Skip to main content

Hospital Checklist

I hope you don't find this blog too wordy...  I am chronically verbose.  If I can dispel fear or panic by any degree for even one person, then I will consider myself successful.

Unfortunately, I have several friends who have had similar surgeries.  Some less major, some much more complex.  I picked their brains so thoroughly before my surgery, I swear it fortified my strength and confidence.

Should you or someone you know find themselves in a similar boat, I can tell you that I was prepared.  Feel free to extract any amount of information from my list.  I'm here to share.

This is what you will need for the hospital:

  • Cute and comfortable pajamas that button up the front.
  • A few more big button up shirts
  • TWO fanny packs.  These are for your drains.  One to use, and a spare for when it gets wet/dirty/washed.
  • Lip Moisturizer (Vasaline Lip Therapy is the best.)  You will want this as soon as you wake up.
  • Phone/ipad charger (Extra long one.. you won't be able to reach anything.)


This is what you will need at home:

  • HAVE ALL OF YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS FILLED AND READY TO GO.  ESPECIALLY YOUR PAIN MEDS!
  • NONSTICK gauze pads (There are small ones and long ones.  Grab some of each.)
  • Paper tape (It's kinder to the skin.)
  • Hydrogen peroxide and q-tips
  • Several SOFT (not ribbed) tank tops (I bought a whole bunch at Old Navy.)
  • Bottles and bottles of water.  (I'm not a plastic water bottle kind of girl, but I don't think my month-long indulgence will cripple the environment any further.  It's about convenience right now.  And you will be thirsty.  Like I-just-crossed-the-Sahara thirsty.  All the time.)
  • Dial (or other antibacterial soap) -- You should have been using this for at least a week before surgery.
  • Netflix
  • Vitamins
  • Vitamin C - I use Emergen-C packs.  This is essential for healing.
  • Protein.  You can choose your poison on this one, but I use Arbonne Vanilla (and Chocolate, let's be honest) Protein.  It's gluten free/dairy free/soy free/sugar free, and it's incredible.  You might not be so hungry, but protein is what your body needs to repair the physical damage that's about to occur, so suck it up.  Literally.  I'm talking smoothies, sister.
Really, the best piece of advice I got was the fanny packs.  I got one on Amazon, and I found one at Sports Authority.  Your drains (the bulbs) slip right inside, and you have it on so the chances that they will get caught on something, pulled, or otherwise molested will be less.  You can shower with the fanny pack, and then you can just throw it in the washing machine afterwards.

On drains:  This was how I involved my son (7).  Emptying my drains and measuring/charting the contents was his job.  He felt involved in my care, and it made the process less scary for him.  We turned it into a math lesson, as he had to estimate volumes (between graduated lines) and keep detailed records.  

Also on drains:  They suck.  They are uncomfortable, painful even, if you bump/pull them.  The drain removal was the singular most painful process of all.  Be sure you take your pain medicine before you go to have them removed.  You won't be sorry.


For me, things got really crazy and busy before surgery.  I took a little time beforehand to slow down.  I had dinner with my girlfriends.  I went to yoga.  I juiced.  I spent the day with my little boy.  The volume gets turned up, but some things become more clear.  If you were ever to ask for cancer, you would want it in a part of your body that you don't need.  It's that simple.  I breast fed my son, so their job was done.  Time to get down to business.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fall, 2020

 And just like that, six years have come and gone. The years have seemed typical, I suppose, with laughter and love and friends and family.  We have watched our son grow (and grow and grow) into an incredible young teenager.  I have felt strong(ish), healthy, and whole.  I have worked with countless patients, volunteered excessively, and lived life, always trying to be the best wife, mom, and friend. I have also been uncomfortable.  I have felt, for the last six years, like my chest has been wrapped in the tightest industrial cellophane or tape you could imagine.  I have been unable to do even one pushup.  I have been unable to regain my shoulder flexion (overhead) strength, and I even tore my acellular dermal matrix (ADM or mesh) in a Pilates class.  I have been unable to lie on my stomach.  I have lost countless hours of sleep.   I have been unable to receive any MRI imaging to check for implant integrity, which was recommended wh...
3 comments
Read more

A Farewell

Dear Tissue Expanders, Tonight is our last night together.  I'm breaking up with you. It's been real, these last three and a half months.  Really, real .  So real that you have been on my mind for every single waking moment, as well as countless non-waking ones.  Although our time has drawn to a close and you will be carelessly discarded in the morning for a pair of more demure implants, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you how I feel:  it's not me, it's you. I thought I knew what I was getting into, choosing to go the tissue-expanders-to-implants route.  I heard that there was pain and discomfort with each subsequent fill, but I had no idea that you would become such a constant, pervasive force.  You have dominated most of my thoracic sensory nerve activity since Valentine's day.  You are all I feel.  Even now, after all this time, you're still the dominant presence.  I still feel like I'm wrapped tightly, and I give you ...
2 comments
Read more

From the beginning...

In September of 2013, I called to make an appointment with my gynecologist for the dreaded yearly exam.  I have the most fabulous gynecologist.  No, I won't give you her name, because it's already ridiculously hard enough to make an appointment with her, and I don't need any more patient competition.  I was on hold for what seemed like FOREVER, and I was able to finally make an appointment for JANUARY 10 of the following year.  Really?  (And yes, she's that awesome that I'm willing to get in line months and months in advance just to see her.) While I was on hold, the same recording played over and over.  The recorded lady's silky smooth voice offers a variety of other add-on services:  digital mammography, laser hair removal, botox and fillers.  She sounds more Saks Fifth Avenue than OBGYN Specialists, and she just makes everything sounds so damn appealing. I decided to tack on a mammogram to my visit.  I know I'm only 39, and I haven't r...
1 comment
Read more