Woohoo! It has been eight days since my surgery and I have (almost) nothing to complain about!

The night before the surgery was rough. Both Brett and I had a terrible time trying to sleep. We tossed and turned and talked and snuggled and tossed and turned some more. We tried to go to bed early since we needed to be at the hospital at 5:15 in the morning, but Brett finally gave up on sleep at about 12:30 and I think I finally fell asleep around 1am. Brett woke me up at 3:30, I jumped in the shower, got dressed, kissed the dog and we were out the door. I wasn’t scared or nervous just anxious and ready to get it over with. There were short moments during the last couple of days leading up to that morning where I thought about changing my mind but come that morning I was ready with no hesitation.

When we got to the hospital we checked in- all my paperwork had been completed during a pre-op visit three weeks earlier- they gave me my arm band and I waited to be called back. We sat there for what seemed like an eternity, in fact they didn’t actually take me back until almost 6:30 (I think). When I got to the pre-surgical area, they made me pee in a cup and change into a hospital gown. A bunch of people came in and talked with me one at a time asking all kinds of questions and eventually the nurse anesthetists put in my IV. After that, Brett and my mom were able to come back and sit with me until it was time for me to go back- which wasn’t long. My surgery was scheduled for 8am.

The last thing I remember is someone putting an oxygen mask on me and that was it. I woke up some time later in recovery with a personality-lacking nurse attending to me. What would be a huge nuisance to me for the next several days was immediately apparent…GAS! Being the champion burper that I am, I immediately started burping- I could tell she was impressed even though she didn’t get excited about it. I don’t remember being in recovery very long before they wheeled me up to my room. I don’t remember what I was saying but I do remember chatting along the way. I believe it was about 2pm.

I didn’t feel much pain other than the gas- I’m sure the morphine played a big part.

Oh you know what I forgot to mention? If you’ve been following my blog for a while now, you know how much my ovaries hate me, so guess what? They didn’t let me down, I got my period three days before my surgery and it was in full force come surgery day. –I had even taken provera three weeks prior to make sure I’d have a period prior to surgery, when I got it on December 1st, I figured I was in the clear for the 19th…WRONG! Seriously…only me!

Anyway, that afternoon was a bit of a blur. I remember meeting my awesome nurse, I remember my mom and Brett being there. I remember my mom leaving and a flower delivery and I remember eventually getting up to go to the bathroom– I’m pretty sure I know what it’s like to have a baby now…modesty is not an option.

I got up and walked the hall at some point with Brett- the nurse promised me it would help with the gas- she lied.

I slept pretty good that night, in between vitals checks. Tuesday morning I got up and sat in the chair for a while, went for a few walks and drank teeny tiny sips of water from a medicine cup. Brett stayed the night with me Tuesday night we went for lots of walks and I took a much needed sponge-bath. The next morning the doctor came in and gave me a clean bill and told me I could go home before noon. I couldn’t believe how good I was feeling. I’d been off the morphine since the night before and had moved onto liquid pain meds- Tylenol with codeine to be exact. There was a brief period when I had gone too long without the meds and found myself in a lot of pain, needing to get out of bed so I could pee when the vitals-girl came around, it was no surprise that my blood pressure had spiked. The nurse came in and pushed some meds through my IV and I was ready to go! I finally got to leave about two hours later.

The ride home was somewhat stressful- I had taken a swig of the pain meds just before we left so the pain wasn’t too bad, but it was raining and I was dreading a potential slam of the breaks…it never happened, Brett drove very carefully, but I stressed about it none-the-less.

The rest of the week I mostly just laid around, went for short walks and tried my hardest to drink the recommended 64oz of fluid, which DID NOT HAPPEN– still hasn’t happened but I’m working on it. I felt surprisingly good. Still gassy, very gassy, miserably gassy, but otherwise pretty damned good so good in-fact that I decided we should join my family for the traditional Christmas Eve Party tradition. It was the first day I had put on clothes, did my hair and put on make up in a week– this is not unusual for me since I work from home, but it felt like a huge accomplishment. When we got to my sister’s house everyone was surprised at how good I looked, claiming it looked like I had already looked thinner. The fact of the matter was that I actually weighed more that day than I did the day of my surgery. I had actually GAINED 11 pounds post op- I guess from all of the fluids they pumped in me. Come Saturday I had only lost nine of those eleven pounds so it was probably more that the stitches were pulling my skin tight making me LOOK thinner. 🙂

Today is Tuesday, it’s been eight days since my day of days and I’m now down two pounds from the day of- 15lbs since I started the liquid diet started 3 1/2 weeks ago…I’m hoping the weightloss will pick up- I guess if you count the post op weight gain, I’m actually down 13lbs in one week, eh.

I had so much that I wanted to write over the past week but just couldn’t find the clarity or motivation until now and now I feel like I’m missing the point. I do plan to blog more often about this journey- I know for me, reading other blogs has been incredibly helpful and if I can help someone else on their journey with mine I’d be a happy, happy girl.

So, I promise to post more…soon! Actually, I think I’m going to write a second one right now that isn’t so boring and IS more informational for those interested in the “process”.

Thanks for reading! Questions and comments welcome!