post ops....

Ving left us by 2pm and I took over the job of nursing aid. Xian woke up and he was troubled by wound pain. Xian sensory perception was outstanding he had good eye sight, good hearing and also very sensitive to pain. He had no problem of tolerating the pain while laying still, but the pain was torturing when he attempted to get down from bed.

Urine output was an important index for post ops care…5 hours past the surgery and Xian had tried very hard and no urine output was noted. He felt uneasy to do it on the bed and we had tried a lot of method; sitting over the bedside, sitting on the toilet. Every single way led involved getting out from bed and both of us were exhausted. After 9 hrs of struggle, he had finally emptied his bladder. He was indeed dehydrated, over 2000cc was infused/drunk and only 300cc of urine noted. I felt comfortable but did not enjoy a good night sleep. I had awakened on hourly basis to check on the drip and Xian condition.

The pain was better on D2 but was still disturbing. Ving visited us on twice a day bringing us food and supply. On D3, the bed next to us was discharged and I had chartered the room. Nowadays, single occupancy room in the hospital had become very difficult to get as many patients had insurance and afforded to stay in a single occupancy room. When the single room is not available one could still chartered a double room and turn it into a single room (the pay was of course more expensive). When Xian got admitted there was no single room nor any double room to charter. I had to squeeze myself on the foldable chair for first 2 nights.

Taking care of patient with post abdominal surgery was not a simple task. The mission of going to toilet is a great challenge. Every steps was pain and it took forever to complete the few meter walk.

I had day shift on D3 and Ving had come to look after Xian but he was way better and the pain was much tolerable…

Xian was discharged on D5 but it was not the end of the story…..