Surgery
Today is the first day I have felt clear-headed and myself this week. Monday morning I checked myself into the hospital for basically a tune-up surgery. Three pregnancies, one very traumatic delivery, and unusual hormonal changes had done a number on my chassis. I decided to go ahead and get things fixed - while someone told me that it was unnecessary surgery (definition being it wasn't a matter of life and death) there was what I considered a serious quality of life issue and potential nasty complications coming from ignoring the problems for too long. Two and a half hours under general anesthesia, one night in the hospital, a $500 deductible and I am as good as new. Better actually as I will never have another monthly period again. TMI? No way - I'm shouting that one from the roottops.
Generally the entire event was with minimal pain. Coming out of general anesthesia involved a lot of pain - I remember the nurse telling me it took 2 shots of demerol and 2 shots of dilaudud to get the pain down to a level 5 - but I barely remember most of that. Once I was in my room, I was hooked up to a pain pump that administered demerol whenever I pushed a button. But something was wrong with my IV, because whenever I pushed the button, the hand that had the IV felt as if it had been hit with a hammer multiple times. I finally had the pain pump removed and switched to pills. The only other annoyance was my blood pressure which spent 20 hours hovering around 80/40. No wonder I'm so ditzy most of the time - nothing to do with my blond hair. Once it got up to 100/50 I got to go home.
The last four days I have been in a complete fog, feeling too good to sit in bed all day, but not good enough to get out of it and actually do anything. I also seem to be very sensitive to hydrocodone as one pill will find me wandering around the bedroom insisting to Will that I have something very very important I need to do - but no idea what it is. Will is by far too good a person - he was not willing to take advantage of my stoned state and have some fun with it. He should be warned that if the situation if ever reversed I will have the video camera and a list of questions ready.
I spent last week preparing a lot of food and putting it in the freezer so that Will wouldn't have to worry about ordering pizza for us every night. One neighbor brought over food last night and another is bringing over Chinese takeout tonight. I also sent Will on a Dunkin Donuts run yesterday afternoon. Friends are bringing food over Friday night. Some people lose weight after having surgery - I'm quite sure I will gain 10 pounds.
Although I haven't written an entry since the September 18th, the surgery is not the only thing that has been going on since then. A surprise birthday party and a home-improvement near disaster was also part of our days. But I am not clear-headed enough to do them justice. Maybe later.
Generally the entire event was with minimal pain. Coming out of general anesthesia involved a lot of pain - I remember the nurse telling me it took 2 shots of demerol and 2 shots of dilaudud to get the pain down to a level 5 - but I barely remember most of that. Once I was in my room, I was hooked up to a pain pump that administered demerol whenever I pushed a button. But something was wrong with my IV, because whenever I pushed the button, the hand that had the IV felt as if it had been hit with a hammer multiple times. I finally had the pain pump removed and switched to pills. The only other annoyance was my blood pressure which spent 20 hours hovering around 80/40. No wonder I'm so ditzy most of the time - nothing to do with my blond hair. Once it got up to 100/50 I got to go home.
The last four days I have been in a complete fog, feeling too good to sit in bed all day, but not good enough to get out of it and actually do anything. I also seem to be very sensitive to hydrocodone as one pill will find me wandering around the bedroom insisting to Will that I have something very very important I need to do - but no idea what it is. Will is by far too good a person - he was not willing to take advantage of my stoned state and have some fun with it. He should be warned that if the situation if ever reversed I will have the video camera and a list of questions ready.
I spent last week preparing a lot of food and putting it in the freezer so that Will wouldn't have to worry about ordering pizza for us every night. One neighbor brought over food last night and another is bringing over Chinese takeout tonight. I also sent Will on a Dunkin Donuts run yesterday afternoon. Friends are bringing food over Friday night. Some people lose weight after having surgery - I'm quite sure I will gain 10 pounds.
Although I haven't written an entry since the September 18th, the surgery is not the only thing that has been going on since then. A surprise birthday party and a home-improvement near disaster was also part of our days. But I am not clear-headed enough to do them justice. Maybe later.