After eating lunch and resting for a bit, my husband, Nathan, decides we’ll attempt to get this shower done. I am still struggling to walk and have to have assistance to do so. I still cannot do much of anything by myself. He gets everything ready and then him and the nurses aide assists me into the bathroom. She was very nice and could’ve ran circles around the nursing staff. She wanted to assist with my shower because she was afraid I would fall. I asked that she let Nathan do it. I was already embarrassed that I couldn’t do this, or anything else for that matter, by myself. She said ok, but only if we left the door cracked so she could stand outside and come in if we needed her. There was a shower chair in the shower. Never in my wildest nightmare would I have imagined I would be using a shower chair at my age, but here we were. There was no other possible way to get this done, but to use the shower chair. Nathan turns the water on and accidentally squirts me with freezing cold water which made me want to cry. I’ve never been a fan of cold, but since being diagnosed with CRPS it’s more of a loathe that I have. He starts washing me and I’m really not much help at all. I cannot lift my arms much at all, I can’t even begin to describe the pain and stiffness of my entire body. We absolutely flood the bathroom, we had water all over the place! The nurses aide would occasionally yell in to ask if we were ok. I’m surprised she didn’t get wet from the door being cracked! We get done with the shower, Nathan puts my deodorant on by lifting my arms himself. I am exhausted by the end of the shower, but my hair still needs brushed. At this point, I have very long hair. I get assisted to the bed and sit on the edge for Nathan to brush my hair. I tell nurses aide that my surgeon said this would make me feel better, but this didn’t happen at all! I only felt worse and was now so nauseated! They asked if I wanted anything for the nausea, but I told them I just wanted to go back to sleep.
I get woken up from my nap by dietary bringing in my dinner tray. I immediately start to feel sick from the smell and thought of food. I put on my light to get some Zofran for my nausea. At this point, I had had all sorts of different pain medications trying to get my pain under control but nothing could touch it, I’m sure all the meds contributed to my nausea. I still remained hesitant to say my pain was 10! I know this is crazy, but at the time I was so embarrassed! I couldn’t do anything by myself, I was supposed to already be home and here I sit complaining of horrible pain and not even being able to walk on my own! How could taking out one rib cause me to feel like this?
Ami’s Journey 