Yesterday on post-op day 4 I was discharged from the hospital. I met my doctor in the morning and he asked how I was doing and if I wanted to go home that day. I said yes that I could manage at home as there was very little pain and benefit from me staying at the hospital. We went over some information and asked if I had seen the dietician and said to follow what she had recommended. He said that I would be discharged late morning or early afternoon. Then he was called in for an emergency surgery, so I knew that he would be in surgery for at least a couple of hours if not 4. This would delay my release until mid to late afternoon. My nurse knew about the discharge orders and started doing work to get me ready to leave. He had finished most of the paperwork, but it was not all complete yet and the resident surgeon had gone with him as well.
The first thing was to remove the tube out of my stomach that drained my stomach. The length of the tube is unknown for the nurse which makes it a bit challenging. The tube runs along the underside of the diaphragm and went from side all the way to the opposite side of my stomach. The nurse can not pull this out quickly as there may be organs or things in the way so she needs to extract it slowly. My nurse on the previous day mentioned that it was not a pleasant experience and was painful. The nurse that pulled it out said it was more of a discomfort and may not be painful. She lied. It was excruciatingly painful. I had pain going across my stomach all the way up to my shoulders. There are nerve endings connected to the diaphragm that connect to the shoulder. As she had to pull it slowly through I could feel it rubbing inside against the diaphragm and whatever she managed to touch as she pulled it out. It lasted 10 seconds or so and she paused half way through to ask how I was doing. I think I would have preferred to not have the pause and just have it all at once. This was the most painful removal I had so far. It is just not pleasant and if the tube is long it is a dreadful experience. Once it is out the pain is not present, but now I know why I had stomach pains throughout, I could feel the tube in my stomach and the side of my stomach was always super sensitive where the tube came out. She removed that and then said she would come back in a couple of minutes to remove the IV line. It took her a couple of hours to come back to remove the IV line, but I did not care. That removal was not painful or really any discomfort.
At around 2pm I saw the resident and he told me I was free to go. We had a nice chat and he had brought a student along with him. I asked some questions and he answered the same as my original doctor, follow the dietician. The dietician had told me that some doctors have different opinions on things, but both of these deferred to people who specialize in it. I just had to get the nurse to do the final things to release me. She was not sure if I would see the doctors before her, but she told me that when I saw the doctor to tell her. She was on break and did not know that the doctor had visited so once break was over she was informed and came to go through the discharge notes. There was a long list of drugs and we did not go to the pharmacy to fill them all. I was given painkillers just in case last week and never used them.
To get out they prefer if you leave in a wheelchair. Mel is not a very good wheel chair operator. She has difficulties going straight and managed to hit every small bump in the hospital hallways. There are not many, but she could not go straight and it was zigzagging all the way down the hall. Going home was nice and the bumps in the road were not too bad.
At home it was nice to be home. A bit difficult with some movement but I think I have it under control now. Our awesome neighbour was mowing his lawn and then mowed our lawns front and back. He said he would do it for us all summer which I appreciate. I think that the pain is manageable and I should be able to recover from this inside the next week. I am glad that I listened to Dr. Jeffrey Campsen the random Internet doctor that confirmed that I can be up and working within 2 weeks. Hopefully I will be ready to start some things in the next week. I will then have 3-5 weeks before my next chemo session. Fatigue is not too bad and I think my body should heal itself fairly well.