Surgery & Recovery

The Surgery

My mother-in-law flew in Thursday to be with L and me and I am so thankful that she was here.  Thursday night I spent the evening with my wonderful mom buying me comfy pj's and then stopping at my sisters house to meet her newest addition to the family, their new puppy, Sheldon.  I am so glad my mom dragged me out because it didn't give me any time to worry about the surgery, which up until this time I had been doing.  

I got a few hours of sleep and at 4:45am I was in the shower.  My mind was surprisingly calm the entire morning.  We got to the hospital at 5:30am and I was prepped and ready to roll by 6am.  In the back of my mind I was sort of hoping my pregnancy test would come back positive and I could put off this surgery but it came back negative and at 7:00am it was go time.  

I told the anesthesiologist my fears about being put under and how the two times I had been under they had a hard time getting me to wake up.  He was the chief anesthesiologist and assured me that I was going to be fine.  I stayed calm as they wheeled me back to the room and only remember the room being very white and very cold.  

I don't really even remember dropping off but when I woke there was no one around.  I tried to call out but my throat burned so all that came out was a gurgled moan.  The nurse rushed over and announced, "She's awake!"  By her tone I could tell it had taken awhile for me to come out of anesthesia.  I later found out it took four hours for me to come out and even the doctor was becoming quite concerned and had tried several things to get me awake and praise the Lord the last thing worked.  L was a wreck by the time they let him come back to see me.  I could tell by his face that he had been worried.  His eyes were teary and he kissed my forehead.  It was a sweet moment.

Recovery

I was released that afternoon about 2pm and that whole afternoon is a pain pill haze.  Thank goodness my doctor gave me the good stuff because I don't think I could've made that car ride home without a little help. 

Let me just say that I have been in pain for years.  I've learned to deal with it as best as I can so I can say that my pain tolerance is pretty high but good gosh does this hurt!

I've had several visitors and my mom gave me a beautiful card and an angel playing the flute (I used to play once upon a time.  Still love that instrument!) which makes me smile every time I look at it.  We have one of those beds that is adjustable and also vibrates and that has been a God send!  I raise it when I need to eat and can raise or lower it when I get uncomfortable. 

I had my one week check up on Thursday afternoon and the doc said I am healing nicely and walking better than most post-surgery patients.  What he doesn't know was I was pushing myself hard core and cried when I got in the car so full recovery is still a ways away.

Emotionally I still haven't dealt with everything.  I did have a full hysterectomy so I was put on hormones which L is thankful for because the hot flashes and mood swings are in full force.  We will most likely have to adjust my dosage but at this point something is better than nothing.

I will say that I am SO envious of everyone that can still work out.  I will not be able to again until mid-November which seems like forever away.  My eating has been awful with people coming over with fast food to help me out and the scale said I have gained 5lbs since I stopped exercising.  :(  I do feel very discouraged and bawled to L yesterday that I feel like such a failure but I know this is all happening for a reason.  I won't be able to finish the Flavialicious challenge which is a major bummer but I'm sure she will have another one and by that time I will be ready and nothing will stop me!

Until then I rest which surprisingly is one of the hardest things to do. ;)