Sharin' About Sharon: Vol. III

Girlfriend wants a milkshake. And a cheeseburger. I guess after not eating for two and a half days her body is yearning for the quick protein--vegetarian or no. They did take her off the morphine pump yesterday morning and tossed her a mercy Percocet. She was fine with this until she started walking. Two short trips and by 4:00 she was begging for the morphine again.

I personally think that the main reason they wanted her off morphine less than 12 hours after a major abdominal surgery has little to do with highminded goals like 'preventing addiction' . One of the less talked-about side effects of momo is 'decreased gastric motility'. If you can't discharge your patient until they've moved their bowels (which is a must after surgery), then why give them something that will slow that process down? The generally-accepted standard hospital stay for the type of surgery she has had is 6 days. They seem to want her out of there by Thursday. That's three days. She says she's okay with that because she wants to see her dog. I guess it's good that she can look at the bright side.