Amberlating

1:23pm – Amber was up and walking around when I arrived shortly before 10 this morning. Surprisingly, she’s moving around pretty fast being on her second day post op. When we first showed up on Monday to say hi to Elisa, both her and Amy were waddling around pretty slowly. Amber’s been cruising compared to them, and she’s days ahead of where they were. Amber’s also not taken any oral pain killers, simply stopped once the PCA was taken away. She barely used the PCA as well, which had been set to administer a small amount on its own without having the button pushed. I hope that I’ll be as lucky as her, but I doubt that I will.

Amber and I also ate lunch with Elisa and her mom today. It was their last meal before checking out of the surgery center. I think she’s feeling a lot of emotions that I was feeling when I went home from Cocoon. It’s hard leaving the place you grow to know as your own little protective corner of the world.

OK, so let’s see what I’ve learned so far. Dilating and having the packing taken out is a whole new experience with your body. Pee goes everywhere when urinating after SRS. I told Elisa about “the secret to peeing” (as explained to me by JoanB) by keeping your legs together and leaning forward, but Elisa says it hurts quite a bit to do it that way. Both Elisa and Amber also tell me that capping off the catheter and reconnecting it to the foley bag has this weird suction that goes all the way back into the bladder. Fun.