I can say that it hurt after my surgery I had a morphine drip and a controller to push the button for relief of pain when I woke up I was never out of pain for the first few days they will try to get you moving as soon as possible, yes work on breathing I was in hospital 8 days had my tube in me until I seen doc then it was removed so it was in me for awhile. Oh the drive home make sure you have pillows OUCH! you will feel every turn and bump sorry man the first few days I slept allot and did not eat the pain was great I had no problems pushing the button for morphine pump and you can not get comfortable in bed I don't know about showers I did not care for one nor can you with a open wound the nurses washed my hair and bathed me movement was painful ,they even offered to feed me the first few days LOL a major concern is you O2 reading they checked my O2 allot do your breathing thing they want, and PT will want you to move so they will help you also. I had a nurse in my room for the first 24 hours next to me at all times which was so nice I woke up thinking they did not operate on me at first because the last thing I remember was pre op and them saying I will feel sleepy and poof! next thing I knew I was in pain and in a strange room, i wanted to call my wife LOL they said it is 3:00 am and I do not think it would be good LOL but they where so nice they called her for me in the morn telling her I wanted to call her LOL I had to have a fan on me at all times because of being hot and sweating I think it was my RSD causing that. My operation took awhile because of the compression and I was really messed up so it took allot longer.
It may be different for you as I see allot of people have different reaction to the surgery some seemed to have less pain and where out of the hospital sooner some stayed longer all I can say is it hurt and I had great care given to me by the nurses and staff and my Doc they all understood the pain and what we need for relief but be ready to move the PT's will want that and they will give you a breathing exercise to do it will hurt but you must do it. I hope this helped you.
flippn

Hi everyone...thanks so much for all your replies.

I am getting a bit nervous now but really just wanting to get this done! I want my life back! I want use of my arm again! One day OF NO PAIN would be sooooooooo nice! Not sure if that will all happen but I'm hopeful!

I am so stressed right now (posted why in the Today I ..section). My hospital stay is looking like a needed vacation right now. UGH!

I have to say...I'm on on one heck of a weight loss program! Sheesh!

Your stories have me a little worried as to who I'll be rooming with. The way my luck runs...I can only imagine

Johanna...your story of your roomie made me laugh so hard...my son was wondering what was so funny and I read the part of the bowel obstruction and potty...he got the hiccups laughing...even though we both feel for you on that one....how awful!

My husband will be with me and hopefully I won't have too much trouble. Only problem is...we have 4 kids and the hospital is an hour away and he has to be at home too. I had a bad experience when I had my hysterectomy. So I am worried. The night after my hysterectomy...my tube came out of my back (had an epidural). I was in so much pain I was crying and crying...begging for help. I couldn't get a nurse! NOBODY! I was by myself with NOTHING..! I finally got a nurse to come in (2 hours after pressing the call button). Then the nurse goes and gets an ice pack and says "what do you expect..you just had major surgery" . I was on fire ...burning up and in so much pain. Also, the surgeons used latex during the surgery...yea...I'm ALLERGIC to latex! OH WHAT A MESS! I screamed and screamed...by morning I got another nurse who called the anesthesiologist! I told him I demaned someone look at my back cause I felt that the tube came out and I was getting any meds. he had me sit forward and yep I was right! How friggin hard was that! the nurse couldn't look for that! Well, my husband said I should've called him...but it was the middle of the night. He then said I should've called 911. I still laugh and think I will do that next time...Can you imagine...calling 911 from your hospital room to get help! I WILL NOT hesitate to do it either.

Hope all is well...

Momz

Don't forget that for every nurse and hospital horror story there is probably great stories of good experiences too. I guess it just depends on what hospital you are at. Again, my hospital stay was not fun, just because it was the last place I wanted to be and I had to be there for so long. But if it werent for the nurses, I dont know what I would have done. Again, my experience was unique and its not often that hospitals see otherwise 'healthy' patients. But I found my nurses to be caring and sympathetic, hard working and knowledgeable and genuinely wanted to do a good job, do the right thing, and make me as comfortable as possible and for that I was so appreciative. I was there for so long and would get so board, that before long I knew all of their names, knew who had kids, where they lived, what they did for fun, what their hobbies were... The surgical unit nurses came by to see me in ICU after my surgery, to just say hi. Later the ICU nurses came by to see me on the surgical floor and I thought it was the nicest thing ever! Three months after the surgery, I had to go back to the hospital for a venogram for the day and was so excitted to go back to the ICU and surgical floor to visit the nurses and show them how well I was doing, thanks to them taking good care of me.

Again, I wish you the best and hope to hear of a great outcome from the surgery and hope your hospital stay is as good as it can be under the circumstances. Hang in there!!!