An Energetic Look at Recovery From Surgery

Recovery from an anesthetic and surgery is a highly individualized experience. Some of the best advice is to instruct the patient to listen to your body. I cannot emphasize this enough. There is a quote by Edgar Cayce, in one of his readings:

Remember, healing--all healing comes from within. Yet there is the healing of the physical, there is the healing of the mental, there is the correct direction from the spirit. Coordinate these and you'll be whole! But to attempt to do a physical healing through the mental conditions is the misdirection of the spirit that prompts same . . . But when the law is coordinated, in spirit, in mind, in body, the entity is capable of fulfilling the purpose for which it enters a material or physical experience.

Reading 2528-2 Edgar Cayce

Here is an example of someone who doesn't get this point in a big way--a patient, a high-ranking official, scheduled himself for hernia repair surgery on a Saturday. The whole team came in on a non-surgery day just for him.

He let us know he had plans to attend a baseball game later in the afternoon.

'Good luck, buddy!' we said, thinking he had no clue about what he was in for as far as his recovery from surgery is concerned.

Mind over matter doesn't work while you are recovering from surgery. The fact is that you have been through a major healing experience that will have lasting effects physically, mentally, and energetically.

To guide you in your recovery, here is more detail about the post-operative healing process, both from Conventional Medicine and also what Reiki Doc adds:

Immediate Post Op Recovery (Day of surgery):


you can expect nausea and vomiting. Here are some risk factors:
female
non-smoker
motion sickness
prior episode of PONV
brow, breast, nose/throat surgery (drainage down throat irritates stomach)
laparoscopic surgery (insufflation of abdomen with carbon dioxide gas)
longer than three hours of general anesthesia
surgery on a large joint (knee, shoulder, hip)

here are some conventional remedies:
drugs to decrease nausea:
zofran, compazine, reglan, decadron, scopolamine patch, Emend (aprepitant),  phenergan, Tigan suppositories, diphenhydramine
half juice/half Sprite combo fluids
take pain pills with food
supplemental oxygen, either by face mask or nasal cannula

**any local anesthetics, pain medicine, and anti-emetics given in the OR will wear off 6-12 hours after surgery**

Reiki Doc advice:
self-Reiki on stomach and/or other surgical site
hydrate--aim is to have frequent, hourly urine output to keep nausea under control
Preggie Pops, lollipops made with herbs/flavors to fight morning sickness
ginger in any form you can tolerate ginger ale, crystalline ginger, ginger remedies sold OTC
homeopathic remedies--those sugar pellets you dissolve in your mouth
acupressure points on inside of wrist. There are magnetic bands for this.
Avoid TV, reading

Consider risk of interaction with narcotics and anesthesia before using medical marijuana or alcohol or other street drugs this is risky

Ibbuprofen, advil, other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, and aspirin increase risk of post-op surgical bleed that would require an emergency trip to the operating room to stop it.



POD 1:


goals are pain control, resolving atelectasis, preventing blood clots, removal of foley (urinary catheter)


here are some conventional remedies:
pain--stay ahead. Keep theraputic level in bloodstream of analgesic
itch-benadryl or nubain
ambulate (walk) as much as possible with assistance
OOB to chair (out of bed, again, with assistance)
Incentive spirometer, deep breathe and cough

**if you want to be discharged from the hospital, know that ladies need the 'lipstick sign' and men need to shave. Freshen up!**

Reiki Doc advice:
sunshine and fresh air
listen to body
self reiki
family support
rest
soothing music (I bought the entire series by Kauilapele music, six CD's of Hawaiian slack key guitar)


First Week after Surgery:


goals are pain control, first bowel movement, preventing pneumonia from atelectasis, preventing blood clots


here are some conventional remedies:
have help in house, have a driver to help with errands
Iron pills if high blood loss (warning, these can be binding)
stool softeners ( pain pills with prune chaser!)
chicken soup
switch to ibuprofen when surgeon approves, and get off narcotics. (kidney disease, omit this)
increase ambulation

**be very clear with your family and loved ones what your limits are. Once you 'are home' they may assume you are 'normal'. You are not, you are recovering from major surgery**

Reiki  Doc Advice:
Journal
cycles of activity then rest
nap
sunshine and fresh air
shower, get hair done--appearance more towards normal

unless given the okay by your surgeon, refrain from baths and driving a car at this time



Second Week after Surgery:


goal is to increase stamina back, to transition towards prior level of functioning


here are some conventional remedies:
cut back on pain meds
switch to NSAIDS if surgeon approves
cut back on naps
follow-up visit with surgeon
stitches out
continue increasing activity as tolerated; build stamina

**consider going to see a movie or taking short walks in the neighborhood to 'reconnect'**

Reiki Doc Advice:
Try short trips driving car if surgeon says it is okay
Meditate and allow for deeper healing (an energy worker did distance healing on me, and I released grief and loss from twenty-four years ago)
continue Journal, also be sure to look back at earlier entries
Plan for caregiver to exit, but be sure to keep things simple around the house yourself

be sure to allow yourself ample time to rest. Stop any activity when fatigue and pain set in.



Third and Fourth Weeks after Surgery:


there is a risk of depression at this point, one that is typically mild and self-limiting. If it lasts, seek professional help. There is frustration at this point in progress: it seems one-step forward, two-steps back.


here are some conventional remedies:
listen to your body
work with family, doctor to establish when to return to work
Upon return to work, expectation is to be at full capacity--think wisely on this
Disability is ended upon return to work. If tired and goes off work after, new phase starts ticking.

**you may be feeling 'back to normal' but know that you must be in top condition to resume all of your normal activities from before surgery**

Reiki Doc Advice:
this is your last chance to really assimilate all the healing and lessons from the illness
continue on your journal and reflection
give thanks to your body for its ability to heal
listen to your heart and higher self on what to do next

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

"Be the one that heals your patient"

Today I went out to breakfast with a new grad from college, working for my alma mater, who wanted to 'find out what alumni need from the school'.

On the drive over, I realized two things:
A) he wants money for the school
B) he needs someone to justify his job as a liason for the alumni office.

I gave him twenty minutes. A nice kid, really. Bought me my spinach wrap and grande French Roast at Starbucks. A literature major. With a job right out of school in this tough market!

He asked many questions about 'how I got to be where I am' and 'what I do'. I told him get a big cup of coffee because it's a long story! : )

I could tell that he and the alumni office knew more about me than they let on. A young guy instead of a girl contacting me. He mirrored and anchored with his body language, getting the same coffee I bought, same size. The market is crumbling and alumni offices are scrambling for ways to get money where there isn't much (the state, the alums, etc)

He shared about another anesthesiologist. Was like me, tired of the hours and the craziness. Went into pain practice because 'he wanted to be the one that heals the patient', not the surgeon.

That statement resonated with me, as clear as a bell.

We ALL heal the patient. Everyone from the clerk in admitting, to the one who rolls you in the wheelchair out the door.

I don't want to be the one that heals the patient. I want to be the one that wakes everybody up, and realizes their true gift of humanity. And this gift of humanity is what heals the patient. Every layer of it, applied with a smile, adds to the overall effect.

What did I do yesterday?

I checked my billing summaries for the past two years. There is an audit internal pending. Senior partner wants numbers to check for someone skimming off the pot. OB was slow. So I filed and crunched numbers till my mind got fuzzy.

Someone in terrible headache pain after post-dural puncture from labor epidural needed a blood patch in ER. Had been a very hard stick for good hands of my colleague. I started Reiki on the way to the ER. It worked. Got that sucker in, cured her. On the first try. I had two extra kits waiting, just in case.

An ASA 3 was in main OR. I gave dinner break. And Reiki. I felt the breast cancer, energetically, although we were working on something else. Balanced the chakras, gave the 'Happy Trails' transition symbol. Patient is gonna need it. Also got a Reiki request for another Reiki Master having surgery tomorrow. I sent it, programmed ahead like a DVR, to her for her surgery date. Took about three minutes.

I gave Reiki, as a continuous source of Reiki, with a patient on L&D who was clearly not normal mentally. Anxiety or something organic (of the brain). Very frightened primip with NO husband in sight. Highly educated. Technically a challenge due to the ligamentous structure and also patient moving away from needle. Drove me crazy but I chose to do my job with a smile until time to go home. Woke me up often through the night. Said, "I need my OB! He needs to get up out of bed, brush his teeth, kiss his wife goodbye and come right here to me!" at four in the morning. Yes. Right. For someone not complete and a very high station. That's not gonna happen. LOL

Also last night, I sent Reiki to my son. He is with his father, who does not let me speak to him on overnights. Dad is on best behavior currently. He knows I am alert about what happened. Funny, Grandpa whose policy was 'hit first and ask questions later' with disciplining his son, and happens to work FOR THE COUNTY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, looked at me with new respect last time I saw him. I am not gonna play that game. The one you know is not to be played in 2011. Yes you!

Reiki is truth. Reiki is compassion. Reiki is an end to suffering. Many Reiki people go vegetarian or vegan, partly because of the principles, but mainly because the terror in the animals is felt when consuming their meat, eggs, milk. I've compromised, and buy only organic, free-range, antibiotic free, happy everything. I spent $3.50 on a can of organic corn. Why? because it is RARE to get corn that is not GMO. The seeds are all GMO. I want to support the non-GMO seedline.

Reiki let me stand up to someone who was hurting a child. Reiki helps me stand firm and grounded when someone crazy, possibly full of dark entities, is abusing the system and calling on nursing and anesthesia way too much during labor. Reiki lets me trust that all is well. All is going to be okay.

In healing the patient, we are the ones who are healed ourselves.

We are one.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc