Recovering from my Microwave Ablation 'Cooked Liver' procedure - Update April 30th
OK, this was my 11th surgery. Why oh why oh why did I not ask more questions? I mean, come on, I really should know better.
So, I figured that seeing they made it an outpatient procedure, I would be good to go in just a few days. IDIOT!
Yesterday I was so tried of the pain that I talked to my surgeon's nurse. "Why am I still in pain?" I ask. 'Well, lets see', you just had surgery four days ago, that should be your first clue.' - she didn't say the last bit, but I bet she was thinking it -.
'Are you taking your pain meds?'. 'Yes!' 'When?' 'When I feel like it.' A deep unsettling sigh came down the phone. Oh dear, I think I said the wrong thing. She then went on to tell me that I take my pain meds as prescribed, every four hours for the one and every six hour for the other.
I rally on, "Oh, and while I have you on the phone, can I start back on my three mile morning walk?" Interesting, I felt almost as though she were reaching down the phone and grabbing me by the shoulders to give me a huge shake "Absolutely NOT!' Your body needs time to heal, you will not start your walks until you have seen the surgeon for your follow-up in a month.' 'Oh, but how am I expected to heal if I don't go on my walks?' She didn't answer. I think by that time she was exasperated with me.
So, here I am, playing the 'sick woman' when I'm feeling fine, well, except the sharp imobilizing pain in my liver when I breath to deep. I'm not a good patient. I know I'm not. I try, kinda. I don't like to be inactive. I feel lazy, it makes me feel rotten.
I started re-reading Dante's 'Divince Comedy, one of my favourite books. That is really helping, as I get sucked right in and can sit for hours absorbed in his world.
I get my staples out tomorrow. I'm allowed to go and see my GP here in small town America, so I don't travel three hours for a five minute appointment. Nice!
How I appreciate all of you, your concern, your prayers, your vibes and best wishes. This truly is a healing forum. Thank you!
Honestly, I'm feeling good. Once the pain when I breath deeply, abates, I'll be good to go (on my thee mile walk, that is).
Comments
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My dear Sue, since you'veMy dear Sue, since you've been given a directive from your doctor to do basically nothing for the next month....may I suggest the following?! After all, you're just following doctor's orders!!
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dear SueLivinginNH said:
My dear Sue, since you'veMy dear Sue, since you've been given a directive from your doctor to do basically nothing for the next month....may I suggest the following?! After all, you're just following doctor's orders!!
Sue you a wonder to behold......nothing going to keep you down girl.....
best love, mags
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Yes, you need to be sitting at our lake house
where you would be content to just watch the world. Yesterday included a bald eagle, a merlin, osprey, great blue heron, bluebird, cormorants, geese, grackles, robins, woodpeckers and others. And there is the peace of looking out at the lake.
Please allow yourself time to heal! Your body needs a rest!
Alice
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I'm almost 50...
...but I just learned to interpret pain. You don't actually have to suffer to take the pain med. If your mind is constantly on the surgical area and you can't seem to concentrate on the other tasks of your life it's pain killer time. I was so debilitated for so long after surgery, because I kept telling myself: " I can live with this much pain". But I told myself this every 10 seconds and I wasn't able to take care of thing or concentrate on anything. So just take those bad boys until you can almost forget about the surgical site. That is when it's right.
maybe not the whole 3 miles, but a couple of short walks are great, but im sure you figured this out already.
Wish you a speedy recovery and a ling term resolution.
Laz
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Sounds lovelyabrub said:Yes, you need to be sitting at our lake house
where you would be content to just watch the world. Yesterday included a bald eagle, a merlin, osprey, great blue heron, bluebird, cormorants, geese, grackles, robins, woodpeckers and others. And there is the peace of looking out at the lake.
Please allow yourself time to heal! Your body needs a rest!
Alice
Alice, sounds like a wonder place.
lisa
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Pain Meds
You and most of the rest of us interpret "pain meds" as...when you have pain you take them. How wrong we are, in most cases.
Most pain meds, unless they say "use as needed", are meant to be taken on a schedule to keep us from having pain. They can't seem to 'catch up' when we wait until the pain sets in.
It will also help you in the long run to take it easy for a while and not push too hard. You will find that you heal sooner and not have relapse surgery issues.
So sweet lady, take Cynthia's advice...find a comfy chair, a nice drink and instead of thinking of yourself as a "sick person", think of it as a well deserved rest.
Wishing you speedy recovery.
Hugs,
Marie who loves kitties
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So glad that your procedure is behind you and recovery is on the mend. Do take it easy though even though it's hard to sit still. I'm like you, love to walk, but 3 miles seems a bit much after all you've been through. Glad the books take you to another world for some time as you need to heal. Hope you feel better soon.
Kim
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From wht u have described the
From wht u have described the procedure was not done percutaneously but with a incision ( invasive) that is the reason for the pain - and obviously they didn't give u an epidural for pain -
in my opinion it may take 5 days before they let u out of the hospital and approx 8 to 10 days to remove the staples
however, you should not have much difficulty in managing 30 min walks thrice or more times a day -
u really need to take the pain meds if u want to walk !
Dont worry u will heal fast and another two weeks will be at 70% of ur earlier self !
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Incisionssdp said:From wht u have described the
From wht u have described the procedure was not done percutaneously but with a incision ( invasive) that is the reason for the pain - and obviously they didn't give u an epidural for pain -
in my opinion it may take 5 days before they let u out of the hospital and approx 8 to 10 days to remove the staples
however, you should not have much difficulty in managing 30 min walks thrice or more times a day -
u really need to take the pain meds if u want to walk !
Dont worry u will heal fast and another two weeks will be at 70% of ur earlier self !
I have four small incisions, three are stapled and one is glued.
I had the surgery and left the hospital about three hours later, got in the car and travelled 170 miles home (Husband drove of course).
I will have my staples removed today in my home town, because my GP doesn't work Thursdays and Fridays. I'm sure he'll tell me if he doesn't think I'm healed enough. The areas look good to me though.
I wil start walking around the block tomorrow, with my husband as he starts his days off. By the time he goes back, I'm sure I'll feel confident enough to go on my own.
The pain is lessening each day. YAY! I love to see improvements.
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good luck it sounds like yourTrubrit said:Incisions
I have four small incisions, three are stapled and one is glued.
I had the surgery and left the hospital about three hours later, got in the car and travelled 170 miles home (Husband drove of course).
I will have my staples removed today in my home town, because my GP doesn't work Thursdays and Fridays. I'm sure he'll tell me if he doesn't think I'm healed enough. The areas look good to me though.
I wil start walking around the block tomorrow, with my husband as he starts his days off. By the time he goes back, I'm sure I'll feel confident enough to go on my own.
The pain is lessening each day. YAY! I love to see improvements.
good luck it sounds like your doing better
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Thanks for updating us,Sue!
How are things going today? I hope you've been doing better with the pain. I white-knuckled my way through the aftermath of my first surgery, partly because the pills made me nauseous, and partly just because I thought I "should". Came to the conclusion that the pain was really impeding my ability to heal, so now I take 'em without question (or I did, until recently, of course).
And the Divine Comedy? Wow. As a former medievalist, I'm impressed. Not exactly light reading!
ETA oops. just read your update to the update! Sounds like things are improving. I'm glad!
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Aliceabrub said:Yes, you need to be sitting at our lake house
where you would be content to just watch the world. Yesterday included a bald eagle, a merlin, osprey, great blue heron, bluebird, cormorants, geese, grackles, robins, woodpeckers and others. And there is the peace of looking out at the lake.
Please allow yourself time to heal! Your body needs a rest!
Alice
Can I come to your lake house too? LOL
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UPDATE April 30th
I just go back from my GP visit to remove staples. While I was there, he called my surgeon for biopsy results on my appendix.
First off, I'm healing well, and the staples came out. Pop, pop, pop...
Biopsy on appendix showed no abnormalities and no cancers. I guess it was just enlarged and somewhat funky looking.
No biopsy was done on the liver, but I did find out that the tumour was 2.2 cm which was larger than the 7 mm measurment they made on the PET scan. I guess thats right at the border of alblation and resection. I do so hope that I don't end up regretting the ablation. Oh well, its done with, we'll not look ahead.
I was quite chuffed when I read the surgeons report to see that he had writeen "The patient is extremely healthy. She is very educated and understands her disease clearly'. I'm extra chuffed at the 'very educated' because I've always considered myself pretty dense, compounded by the fact that I left school at 15. Ah, sometimes one has to live to 55, to begin to see the real you.
So I think, all in all, that its been a rather fab day.
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Yay!!Trubrit said:UPDATE April 30th
I just go back from my GP visit to remove staples. While I was there, he called my surgeon for biopsy results on my appendix.
First off, I'm healing well, and the staples came out. Pop, pop, pop...
Biopsy on appendix showed no abnormalities and no cancers. I guess it was just enlarged and somewhat funky looking.
No biopsy was done on the liver, but I did find out that the tumour was 2.2 cm which was larger than the 7 mm measurment they made on the PET scan. I guess thats right at the border of alblation and resection. I do so hope that I don't end up regretting the ablation. Oh well, its done with, we'll not look ahead.
I was quite chuffed when I read the surgeons report to see that he had writeen "The patient is extremely healthy. She is very educated and understands her disease clearly'. I'm extra chuffed at the 'very educated' because I've always considered myself pretty dense, compounded by the fact that I left school at 15. Ah, sometimes one has to live to 55, to begin to see the real you.
So I think, all in all, that its been a rather fab day.
Sounds like you're doing so much better. I love your positive outlook on things. Heal quickly and keep us up to date. We're rooting for you.
Lin
PS Since the hubby won't see this, I will share something. He has a Phd and is very book smart, but he's as dumb as a door nail in common sense. LOL, it doesn't take a schooled education to make someone smart. I'm glad you had a great day!
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Well , I guess they did itTrubrit said:UPDATE April 30th
I just go back from my GP visit to remove staples. While I was there, he called my surgeon for biopsy results on my appendix.
First off, I'm healing well, and the staples came out. Pop, pop, pop...
Biopsy on appendix showed no abnormalities and no cancers. I guess it was just enlarged and somewhat funky looking.
No biopsy was done on the liver, but I did find out that the tumour was 2.2 cm which was larger than the 7 mm measurment they made on the PET scan. I guess thats right at the border of alblation and resection. I do so hope that I don't end up regretting the ablation. Oh well, its done with, we'll not look ahead.
I was quite chuffed when I read the surgeons report to see that he had writeen "The patient is extremely healthy. She is very educated and understands her disease clearly'. I'm extra chuffed at the 'very educated' because I've always considered myself pretty dense, compounded by the fact that I left school at 15. Ah, sometimes one has to live to 55, to begin to see the real you.
So I think, all in all, that its been a rather fab day.
Well , I guess they did it laprpscopically - tht is why it is healed so quickly .
wow - excellent to know that the appendix was not malignant and the ablation went perfectly ok.
excellent.
wishing u a speedy recovery from it all - and a normal life ahead !
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Great
So glad that all went well today and wonderful to know we have such a knowledgeable person on our message boards
. Glad to hear that the gall bladder was clear. Glad you are feeling better but still don't rush it. Hope you feel better day by day.Kim
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Oh yes!LivinginNH said:
My dear Sue, since you'veMy dear Sue, since you've been given a directive from your doctor to do basically nothing for the next month....may I suggest the following?! After all, you're just following doctor's orders!!
I'll take the drink, the setting and the 'young' legs.
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