Saturday, March 20, 2010

Accidental Overdose Oh My!

So, Day 5 was good (except for one thing, which I'll get to in a minute).  I feel pretty good.  Just a little sore in my abdominal muscles and that's it.  I'm able to get up and move around pretty easily.  I took shower #2 this morning.  Afterwards, I took off my bandages.  I still have butterflies on the incisions and I'll leave those alone for now.  After my shower, I decided to do the dishes and vacuum the livingroom. I was tired and sore after all that activity.  So when my hubby got home from work I decided I was going to take a little pain medicine before bed.  (I hadn't had any since the previous afternoon)  I usually take two syringes full which adds up to 20 ml.  I can have 15-30ml.  Well, my syringes were in the dishwasher so I decided to use a Nyquil medicine cup.  It didn't have mls on it just teaspoons and tablespoons.  I could have sworn my syringes said they held 2 tablespoons each.  So I came to the conclusion that I needed 2 full cups of medicine, adding up to 4 tablespoons (since I thought I'd been taking two, 2 tablespoon syringes full)  Well, AFTER I swallowed down my 4 tablespooons, I then decided to open the dishwasher and look at the syringes.  To my horror, they held 2 TEASPOONS EACH!!!  I took TWICE the maximum amount I was allowed!  I freaked out.  I went into the livingroom and told Mike I had overdosed.  He was worried about the Tylenol content in the medicine because it can really mess up your liver and I was worried about the narcotic content because I didn't want to stop breathing!  He called our good friend who is a RN and he said yes, it was a hefty dose, but I should be fine.  He called the pharmacy too and double checked.  I had a mini panic attack.  I felt like I couldn't breathe but then I engrossed myself in old sit-coms on tv and tried to keep my mind off of it.  I purposely kept myself awake even though I was soooo tired.  At 2 hours out, I relaxed and knew I was going to be ok.

I don't think I'll be taking anymore pain meds.  That scared the crap out of me!  Speaking of crap, I finally had a BM (sorry)  but it's been almost a week and a half, or longer.  As far as food goes, I've had pudding, applesauce, tomato soup (mmmmm good!) and a banana.  Not all in one day, lol, but those are the food items I've had this week.  I was a little nervous about the banana today but it went down fine.

We're having a huge snow storm right now here in Kansas City.  Which is totally rediculous!  My husband just told me we're talking this opportunity to go to Walmart.  I was like, "in a snowstorm in the middle of the night!!??"  and he said, "what better time to go to Walmart?"  LOL!  So true.

I can't wait until Monday when I can have mashed potatoes.  I'm pretty sick of sweet stuff.  I want some real wholesome food.  Someone mentioned Mashed potatoes and meatloaf...OMG I WANT THAT!!!

*I forgot to mention, I haven't lost any weight.  But I'm not too worried.  I haven't been doing hardly activity, just mainly resting and I'm only consuming around 500- 600 calories a day.  So I'm sure my body is in shock.  I think when I go back to work Tuesday, things will get more normal.*

9 comments:

Jacquie said...

That was very scary with the meds! I am very happy it was nothing! Sounds like you are definately on the mend Ashli! I'm so excited for you! Off to Mexico on Monday for Wed. surgery! WooHoo

Jenny said...

Glad to see you're feeling better! I'm sure that your weight will start to drop soon, I would think that your body is in shock too.

Have a great weekend!

CC said...

wow, scary with the pain meds! that is one of the reasons why i didn't take any of the narcotics, just the liquid tylenol!
and moving to mashed potatoes and non sweet stuff was HEAVEN for me!! there are instant mashed taters that are only 80 calories per serving and are pretty good!!

♥ Drazil ♥ said...

See? You love to talk about BMs too! LOL Now quit vaccuuming and rest you little shrinking twirp or I will come there and sit on you until you lay down. I'm warning you....and mmmmmm mashed taters....yummo!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you are coming along fine and doing so much better. Don't worry about the lack of weight loss at this point, once you start to move around and (drink your water, I know - its hard, I'm not good at that either), the weight will come off. Have patience! Hang in there. Good things are about to happen!

Gilly said...

Yikes! Scary! I'm glad it all turned out ok. Don't worry about the weight...in a week or 2 it will work itself out.

Cathy said...

Mashed potatoes are f***ing heaven when all you've had to eat are liquids, shakes, and soups. If you add a teaspoon of fat free or light sour cream with a teaspoon of shredded cheddar cheese and just a tad bit of light margarine, you'll feel like you've died and gone to heaven. You can also try the instant sweet mashed potatoes with some cinnamon, Splenda, and a little bit of margarine. It is like eating a yummy dessert! I'll have to give you my recipe for fat free pumpkin mousse. It is heaven!

Scary about the overdose! I did the same thing after my gallbladder surgery. My husband was at work and I was at home with the kids. I accidentally took double the dose and I woke up hours later in a cold sweat. My pulse was only 40! I swore I would never take pain meds again! It is so easy to mix up tsp and tbsp.

Glad you are feeling better. As for the weight loss, it is not uncommon to not lose or even actually gain right after surgery. They pump you full of IV fluids and it can take a couple of weeks to get rid of all that. Drinking lots of fluids will help for sure.

Janelle said...

Don't worry about weight loss right now, you're body is healing. Don't do too much activity either, I read on someone else's blog that they did too much activity while they were healing and the port moved or something like that... so be careful and just relax! You just had surgery! Make the hubby do some chores :P

Steph said...

Sorry to hear about the medicine mixup, but glad to hear everything is ok. Like everyone else said, don't worry about the scale not budging...you're healing and it will move. It just can take a while and everyone is different. One day you will wake up and be like, "Holy Cow, I lost 3 lbs!". Take it easy on the housework...let hubby do it!!! :) Not to often do we have a bonifide excuse to be slackers and be waited on hand and foot! Feel better soon!