Waiting for the Other Shoe...

Well, the ovary removal was pretty smooth.  I have to tell you, laproscopic surgery is WAY easier than having your abdomen cut open.  I hardly had any pain from the incisions.  There were four tiny cuts on my stomach - one inside my belly button, two on either side of the belly button, and one along my previous c-section scar.  Not a problem at all.

As always, I had great difficulty waking up from the surgey.  I was really cranky this time and the recovery nurse was really irritating me.  Apparently my pulse-ox was low so they insisted I wear an oxygen mask - which was making my nose itch like crazy!  There was a pulse-ox monitor on my right pointer finger and every time I tried to scratch my nose I knocked it off.  Apparently I was falling back asleep with my finger still ON my nose which also meant I was knocking off the oxygen mask.  All of these actions really upset the nurse.  After fighting with me for awhile, she finally put the pulse-ox monitor on my toe and replaced the mask with a nasal tube.  I was finally free to scratch my nose at will!  Why didn't we do that sooner?

There was also a blood pressure cuff on my right arm, an IV in my hand, and those blow-up leg cuffs on my calves that are supposed to prevent blood clots.   I felt tied down and annoyed by all of the equipment and yet they were trying to wake me up to go home.  In my mind, I'm thinking, "If I still need oxygen and need to be monitored, why are you trying to wake me up and get me out of bed?"

Also, every time I sat up I got dizzy and then nauseous.  I wound up having the dry heaves which is a horrible and strange feeling.  I was puking - but nothing was coming out!  (Ugh.  Shuddering just to think about it.)  I finally cleared my head barely enough to put on some clothes and go home.  I had expected to spend the night in the hospital, so even though I felt rushed it was nice to go home.  When you can't remember the car ride home, do you think it means you should have slept a little longer?

As I said before, I had no pain from the incisions, but right before we left, I told the doctor I was having some pain in my shoulder.  It felt like I had a big air bubble in my chest.  He said not to worry that it was probably just a sore shoulder from lying on the operating table in one position for such a long time.  I knew that wasn't right but I was too doped up to pursue it further.  In the following days, the pain spread to both shoulders and became pretty intense - it was a stabbing pain.  I was afraid I was having a heart attack or something!

I vaguely remembered something about shoulder pain and laproscopic surgery so I Googled it in the middle of the night.  Sure enough, it is a prevelant side effect that no one bothered to mention to me.  You see, they pump up your abdomen with gas in order to create a better visual field for the cameras.  Turns out, the gas is cold and dry and irritates your diaphragm.  And there are nerves that run from your diaphragm into your shoulder - so it is a referential pain.  For some people, the shoulder pain is worse than the incisions and that was certainly true for me!  I couldn't take a deep breath because the pain was too intense.  It left me feeling short of breath and a little scared.  I wish someone had warned me.  Fortunately it only lasted 2 days

Everything else has healed just fine.  And here is the strangest part of all - NO HOT FLASHES!  It has been three weeks since the surgery and I'm not having any hot flashes!  How is this possible?  I experienced extreme hot flashes and night sweats during chemo, but a few months after the chemo stopped, they went away.  I assumed my ovaries had started back up and everything was functioning normally again.  I couldn't tell for sure since I don't have a utereus and therefore no periods.  But maybe I was wrong - maybe the ovaries were dead and I just had an easy run of the menopausal symptoms????

I was in such dread of those night sweats again.  Is it possible that I'm going to escape that torture?  I definitely felt weepy a few days, my sleep has been disturbed, and I know I am a irritable.  If I can escape the hot flashes and night sweats, I will be forever grateful.

The surgery was easy, and I feel mostly recovered.  But I'm sitting here anxiously  - waiting for the other shoe to drop.