Oy

Well, I had the surgery yesterday morning. The surgeon said she'd talked to my doctor and they thought it would be better if they didn't sedate me. I wonder which one said that; I can't think of why they would. Still, I'd rather not be sedated.

They had trouble getting the IV in. Not too surprising since they decided not to use a heplock because I'm allergic to Teflon. They didn't have one of those brace things so they ended up strapping my arm to a board they found somewhere. I forget to tell them I'm allergic to heart monitor contacts, but they never mentioned they were going to be using them, either. Since I'd had 50mg of benadryl before the surgery, the reaction wasn't too bad. So the surgery mostly went well, although the anesthetic started to wear off at like #2. I was not upset, because that's usually what happens to me. It all went pretty fast, anyway.

When I got home I was pretty dehydrated, but I couldn't drink anything because we were supposed to try to stop the bleeding. You have to bite down hard on some gauze for 30 minutes, then make sure it's stopped and repeat if necessary. Well, we did this for about five hours and it didn't stop, even after we tried tea bags like they suggested. So, my husband called the office and got the doctor on call. It was one of the other surgeons, Dr. S. Well, Dr. S informed him that it was only bleeding because I wasn't biting down on the gauze right because I was groggy after the surgery. So basically, we were doing it wrong. He wouldn't listen to what my husband was telling him at all. That's interesting, because I wasn't groggy at all, and we weren't doing it wrong. I'm glad I didn't get that surgeon! Anyway, we tried the gauze again (by this point we'd run out of their gauze and had to use our own) and it mostly stopped, so I was able to eat some things and get my ketones down. It did start bleeding again three times that night, though, even though I wasn't doing anything when it happened. Nothing was even moving in my mouth; I was just sitting there and it started. And yes, I am being super careful. So I may end up with dry socket even though I followed all the instructions.

I was in a lot of pain the first day, when I couldn't take the painkiller right away due to the bleeding not stopping. It went right up to 9. I think some people would call it 10, but I've had 10 before. The odd thing is that Darvocet was abused in the 70s, but it doesn't make me feel high at all. It does work on the pain, which is great, but that's it. I'm not even sleepy. The pain was only as bad this morning as it is when I normally wake up, so like a 5 or a 6, but now it does hurt despite the painkiller, probably because of the swelling. I have to apply ice packs for the first 36 hours. The swelling should go down on day 3. It takes about a month to heal completely.

I'm supposed to eat a lot of protein (which makes sense because my body is making new tissue), so I've been having Boost Glucose Control, Trader Joe's nonfat Greek yogurt cups, Special K protein water, and tofu pudding. I do have some pureed soups, but they're higher in carbs and much lower in protein. It's been hard enough keeping my bg down. I'm at 175% basal and 190% bolus from normal.

I am trying to get some rest, but I'm not even tired. Certainly not what I would have expected!