Post Op Day 5

Being home is definitely the best medicine. The drive home was very unremarkable. We dosed G with her muscle relaxant, pain medicine and nausea medicine just before leaving the hospital. Within 15 minutes of leaving, she was asleep and stayed asleep the whole 3 hour drive home. So, as predicted, the backpack filled with nausea/vomiting items were not needed. We packed G in her car seat with a blanket around her head to keep the head "flop factor" down. And had a vomit bag and towels on her lap. Thankfully I never had to test either out. 

Day 5 started after a very, very good night's sleep for all. DH was kicked out of the bedroom and is sleeping in the guest room until further notice. G is sleeping on a sleep wedge in our bed with me.  She is used to sleeping on the sleep wedge due to her reflux but, it gets double duty now. NS suggests sleeping at an incline to help limit swelling at the incision site.  

The rest on the day was filled with lots of movies and crafts. We setup a section of the couch to cater to G. She has a small basket filled with her crafts and a TV tray on which to set her drinks.  I can tell that keeping her occupied will be a chore the next couple of weeks. She feels very good and doesn't understand why she cannot self regulate her play. We caught her running down the hall toward her room without thinking about it. My biggest fear now, is that her great recovery experience thus far will be her worst enemy. 

One part of discharge instructions called for incisional care and daily hair washing and shower. We did this in the hospital before leaving and it was quite the fiasco. G was terrified about getting her incision wet.  We finally accomplished the task, and I'm not clear if her hair got all that clean. Today's shower went much better. No tears or anxiety which helps the anxiety level for both of us!

Incision care seems pretty easy. We wet a surgical hand brush with warm water mixed with Johnson's baby shampoo. Then gently sponge the incision for about a minute. It is slightly painful, but not too bad.  I ensure that G receives pain Meds about 30 minutes prior to the bath.

After her bath this evening, she began shaking and couldn't stop for about an hour. G said that she didn't feel cold but couldn't stop it. I placed her on the couch, put her robe on, and wrapped in a blanket while I got the thermometer. She had a slight fever that we will watch closely. 100.5 is the magic number to call the NS. We are currently at 99.7. Slight fevers are common post op, but still worries a mom during recovery!  Hopefully by morning her temperature will return to normal.