This is not so bad

I've been back at the hotel for 3 days now and I can report that all is going well.  The pain is very managable.  In fact, I don't take any pain meds during the day at all.  I do take a extra strength Tylenol with my Melatonin before bed but that's mostly for my back.  I have to sleep on my back and this causes me lower back discomfort.  On Tuesday, Dr Sauceda cleared me to do some walking.  I immediately set out for the HEB to buy some food.  Thinking in Pesos is hard.  I had thoughts of just handing the cashier a wad of them and saying, "Tome lo que le debo." (take what I owe).  I ended up spending a little over 250 Pesos (20 bucks) mainly splurging on fruit.

The days are uneventful.  I spend my time online either updating Facebook or ObesityHelp.com.  I've got plenty time to read.  I even fired up an SNES emulator on my laptop.  I keep in touch back home either on my phone (mainly for mom and my friends) or webcam (my girlfriend Dody).  I explored the area around the hotel and took some photos - great mountain views.  Each morning nurse Patty comes by and puts on new gauze and helps me into my compression garment.  The first day she also had to get me out of my garment, take off all the old gauze, help me shower, wash the old garment.  Today, I was able to have all that done so she only had to "regauze" me.  She's a real sweetheart.

Dr. Sauceda is having me keep record of the fluid in the drains.  He's thnks by Friday I should have some coming out.  Of the six, I only had two above 20 cc yesterday and one was lower than 10 cc.  They are probably the most bothersome part of this whole ordeal.  They are a pain to try and sleep with.  You have to constantly watch for the arm tubes and make sure they aren't catching on anything.  The other four tubes are mostly in the same place (groin area) but they can get in the way too.  A lanyard is a much needed piece of equipment.  Don't forget yours if you're having plastic surgery.  By accident, I bought one with a detachable ring.  This purchase turned out to be a happy accident.  It's very nice to be able to detach the four drains on the lanyard without having to stress my arms pulling it over my head.

Until next post, I'll keep on relaxing and healing
Mark