Yes, I'm Alive and Well

So, I haven’t updated since BEFORE my surgery. Technically everything went smooth, but It was a little more traumatic than I expected. I went into it with expectations of it being pretty easy. People kept telling me how lucky I was that it was laparoscopic, and I could go home that day, it’s the most common surgery, and all of that is true. For some reason, I took all those facts to mean it wouldn’t be uncomfortable or difficult. I was surprised by the pain in getting up and down the first few days of recovery. I really wish the Dr. or nurses would’ve painted a detailed picture for me of what recovery might be like.

One of the things that disturbed me the most was how I woke up and was rushed out of the hospital. Maybe it’s totally standard procedure and hopefully Mrs. Spock, my nurse friend, can chime in on this and let me know. I could NOT keep my eyes open, I was in and out, and I don’t remember much. They had to help me in every step of getting dressed, and I kind of wish Jason had been the one to help me. It’s funny how before the surgery they give you all of this privacy and when you’re half conscious it all goes out the window. I know they’ve seen it all before and even while I was getting the surgery, but I was knocked out ya know? I was VERY nauseous and so they taped gauze with peppermint scent onto my cheeks. I kept telling them I was still very nauseous as they guided me into a wheel chair. They gave me an alcohol wipe to smell. They wheeled me out to the car and gave me a plastic container to barf in. (Remember Wayne’s World? “If you’re gonna spew, spew in here.”) The drive home was terrible, but I managed to make it home where I had to immediately run to the bathroom to get sick. I proceeded to get sick three times more later that day. Is that normal? Couldn’t they have waited a little bit for me to be more awake and treat the nausea? The hospital didn’t seem busy or at all crowded. I don’t know how it all works, but for me it was a little traumatic.

Once I was past the painful first few days I LOVED having that time off work and doing some reading and TV watching. It was glorious!

About a week ago, I started noticing one of my incisions was getting infected, so I finally called the Dr. and he prescribed me some antibiotics and scheduled me to come in. I went to see him yesterday, and I hate to keep using the work traumatic, but see how you would feel. He said one of the sutures which should’ve dissolved had become infected instead. He scraped the scab off and started digging around with a pair of tweezers and scissors. He finally found the suture and yanked it out. OUCH!!!

Anyway, it should be all over now. Maybe my experience was typical, maybe not, but I’m just glad to be done with it.