This past week has been a struggle, I'm going to be 100% honest with you. But I'm going to break it down into a summary to help anyone about to go through the same experience:
Day 1:
The night after my surgery was tough as I threw up three times so I was attached to a drip the entire night and I had oxygen in my nose. But when I woke up, I was surprisingly okay. Besides having no voice at all, I felt okay and there was no pain except for a cannula they had put in the side of my left wrist while I was asleep that KILLED. I asked my nurse to take it out for me because it was really painful and it wasn't even being used. I ate only a bit of my porridge in the morning but with every meal I ate a little bit more until I practically finished my dinner.
Also, although the drain in my neck didn't hurt, it was leaking throughout the day so my nurse stuck some extra gauze next to it so that there was at least something to absorb the liquid. That night though I got no sleep from sleeping in an uncomfortable position and rolled on my drain a couple times which surprisingly still wasn't painful.
Day 2:
Despite feeling nauseous and being unable to eat from the painkiller they gave me, I was fine. The pain was almost non-existent and my voice was coming back slowly, which allowed me to actually speak to my surgeon instead of whisper. My drain was removed and so was another cannula and I was discharged but that night, I woke up with a bit of pins and needles in my hand so I drank a glass of milk and went back to sleep.
Day 3:
This day was quite uneventful. I had some mild pins and needles but I would drink a glass of milk or my Sandocal calcium tablets and be done with it. There was no pain, my voice was coming back more and was starting to sound less raspy and more like my own.
Day 4:
For some reason the pins and needles got worse and I ended up calling my hospital at about midday as I was getting worried. The lady at the desk told me that the calcium symptoms would get better during the course of a few days (something I wish my nurse would have told me). Also, as the nurse on the day of my discharge instructed me to do, I drank milk whenever I got a tingly sensation. THIS WAS THE WORST THING TO DO! You CAN consume too much calcium and that's what happened to me. My tummy was in knots and I was pretty much sick the whole day. I was drinking milk, plus my Sandocal, plus eating yoghurt and other calcium rich foods which threw my body out of sync.
Additionally, I started feeling increasingly weak during this day and got up to use the toilet and one point and almost fell as my legs pretty much gave way.
Days 5 & 6:
I've grouped these two days because they were pretty much the same. The fatigue I felt on these days were immense. It seemed that when I sat down, my legs forgot how to work by the time I went to stand back up and I would have to slowly stand up. To be completely honest, my whole body was exhausted and I had no energy to do anything. On Day 6 I even had to take a shower whilst sitting down because it was just that bad. I'm not sure why this was happening; my mum spoke to my great aunt (a veteran nurse of about 30 years) who said that it's not uncommon for your body to be tired after a surgery and so not to worry too much, but I never experienced tiredness like it and I hope I never have to.
On Day 5 I removed the majority of the tape covering my incision but one end was stuck so my great aunt suggested saline solution which my mum got on Day 6 and the last part came right off. It was painless. I got pretty much all of the movement back in my neck, but I still couldn't look over my shoulder.
I did actually get some swelling on Day 6 - probably from laying down 24/7 and not keeping my head elevated. It wasn't too painful, just really uncomfortable.
Day 7:
I woke up in the morning with more energy than I had done in previous days but that diminished throughout the day. However, that was basically the only issue as the pain was almost undetectable and I didn't suffer from any pins and needles. Around the wound did get slightly more swollen in the evening for a while.
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