surgery, hun. Take your pain medications regularly to try to stay on top of the pain as much as possible. I so feel for you, Acadia... and wish you much strength and the fastest-possible healing.

God bless... my prayers are with you for a speedy recovery.

I had an epideral.  They had Hydromorphone and Bupivacaine running.  

My surgery was at 9am on Wednesday.  Around 5am on Thursday my blood pressure dropped to 83/49 so they lowered the epidural from 6 ml/hr to 5 ml/hr.

At 8am my pain was 4/10.  Pain service came in and saw me and saw that my blood pressure had improved and told me to have the nurse bump my epidural back up to 6 ml/hr.  So when she came in I told her what pain service said, and she said that she wasn't going to increase it because they increased my anti-inflammatory and wanted to see how that worked first. 

At 3pm  my pain was 6/10, She gave me the Tylenol plain and extra naprosyn  I asked her again to please incrase the rate as pain service had instructed.

She told me that she didn't want to do that because it was too much of a hassle for her to do that. And went on to say that if she increased the rate she would have to do my vital signs every 1/2 hour for an hour, and then every 1 hour for 2 hours and then every 2 hours for 12 hours.

Around 5pm or so she finally increased the rate. By this time my pain was astronomical!

At almost 7pm she came in to get me up for a walk. I hadn't been moving, so it was hard to assess my level of pain.   I tried to get out of bed and managed to get myself partially turned onto my side and partially out of bed, but that was it. The pain was so bad that I couldn't move anymore. I was at the foot of the bed, half in and half out and my body was twisted so that I was partially on my back and side with my head on the side rail on the other side of the bed and my incision line being tugged because I was twisted.

She stood there doing absolutely nothing!  Finally she plugged the pumps back into the wall and walked out of my room.
I laid there for almost 20 minutes in absolute agony and crying. I couldn't reach the call light.  Finally I managed to wiggle around enough to reach the bed buttons and raise the foot of the bed up and lower the head of the bed so that I would wiggle myself down hill to get back into bed.

Once back in bed  I pressed the call light and asked them to page pain service.  The girl at the desk said that she would let my nurse know. About 15 minutes later another nurse came in and told me that my nurse was busy but would come in when she could. I asked her to page pain service and that if they didn't, I would page them myself.

They did page pain service.  They added 10 mg oral morphine to my pain regime, which helped.

The girl that came on night shift that night was super nice! She had to do vital signs on me every 2 hours, but we worked out a system that was easy for her and was minimal interruption for me too.  She just left the cuff on my arm and set it to inflate every 90 minutes (the maximum that machine would allow). The machine would get the reading, she would write it down and I didn't wake up once during the entire thing.  THAT! Was what was too much of a hassel for the other nurse to do!!

When pain service came around the next day (Friday) I told them what happened. They went and talked to the manager and she came to talk to me.

I would never dream of holding anyone's pain medication from them, especially claiming "too much of a hassel" as the reason!     With the exception of that situation, I  didn't have any issues with her standard of care, and I told the manager that.

i hope the pain goes away soon  glad to hear things went well i will keep you  in my thoughts and prayers  as for the  nurse that was to bothered report her and lodge a formal complaint against her  nurses like that  dont  deserve to work

Happy to hear you're back home, Acadia. Prayers work!

I can't believe that nurse had that attitude of it being too much for her to DO HER JOB. What nerve!. No person worrying about their health, and having to go through what you've just gone through, should have to deal with unnecessary pain. Glad the other staff members were great and happy you eventually got your own room! Just good news and great hearing from you.

Please keep us updated on the test results and if they will in fact do the radiation therapy.

To quote what you said:

They did the same thing to my mother, and she needs her pain medications to quell her arthritis on both back and knees after her car accident a decade ago, plus 4 cancer surgeries, yet they continued to not help her.  We're still trying to find a better doctor for her.  It's hard for her to get around and I'm caring for her at the moment.  It seems the medical field has gone downhill where issuing help is concerned.

Other than that...

I hope for a good recovery for you Acadia.

Hugs,

JB

Glad to hear that one hurtle has been cleared and you're holding up well.  Let's hope that the worst has passed, and you're on the road to full recovery.  Rest up.  You will definitely be in our prayers.

"At almost 7pm she came in to get me up for a walk. I hadn't been moving, so it was hard to assess my level of pain.   I tried to get out of bed and managed to get myself partially turned onto my side and partially out of bed, but that was it. The pain was so bad that I couldn't move anymore. I was at the foot of the bed, half in and half out and my body was twisted so that I was partially on my back and side with my head on the side rail on the other side of the bed and my incision line being tugged because I was twisted.

She stood there doing absolutely nothing!  Finally she plugged the pumps back into the wall and walked out of my room.
I laid there for almost 20 minutes in absolute agony and crying. I couldn't reach the call light.  Finally I managed to wiggle around enough to reach the bed buttons and raise the foot of the bed up and lower the head of the bed so that I would wiggle myself down hill to get back into bed.

Once back in bed  I pressed the call light and asked them to page pain service.  The girl at the desk said that she would let my nurse know. About 15 minutes later another nurse came in and told me that my nurse was busy but would come in when she could. I asked her to page pain service and that if they didn't, I would page them myself."

There is no other way to describe this than patient abandonment: worse than negligence. I'm so appalled, Acadia. That was torture. That nurse should lose her licence over that! What is the world coming to? How can a nurse walk away leaving a patient in excruciating pain? Here in Australia, to leave a patient in that condition and not do something about it is grounds for dismissal.

I hope the rest of your course is uneventful and that you heal quickly and well. As much as the pain allows, do try to stay somewhat active to prevent blood clots from forming in your legs, and drink plenty of water. Water and healing are closely linked.

All the best... you deserve it!

Glad to see you back home. Hope all goes well from here.

I know how the pain management merry-go-round works... I had both knees replaced last winter, and the first few days are no fun. But rest assured, it will pass.

Good thoughts being sent your way. 

Nice to hear you made it out. Hope things go smoothly from now on. Lots of luck.

Acadia

  I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery- my thoughts are with you!

        Eric

It's good to hear that you're home and recovering. Just keep a positive outlook and do what you have to do to be healthy :)  My thoughts and prayers are with you as well as many best wishes to you from my wife who had the same procedure not too long ago, and it seems, the same problems with the hospital staff, as well. Good luck :)

Welcome home and get well soon. It will take some time so try to take plenty of rest even when hard. Hope the results of the test soon say your are in the clear.

Good to have you back with us Acadia, I'm glad the operation went ok but that "nurse" should be sacked, anyway at least you're out of there & back home where you belong.

Thanks everyone!

My kitty Abby is making sure to keep a very close eye on me.  She's stuck to me like wall paper paste and won't let me out of her sight!  

I had a good nights sleep last night.   I put my pain meds next to the bed last night. Glad I did that because I had to take some before getting out of bed this morning.  My bed is incredibly soft and I don't have the option to raise and lower the head/foot, so it was a bit of a challenge getting out of bed this morning, but I did manage.

Other than the incisional pain I'm feeling pretty good.

The first thing I did after getting out of bed was to "smell the roses." The girls at work brought me a lovely arrangement of yellow roses on Friday and my brother and his girl friend brought me a dozen pink roses yesterday after I got home.  They look so pretty and smell great!

I'm going to do a few laps around my apartment, take my pills and then go and lay down for a bit. I'm still feeling somewhat sleep deprived

Welcome Home Acadia! Glad it was a success. My mom had this done years ago. She swears by holistic meds and keeping here body alkalinity high. She swears cancer can't live in a highly alkaline environment. She's been cancer free for well over 20 years now.

Hopefully they got all the cancer.  Once you are feeling a little better I'd complain to that hospital's administrators about the one nurse who did nothing, someone like that does not belong in the medical profession.  I don't know the laws in canada but I'd also see if there's any legal recourse... like negligence charges.  I figure if she's going to treat one patient poorly, she might also treat others that way.

Glad you are home and that the surgery went well.  Hoping you have a full and speedy recovery.

Glad your back Miss A :)

John

o.k. glad to know yer home.  be careful with morphine and related opiates.  have somebody there
to help, if possible.

 I will continue to send prayers and well wishes your way.  I agree that you should lodge a formal complaint against the nurse.  There is absolutely no excuse and her behavior is negligent and  extremely uncaring.

Contrary to popular belief, one cannot develop an addiction to narcotics in the presence of acute pain. It is more important to keep the pain under control, since pain inhibits healing:

"Pain has a protective function in nature, warning of damage, and promoting careful treatment of the affected area. However, postoperative pain can be destructive too: by heightening the cellular stress response, the autonomic, somatic and endocrine reflexes are diminished, resulting in protein breakdown, platelet aggregation, nausea, ileus and a suppressed immune system. Low oxygen tension and poor perfusion can slow down the deposition of collagen in tissue undergoing repair, both of which can be influenced by pain: restricted breathing due to pain can lead to low-grade hypoxia, and severe pain can cause vasoconstriction, both of which ultimately impair wound healing."

You're a nurse, Acadia. This is not new information to you. As the pain you experienced in hospital is affecting you now (it has affected your post-operative course), it is more important to keep it under control so you can get back to normal activities as quickly as possible and to promote healing than to be concerned about the potential of drug addiction.

Attached Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfj1AEnC-XU

Good to hear your home and everything went well.

Take care of yourself. :)

Attached Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjhT9282-Tw

Happy that you're home and am keeping you in our prayers for whatever comes next.