Recovery

I was all excited about getting home from the hospital and then before I knew it, I was wishing I was back there! Crazy I know but Friday mid-night, I started getting nauseous and that lasted through Saturday around lunch. DH persuaded me to call Dr. H and he called us back and took me off the Percoset b.c that was causing me to be sick. Thank the heavens I never actually threw up, but man, it was disturbing. So I was satisfied with that feeling going away but then the pain came on. From last night threw this morning, I was pretty miserable with the pain. Before, you can move around (slowly) and not have it kill you b.c the pain is subsided with the pain killers. But once those pain killers are out of your system, OUCH! Every inch I moved hurt and it got real old, real fast. So I called back and Dr. said we could try another pain killer or reduce the amount of the percoset. I decided since I hadn't thrown up, I would try reducing the amount of the percoset. It worked:) Now I am better but still achy and crabby at times but MUCH better than earlier today. 

For those wondering what it is like 4 days after surgery: Still slow to sit up, no BM yet but gas is moving more, need help getting up, still slow walking, sore, back muscles KILL (Heating pad helps), scar is looking good, still a little swollen around scar (Friday, I had retained so much water from IV that my feet and hands, along with areas around scar were sooo swollen), my color is pretty much all back, that is all I can think of right now...

Dh and dad left Omaha and headed home today:( Mom and I have been lying around watching Hallmark movies all day...ALL DAY! There isn't much you can do after surgery! ha. I couldn't blog b.c I was trying to keep this icepack on my tummy and it was uncomfortable to reach over to type. I have been getting up to go to bathroom, with mom following me bc she is so nervous I am going to get dizzy, and on the way back from the bathroom have been stopping by the freezer for TCBY White Chocolate Moose :) Thank you Mary! Gotta love that! Mary also contacted a priest that was friends of her husband's grandpa and he came to bring me communion today...sweet:) I was supposed to see Brenda (Hebrews) last night but because I was feeling like poo, I had to cancel and I didn't get to see her:( 

Ohhhh, duh. Forgot some other important things. Auburn beat Alabama...BOO. But the good thing about it being on Friday was that dh couldn't be upset b.c I got to come home from hospital and he had to act nice and not mad about game:) haha. Any other day he would have been TOed (ticked off) but be did well. Notre Dame beat USC....WOOOHOO! Go irish:) Way to step it up after a poor start to the season boys!

Just wrapped up dinner and watching Princess Diaries 2 with my mom...haha...wow to the cheesy movie day! Have 40 more minutes till I can take another Percoset and man am I ready. I'm getting really grouchy now. Tomorrow at 11:30 is my follow up with Dr. H. I will be posting for sure to inform you ladies all about what he has to say. I was happy to read about all of your Thanksgivings:) I really enjoyed my turkey broth for all of you. And last but not least, I got in all those prayers for you fine gals:) I love praying for you, especially because it makes our Lord so happy!

Hugs to all and to all a good night:) Percoset...here I come:)

P.S. SOOO excited for AYWH:) He is beautiful!!! I'm a little behind with this whole surgery thing.
P.P.S. SOOO excited about my prayer buddy:) I can't wait to spoil you with prayers and little happies!:)

Well, I finally....

Tooted!!! They told me I couldn't start eating normal foods until I passed gas....well, bring the food on people b.c this woman has done the deed you wanted her to do! I find it highly entertaining that I now broadcast info about my toots with others. Before this whole experience, I had never tooted in front of dh. Actually, that is a lie. This past summer we were out on the end of the pier drinking coffee one morning when all of a sudden I TOOTED! agh. Having never done that in front of him before, I was stunned. He immediately said "You just farted!!" Of course I argued, NO I DIDN'T!! Then he stood up and did this little dance thing saying "B just farted, B just farted!" He was laughing too. He thought I would start laughing but instead I did the opposite...I started crying...hahaha. Yes I did. I started crying b.c I was so embarrassed. Then dh felt bad and had to come hug me. Anyway, so now you know even more about my toots! haha.

Since we are on the subject, let's get to know each other more! haha. (Yes, I am on pain pills so this isn't all me talking here...I have had some random comments and thoughts going through this brain of mine) What do you (or your fam) call a toot? We always said tooted...fart was a word that was not allowed to be used in my house of 6 kids and if so, we got our teeth brushed with soap. ugh. My little cousins always called it a woofy. "Mom, I just woofied!" haha.

Ok, enough about toots and more about surgery/recovery. Everything went really smoothly, praise the heavens. Dr. H told us that on a scale from 1 to 10, my surgery was a 10+. He said it went perfectly. Is it weird that I wasn't nervous at all going into surgery? I had complete trust in God and in Dr. H that I didn't have any anxiety about it whatsoever. That was an answered prayer so thank you Jesus. I actually did better waking up out of this surgery than the laprascopic a few weeks ago. Don't ask me why but I was awake in the recovery room, talking to the nurses, asking questions, etc. The worst part was when I got all settled in my room. The dumb catheter was killing me. I would say that was the worst part for me. I don't know of it was in wrong or if my body just didn't like it or if it was pressing on my bladder, but it was so uncomfortable that I was crying away. Finally after about 2 hours of hoping my pain would subside with painkillers, the nurse talked to Dr. H. They told me if I could walk to the toilet then they could take it out. WELL HELL YEAH, so this woman got her sore booty out of bed and made myself walk to the toilet. The whole process took, I swear, 20 minutes just to get there but I did it! And since that thing has been out of me, I have been much better. My incision is about 10 inches...it looks like a big smile with my belly button as the nose...and my boobs as the eyes...haha! LOL. Seriously!

On Wednesday, the day I got my catheter out, I also got my IV out too. My IV was backing up and causing problems so my arm was swelling. (I think I knocked it in the middle of the night)  It got to be very uncomfortable. As much as I wanted the morphine, I couldn't stand the IV so they took that out too. And I sure as heck didn't want to have another IV put it...I'm a wuss. So, I have been on Percocet & Motrin to help with the pain.

Make sure if you are going to have to have this surgery that you get these two things: 1) heating pad for your back (your back hurts from compensating) and 2) a belly band (not sure the exact name but it wraps around your stomach and back and keeps everything stationary. It works wonders) Getting out of bed and standing up is very difficult, but that is expected. .Also, sitting down on toilet is painful too. It is still difficult to teetee but it is coming easier as the days go by. It does take forever though. Yesterday I got up 4 or 5 times to go to bathroom and walked the halls slowly. Trying to get everything moving. I would say that yesterday was my worst day. They say that the 3rd day is usually the worst and I would say that was the case for me. They were going to let me go home yesterday if I ate two meals and kept them down. Well, I did that, but my DH and I felt that my body was not  ready to get up and get moving to go back to the house. Plus, the hospital bed moves up and down is very helpful in sitting up to get out of bed. So not having that at home yesterday would have been difficult. Not to mention the fact that I have to walk 12 stairs to get up to bedroom in the rental house and I knew yesterday that would have been difficult. I am already feeling much better with just one more night in the hospital, so I know we made the right decision. I am always one to to be on the go and sometimes do more than I should, and so I am glad that I made the decision to stay. I'm feeling much better this morning having stayed.

Overall, my experience here at Creighton has been wonderful. I could go on and on about these sweet nurses. They are just fabulous. Right now we are waiting for the dr. to come in an clear me and then we get to go home. Sweet DH is ready to sleep in the comfy bed at the rental house tonight. I told him to stay there at least one night and give himself a break, but he didn't feel comfortable leaving me in the room overnight by myself...sweet one. So, we should be out right in time to make it home for the Alabama v. Auburn game...it's a big deal for us! Roll Tide Roll:)

And last but not least, thank you Mary (Screllos) and Brenda (Hebrews) for keeping all the bloggers informed about me. I can't express enough how much your support has meant to me throughout this time. I have all these nurses up here wanting a fart shit. So not only did you bring humor to me and my family, but to all the nurses too! You two rock!

P.S. 
1.Did I mention that my butt feels as if it has been flattened?? Seriously! I have been on my back for over 3 days now and I feel that butt fat has now moved outwards to the sides of my legs. Weird feeling. 
2. I am swollen everywhere...especially my legs and feet. You can't even see my ankle bones. I'm assuming this is going to go away the more I get up and around. Those who have had this surgery, did you experience this??


Oh and these pain pills make me say/think awkward things at times so forgive me if this blog makes no sense!

Off to eat hospital grits:) Hugs and thank you all soooo much for your prayers...I felt them all around me. I meet with Dr. H on Monday so if I don't post before then, I will be sure to post info from our meeting.

Blessings:)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling...

...Fart shirt?
hahahaha. (If you don't know about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, this might not be as funny to you...my husband had no idea what I was talking about ;))

This is Mary/Screllos posting for "A" tonight again...She asked me to post a picture for her. ;) Inspired by this post and also by the fact that she needs to "toot"/"fart" before she is allowed to eat and go home from the hospital, I decided to make a t-shirt for her. Here it is:

Maybe it'll help get things "moving." haha. (FYI I don't even ever say the word "fart"...wasn't allowed in my house growing up haha...but it's so funny now, in these circumstances! :-D)

She's looking really good...first of all, she's a super cute person anyway, but second, she looks AMAZING for having just had surgery. I don't look that good when I wake up on a regular morning. No joke.... And she's feeling pretty good, too...But she was so hungry! I felt bad for her because she wanted to eat (something other than chicken broth and popsicles) so bad but she has to toot first!

She is also HILARIOUS! She said she'd have to send the t-shirt for my surgery and if Brenda ever has to (hopefully not!!!) have surgery again, and other bloggers, she'd send it to them...and then that's when she said "Like the sisterhood of the traveling fart shirt." Oh man. I could die laughing again right now! hahaha. So funny!!!
She also said to the nurse, when talking about how she really wanted to eat "So, basically, I have to starve until I toot."

Are you laughing yet? If not, I'm worried about you! haha.

We all showed each other our surgery scars...it's like our IF surgery scars bond us together forever...oh that and the fart shirt... ;)
I am very happy and relieved after seeing her tonight - thanks to everyone for your continued prayers!

Hopefully I didn't forget anything I should have shared! :) Gnite and Happy Thanksgiving!

WOO HOO YA'LL! Surgery success! ;)

Hi everyone! It's Mary (aka "Screllos") posting for Awaiting aka 'A' (I'll call her A and her husband B like she always calls him here :)) with a surgery update!

Just heard from B and he said Dr H came out to the waiting room and said "the surgery was a 10 on a scale from 1 to 10." PERFECT! He removed all the endometriosis and the wedge resection went smoothly too! WAHOO! I can't tell you how relieved and excited I was when I got this phone call! And B is so adorable, he said "okay, now you can go share with the blog world!" heehee ;) He knows us all too well already, doesn't he? 

While I am "hacked in" to her blog ;) I have to say right here for all of you: A and her family are some of the sweetest most amazing people in the world. I had the privilege of meeting her hubby and parents yesterday and I just want to keep them here SO BADLY!!! Just want to hug em all and hold em close forever! 

So as you're reading this blog, in case you didn't know this already, you can be sure that you're reading the blog of someone really, really wonderful. 

So anyway :)... So far so good! - Let's keep praying that things continue to be "10 out of 10!" as she recovers... and help get this wonderful family all set for a joyful 2011! 

Omaha/Pre-op

Hello! We are here in our wonderful cozy house on this chilly day in Omaha. I think the high is 36...way different than in Mobile where it was 73 when we left. One extreme to another! So the house is all that we expected and more. It is so darn cute. Their taste is modern, which is not my taste, but I like it! Our bed is actually more comfortable than our bed at home...how is that possible! Dh and I both plan on figuring out the details of the mattress...haha. They even have 2 bikes in the garage...damn! I won't be using that this week obviously but I could have definitely used them the last time we were out here for those 2 weeks. I LOVE to bike! My other favorite thing is our shower is HUGE...like a closet, I swear, and the shower head is the width of a basketball so the water covers your entire body....as oppose to a small shower head that you have to keep turning to keep body parts warm! haha. Oh the small things in life! The windows have these cool shades where you can see out but they can see in...You can kinda see in on the bottom floors but you can't see in upstairs. I made dh go outside and look up while I danced in the window to see if he could see me....nope! haha. Crazy me, I know. But I wanted to make sure people couldn't look in and see us changing, dancing, etc. haha. That would be quiet disturbing!

I have my preop today at 10:30. I'm a little jittery..more nervous about this surgery than I was the last. BUT I am going to try and keep my cool and just chill. It's all in God's hands....not mine or Dr. H's! 

I'm not really sure how I am going to be over these next few days but when I am awake and alert, I have a plan. I am going to be praying for each of you. Here is what I want you to do....post on this blog post what you want me to pray for and when I am finally back to reality, I will check the post from my phone and say a prayer for each of you. I might not be able to do it all at one time, but I WILL pray for each of you individually. If you don't feel comfortable posting something, then just put special intention and I will take it from there. 

Surgery is in the morning. Mary (The Screllos) offered to be in touch with dh and she will post on my blog updates after my surgery tomorrow. All I ask is that in the morning when you wake up, say a little pray for me and Dr. H! Please:) Thank you:)

HUGS around all of your necks. Smile:)

Heylo!

So I have missed posting to all you fine ladies:) With being out in Omaha those two weeks, I was able to keep in touch daily. Now though that I have been back to the real world, I have been catching up on what my sub did when I was gone, and also preparing for the sub that will be taking over for the next 4 weeks. LIFE is CRAZY! ha. I am so A type when it comes to planning and directing my classroom that the idea of someone else doing it kinda works my mind. BUT, I have decided to chill.

A few days before I left last time for Omaha, I got so bent out of shape and stressed about prepping for my sub that I got sick...literally. My body started to shut down from the stress and my back and neck muscles tighten up so bad that I could barely move. I had to pay for a massage to work my knots out b.c they were bringing me to tears. (I have bad history with pinched nerves and knots) To some this might sound relaxing but it wasn't even close to relaxing...she was working my knots out...it was that good kind of pain with every rub. Anyway, I decided that I couldn't go through this again with this upcoming sub. I'm chilling out:) They will survive without me!

Monday was CD 1. Isn't it funny how some months you want your period to come and then other months your hoping it doesn't?! haha. This month, I obviously wanted it to come. We didn't want to be pregnant now, knowing I couldn't carry the baby. It's funny because when we were trying, I feel like my life was uber stressed out. Then, with these past 5 months of not trying and waiting on our appt with Dr. H, I was 10x less stressed out. So, my goal for my upcoming months of trying after surgery is to LET GO AND LET GOD! I have already started praying for this and you can join in with me please:) I don't want my life to become crazy. I don't want to call dh telling him that he has to rush home b.c I noticed 10CL! I want to just be and enjoy spending that loving time with my dh and try my best not to be so anal retentive about it all. I did tell dh that he wasn't aloud to go hunting during ovulation...haha...I swear I'm not trying to control things:) No, but seriously, I look forward to trying again and I'm going to leave the stressing part as far away as possible!

So we (Mom, dad, dh and I) leave on Sunday for Omaha! I just want to get on the plane NOW! We have rented this home for the week (look below). We found it on vrbo.com. It's a newly built development near Old Market, in an area called Little Italy. It is so cute! It was listed for much more but we asked if they were willing to work with us on lowering the price and they were:)  The people were so nice and we explained our situation of how dh and I will be in the hospital most of the time and they gave us a discount. So we are paying $100 a night for 4 people in a house with 3 beds and 3 baths....mom and dad are splitting it with us too because they are staying there with us...this helps us out so much. Isn't that so darn nice of those people!!!  Now we get to have a late Thanksgiving in a comfy home, as oppose to a hotel. And dh and dad are soooo excited to be able to watch the Alabama vs. Auburn game on the 54 in plasma tv at home instead of a bar! Ok...now on to the important part...the surgery.

On Monday is my preop and then Tuesday morning is my surgery. I am a bit nervous but I do trust completely in Dr. H and I have been praying for him for the past two weeks so I know he will do great with me. If all goes well, I will be out of hospital Friday. Yes, I will be in the hospital on Thanksgiving. So while you are all enjoying your turkey, please eat a huge juicy bite for me:) haha. Mom, dad, and dh are going to prepare our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday so we will just a a delayed Thanksgiving! Dad and dh will fly home on Sunday bc they have to head back to work. Mom and I will stay to meet with Dr. H on Monday, then fly home Tuesday.

I have no idea what to expect as far as how I am going to be physically. I have heard (read) all sorts of stories but we all have such different pain tolerances so I have no idea what I will be like...that is what makes me nervous too.What I am looking forward to is the follow up with Dr. H. I'm anxious to hear how everything went and see what the next plan is...meaning meds, diet, etc. Basically, I'm excited about next week because I am anxious to get past it and start on the road of recovery and trying. I know I am going to have to be patient, but at least I can put the surgery's behind me and start over with a new year in Jan. Perfect timing. Man was 2010 a tough year and I am so ready to put it behind me:) 2011, be a better friend please:)

So is this all enough blabbing for you:) Sorry. I'm prob not going to be able to post until next Sunday or Monday. But I promise to post before surgery. I can't post from my phone...it annoys me to type so much on that little screen. ha. This week is crazy wrapping things up with school. Friday night is a bday party for my dad-in-law, Sat morning is breakfast with my bro and sis-in-law, Sat afternoon is my friends wedding at 2 (woohoo!), then Sunday we leave at 11. BUSY BEE weekend:) I hope that you all are well. I will be catching up on you ladies through my phone at random times over the next few days. Hugs around all your necks and thank you thank you for all your love and support. You are such a blessing:) I can't say that enough.

P.S. Mary (The Screllos) and Brenda (Hebrews), I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU LADIES AGAIN SOON:)

A laugh for Friday!

This is all Hebrews fault. She brought up dutch ovens and that led me to remember something that I recenly saw. Totally forgot to share this with you so I thought today would be a great day to do so. Mom and I were in Old Market the other day and saw a man walking down the street wearing this shirt below. I BURST into laughter (directly looking at him) to the point where I was in tears. And the guy wearing it was as cool, calm and collective that he could be. Perhaps some people would think it would be vulgar, offensive, etc, I , however, was thankful for that type of laughter being apart of my day:)

 Happy Weekend:)