Assuming this whole topic is NSFW.

I’m currently recovering at Gyōtoku General Hospital in Ichikawa, Japan after surgery with Dr Sakurai. Here’s how it went down so far.

Thursday PM: checked in to the hospital, changed into patient clothes. Lots of people came by the room with paperwork, explanations, blood tests etc. They clearly explain everything that’s going to happen. Dinner in room, no food or fluids after midnight.

Friday: up at 6, given some oral rehydration pouches to drink. Get changed into surgery wear. Surgeon, nurses etc visit in case I have any final questions. Walk down to the theater at 9:30, name check, teeth OK, no allergies, right? Then I’m led into the operating room and lie down on the table. That’s probably the scariest part, surrounded by all the strange equipment. I get an oxygen mask. Anesthetist inserts a drip with some painkillers and then the general anaesthetic. Last thing I remember is thinking, hey, this stuff does hurt a bit going in, guess that’s why they gave me painkillers. Then I woke up about five hours later as they’re carting me back to my room. Pretty groggy for a few hours, but I was able to sit up and drink water that evening. They put me in some massage socks which were pretty nice.

Saturday: breakfast. Tried standing up, which made me a bit dizzy. After lunch I could walk around the room. Two drains, a catheter and drips to cart around though. Painkillers are effective.

Sunday: wandered around the hospital floor a bit to find coffee. Healing well, apparently, but I haven’t seen the results for myself yet. I get occasional sensation (other than general pain) that’s hard to interpret. Now bored and posting here. Should get the dressing changed tomorrow, and hopefully the drains taken out as well. Total stay is scheduled to be two weeks.

So, ask me any questions if you have them or share your thoughts. I’ll post updates in the comments as I have them.

  • Murse@slrpnk.netEnglish
    29·
    2 days ago

    Rule of thumb for the next several weeks: you are only about 30% as good as you feel. The other 70 is the drugs lying to you. So, take it easy. ^_^

  • Jul@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    12·
    2 days ago

    Wow, 2 weeks stay. In the US insurance only allows 2 nights. I had to pay for an AirBnB for the other 3 weeks before I could head back to my home city. And the hospital charged about $20,000 for that stay alone, the total charges for surgery and stay were about $200,000. Though insurance only paid a fraction of that and I was responsible for a few thousand plus about $4000 for the AirBnB. It’s always disheartening to see how poor our medical system is, especially since the politicians constantly insist that socialized medicine would mean less access to care. How can there be less care than allowing corporations to save money by cutting care.

    Anyway, congrats. I’m still on the recovery road after a year and revision surgery coming up next month, but I’m so much happier even with all of that.

    • Amy@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      8·
      2 days ago

      Wow, those are crazy prices - and I’m paying out-of-pocket for mine. Good luck with your revision!

    • Amy@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      12·
      2 days ago

      I do! (I was also puzzled by the question)

      It’s because they put in a breathing tube when you’re under, and people with bad teeth have had them accidentally knocked out in the past. Japan has subsidized dental and still people don’t go…

      • Murse@slrpnk.netEnglish
        9·
        2 days ago

        people with bad teeth have had them accidentally knocked out in the past.

        That’s actually more common than you would expect. Intubation is one of the parts that can from zero to shitstorm in kind of a hurry, and longer you go without an airway, the less your anesthesiologist gives a shit about things like teeth - they’re an obstacle, and if they need to brute-force their way past them, they sure as fuck will.

        Normal population won’t have much issue with this - it’s more difficult airway (like severe obesity making the whole oral airway semi-occluded by default) + decades of dental neglect or like meth deterioration.

        But it happens often enough that “Any loose teeth?” is something that literally everyone gets asked prior to general anesthesia.

      • queerlilhayseed@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        8·
        2 days ago

        Oh cool, thanks!

        I was going to make a snarky comment about US healthcare, but I’ve never been intubated for a surgery though I have been put under for them. For all I know it’s a standard pre-op question here too.

        Hope your recovery is smooth and brief!

        P.S. Speaking of smooth and brief, I have a rather personal question, if you don’t mind sharing: What will your pubic hair situation be post-surgery? Was that part of the before discussion at all?

        If that’s too much I understand, but it is something I’ve thought about when weighing going for surgery.

        • Amy@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
          3·
          2 days ago

          I had electrolysis to remove all hair from the genitals themselves plus a small border, but left everything else. So the end result will probably be technically a bit tidier than what would be there naturally, but not so much less that you’d notice.

          Or did you mean just regular shaving? Which I assume they did while I was under.

            • toynbee@piefed.socialEnglish
              4·
              2 days ago

              For a different surgery but in a similar area, I recently (almost six months ago, though it doesn’t feel like it) had surgery. They didn’t object to my body hair at all but did ask me not to use deodorant the morning preceding.

            • Amy@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
              4·
              2 days ago

              It depends on the surgeon. Some say they will remove the follicles during surgery, in which case you don’t need to bother (assuming they really do remove all of them). Otherwise, yes, you’ll need to do hair removal or face hair growing where you very much don’t want it to - and it’s much harder to deal with at that point.

    • spudsrus@aussie.zoneEnglish
      6·
      2 days ago

      It’s a pretty standard pre op question for anything here in Australia too.

      Even for twilight sedation stuff, if there’s going to be anything in your mouth they ask