not quite ready..

I had my post op appointment yesterday morning. The doctor said things are coming along with my incision, but based on how I'm feeling (still needing to take vicodin on a regular basis, can't stay in the same position for more than a few minutes, and having sharp shooting pain by the late afternoon) that she wanted to keep me out of work for a little while longer. She extended my leave until next Monday which is a bank holiday, so I'll be back on Tuesday.

I was able to kind of find out the next steps, and more about what to expect going forward. I really hope this helps with the monthly pain and discomfort and I can have more "good days" in a month.

When did it become October already!

Wow, October hit when I was down and out I guess.

I think I'm improving, but it's hard to be sure really. I'm spending a LOT more time sitting/lying down. The less I move, the less I battle with that bothersome pain. However much I rest during the day though, by the time late afternoon/evening hits, I'm in quite a bit of pain. So I usually Vicodin up before I shower and head to bed. But I'm sleeping in bed now and having memorable dreams again so I think those are a step in the right direction.

I'm really anxious to go to my post op and find out what they think/say about everything, and whether I'm ready to be back to work or not. I tend to be a worry wart so I stress out about seeing small bits of blood on my clothes from the incision, and wonder if my stomach looks bloated or if I just got fatter. ....*sigh*....

Blaaaah

Last night I started having a burning/stabbing pain in my lower abdomen. The incision seems fine, but it's something internal. Most likely it's from a) overdoing it and b) sneezing and coughing. I took some leftover pain pills that Shawn had lying around from when his back went out so I could get some sleep. I called my doctors office this morning to see what they thought.

The nurse assistant Kelli called me back. After telling her about symptoms and feelings, she thinks it's probably not a huge concern. With abdominal surgery, there's can be a lot of settling and changes. They called in another Vicodin Prescription for me, and told me to take it easy and update them tomorrow.

I've got a stack of books, and my laptop/netflix queue ready to go! Wish me luck :)

Update

I'm starting feel more human-ish so I thought I'd update my blog about how surgery (and recovery) have been going. Forgive me if I fall asleep mid-update :p

I checked into the hospital last Wednesday morning. They got me into a room and changed pretty quickly and then we waited for all the pre-stuff. I was "lucky" enough to get a newbie assigned to me. She was really really nervous and kept dropping stuff and forgetting paperwork. At one point she dropped all the stuff from the IV packet and then went to start putting it in my arm. We all went "ummm--maybe you should get a new one huh?". She kinda did this pokey thing in my left arm and went fishing for my brain I think. She said it was for a vein, but I don't know about all that. She tried for entirely too long, made me bleed and hurt and then finally gave in and called in someone else. Before too long they wheeled me in. Last time I had surgery, I remember they kinda prepared me for being knocked out, but here they just BOOM shut me out.

When I woke up I was in cuhh-raaaazy amounts of pain. I wasn't breathing through my nose tube properly (cuz um OW, where are mah pills!), and really just had to calm down. Shawn and his dad told me bits about how surgery went. Everything went smoothly, they removed the fibroid, and didn't see any other complications while they were in there. I was schedule for an overnight stay, so they wheeled in another hospital bed so Shawn could sleep in there. His dad slept in the recliner. A nurse came in and checked on me every few hours to take stats and give pain killers. They took my catheder out sometime during the night and made me get up and walk around.

In the morning I was able to "do my business" satisfactorily so I was clear for discharge. Since I've been home I've been feeling a little less pain every day. I slept through the first day on the couch recliner, but started becoming more and more mobile. I'm done with the big happy pain pills now, and felt pretty good for a few days. I had a cold or allergies hit on Sunday and ever since then I've started to feel worse instead of better :(

I've had some awesome friends come by to check on me. My friend Leigh and her two kiddos came by on Saturday to drop off some snacks and gossip mags, and my friend Janna came over on Monday and brought a bag o goodies (magazines, movies and books) plus dinner and we got to chat for a few hours. Hopefully I'll keep myself sane enough and withstand the draw to overwork myself for something to do.

Thanks for all your loving, thoughtful comments!

p.s. Paul-no people pictures on this post on account of me looking like leftover washed out trash. The flowers though were a get well gift from my boyfriend's Dad :)

Today is the Day!

I'm part excited, part nervous, part relieved, and part nauseous that my surgery day is finally here. I'm really glad I have an awesome doctor/surgeon, and that her staff has really helped baby step me through all of this. I ask a LOT of questions, lol.

Funny thing about last time I had surgery-my thoughts going into surgery were "Shoot, I forgot my leftovers and water bottle at work" and "I sure hope I don't fart while I'm asleep, my anesthesiologist is pretty hot." That stuff carries over through all the loopy drugs apparently, because when I woke up I would not STOP insisting we go pick up my leftovers and water bottle (like 37 times), and kept asking if I'd farted/pooped during surgery. My DH kept trying to shush me up (esp about the bodily functions to prevent my embarassment), lol. Who knows what will come out of my mouth this time around!

My wonderful, sweet boyfriend Shawn will be there with me as well as his Dad who is in town from Kentucky. Bailey will be thinking about me all emo and depressedly at home. Plenty of prayers and good thoughts for me. To quote Allstate--"You're in Good Hands."

Adios!