FINAL notes on surgery and recovery

I can't believe Sunday marked the one week point from the surgery. Seems like it was just yesterday and like it never happened all at the same time. My memory of that evening after surgery is a little foggy but I'll share what I do remember:


-Having to pee right away when I got back to my room and not being able to move much because of the pain so I requested the bed pan. This was actually exciting to me in my drug induced state, I'm not sure why.  It required  a couple nurses to roll me onto my side very slowly and painfully and then they placed the little bowl-type pan thing under me, rolled me back and I just let it go. What a relief.
-Even more exciting was training my husband how to roll me carefully so he could help the next few times I had to go. He fondly calls this helping me "pee the bed."
-I couldn't eat regular food right away (they ease you back into normal solids after not eating for so many hours) so all I got was jello. Adam fed me the jello, and again I don't remember why I couldn't feed myself. He says I wanted to be fed and that I was so out of it I couldn't do much myself. I think, same with the bedpan, I had been through a lot and wanted other people to take care of me while I just laid there happily drugged.
-Adam actually feeding me the jello was the funniest thing, and I had almost forgotten about this but after thinking about that night the memory came back: instead of putting the spoon in my mouth so I could eat the jello off of it, he would 'dump' the spoon and it's contents into my mouth like I was a fish or something. I guess it was a good thing I was his practice dummy before baby comes.
-The resident who assisted with the surgery came back to talk with us as I had yet to hear any firsthand details of the surgery. There was nothing that sticks out besides her explaining why my belly button kept bleeding whenever I would move. She said that they sewed me up inside and just glued (or maybe sewed, I'm not sure) my belly button back down to the muscles but that it wasn't 'staying.' Gross. I later found out my belly button is the whole hole that got sewn/sutured back up, the rest are just glued shut. Weird.

I got a great night's sleep that night thanks to the drugs, anesthesia not being totally worn off, and Adam sleeping nearby on the couch that we finally got in our room. I think at about 4 or 5 am I got up out of bed for the first time to walk to the bathroom. This was a very strange feeling; it felt like my legs were not really my legs. I could see them moving but couldn't quite feel them. Luckily, the next time I got up this was gone and every time after I was better and moving a little faster.

We saw one of our OB doctors that morning who said I was good to go whenever I wanted that day. This was a relief  but was also scary for me. I had nurses and doctors at my beck and call there, and what was going to happen if I went home? What if something when wrong? What if the pain came back? I think I was terrified because of being sent home before when I should not have been, but I knew that this time everything would be OK.

At some point that day a nice lady came in to offer me communion and to say a couple prayers. This was so sweet and unexpected but it also brought me to tears. She looked bewildered and I was embarrassed, but I thanked her and sat there alone crying about God knows what.  This was to be the trend for the rest of the week.

I was thankfully cheered up by a delivery of some beautiful flowers from some of our favorite people and Adam returning to officially take me home. Being outside for the first time in four days felt odd but amazing, however the car ride didn't feel as great. Potholes + recent surgery don't mix well, but Adam drove like a grandpa (sorry any grandpas reading this) and got me home in one piece.

I am also so very thankful and grateful for my friend Brittany who came down from Milwaukee that day with a goody bag and a "what can I do?" attitude, so we put her to work at the house for a little bit as it had been neglected and the laundry was piling up. Adam still raves about the leftovers she brought from her family's Easter celebration (think large Italian family = delicious cooking and baking). Brittany - you are THE BEST and we can't thank you enough!

 Also, a huge THANK YOU to everyone for your kind posts, well wishes, cards, flowers and prayers. I can't tell you how special it was to know that we had everyone's prayers coming our way and that we have such great friends and family behind us to support us through some tough times. Know that we love you all and appreciate everything more than words can say.

Some of the pretty cards and flowers

Last week/the first few days home were pretty uneventful re: the surgery and recovery except for feeling quite depressed and tearful. Hormones maybe? I found myself crying frequently over who knows what, I think just the processing of everything that happened was catching up to me. Our 20 week OB appointment/follow-up with the OB surgeon was cancelled Wednesday evening due to a power outage (you've GOT to be kidding me?! It only lasted for an hour and I've worked all day through a power outage!!!!) and that really set me off. Is the world out to get me? Why can't anything go right? I think I felt that the appointment was the closure I needed and to have it cancelled for something silly and out of the blue was really upsetting. Luckily, my husband told some white lies to get me in for a quick and still very tearful appointment the following day.

In other news, I took my last norco (narcotic pain pill) on Friday and switched to Tylenol for the weekend so that I could be the DD for my mom to get us home from my cousin's bachelorette party. It felt good to drive for the first time in over a week and like I was semi-human again;  it turned out I felt fine pain-wise and didn't miss the strong drugs.  I took another round of Tylenol Sunday in anticipation of the bus ride back to Chicago and that's the last of any pain meds and I feel good! Like, silly tears and depression has cleared, pain is gone good. Still get tired a little easily if I over do anything physically but I think I'll be good as gold for work on Monday.

Also, some GREAT news. The pathology of my mass/cyst came back NORMAL, benign, non-cancerous! To be honest, we weren't worried about it as they made it seem like it wasn't a concern and I had kind-of forgotten that they were even testing it. So thank goodness and we can finally say that the whole thing is officially behind us!