(Un)Comfortably Numb

Have I ever mentioned that one of the minor annoyances of this, or any abdominal surgery, is numbness? Well, I should have because it drives me nuts sometimes. I get an itch somewhere on my abdomen but, I can't scratch it because the whole area is numb. I learned that rubbing vigorously instead of scratching to no avail works because it gets the nerve endings working, for a little while anyway. Then there's the ice thing. Sometimes when I put ice on my abdomen I get frustrated because I think it's not cold enough or it's just not working. Then I remember that it's probably working, I just can't feel it. It's really strange to not feel a cold sensation on your abdomen but, if you put your hand on it, you feel that it's cold. I've heard that the numbness can last for years. I hope that's not true in my case.

Speaking of ice on my abdomen, I don't think I ever mentioned why I have to be horizontal twice a day with ice on my belly. I wrote about how much I overdid during Fourth of July weekend but, I didn't write about the consequences. Because I wasn't a good girl, and didn't put my feet up as much as I'm supposed to during the day, I developed a pocket of lymphatic fluid that was, using the non-medical term, stuck. If the pocket burst, I could have ended up very sick, at the very least, and in the hospital. So, I was put on bed rest for 12 hours. (At least. He told me not to set my alarm for 5 a.m. just because the 12 hours would be up. I was supposed to take sleeping pilils and sleep 'til I woke up on my own.) Then, for the next six weeks (2 more to go!) I'm supposed to "be horizontal" for an hour in the afternoon and an hour in the early evening with an ice pack on my abdomen so that fluid doesn't build up and get stuck again.

The moral of the story is: If you're told to put your feet up every couple of hours, put your feet up every couple of hours.