Thankful

Hello...out there. Thank you all for your support and comments and prayers and cards and good wishes. You all are so good to think of me during this time.

This has been a real eyeopener for me in terms of P-A-I-N. I have never had so much pain in all my life. First, the doctor says he believes the surgery is successful. Praise the Lord!

It's been a long two weeks. I was so ready for the surgery that I wasn't even too scared going in that day. I had family and church friends there. Magnolia Sun was coming to see me the next day. So when they wheeled me into the operating room, I remember asking what these cases were that looked like drawers and I remember the nurse saying something about more instruments. Then I was out. They didn't give me any warning or countdown or anything. Next thing I know I'm waking up in recover. I think the surgery was right on time, about two hours total. I stayed in recovery for a little longer because they were trying to get me a private room. I remember there being more pain than I had with the hysterectomy. But the hysterectomy was done laparosopic so this was much different. My incision in this surgery goes straight up and down from the belly button to the pubic line. I had 23 staples holding it together and a drain tube and some stitches. I also had the nephrostomy tube coming from kidney out my back and now I had a catheter coming from my bladder. Talk about uncomfortable.

I got to my room later in the day and I know I did not move until the next day. I used every bit of the pain pump medicine they had me hooked to. I remember the nurse and nurse assistant coming in all the time to do vitals. That clock on the wall moved so slow. Thank goodness for pain medicine!

The doctor came by and I told him I didn't want to move out of the bed. He said if I didn't get up, I couldn't go home. He also said I would be staying a couple more days longer than he thought. So Aunt Sue came up to visit and she and the nurse helped me sit on the side of the bed and get up. I stood up and it hurt so bad. I thought I was going to throw up, so they got me the trashcan and the nurse made me sit back down. So no getting up that day!

On Thursday Aunt Sue came back and I did get up and we walked around the halls. It hurt. I had both catheter bags and the drainage tube bag hanging on my walker! I was a sight...didn't even bother to brush my hair and had on the ugly hospital gown. I did not care a bit. So Aunt Sue and I walked and then the husband came up that night and he walked with me.

Friday morning, I went by ambulance to another hospital where they took out the nephrostomy tube. I have never been in an amubulance before. It was bumpy. I got the bill in the mail already for that ride and it was $705.00. Ouch. I don't know yet if insurance will pay or not. The doctor was on my floor when I got back to the hospital near my house and he apologized for me having to go by ambulance and to another hospital. He said it should have been done at this hospital. So I had the nurse manager get to the bottom of it and she said that the doctor (radiologist) that put the tube in and took it out wanted it done at the trauma hospital just in case there was a problem. Better safe than sorry.

I walked some more on Friday and ate a couple of bites of real food on Friday. I had only had liquids since I had the surgery. So after eating a few bites of real food, I got a stomachache that evening. I was sick. I also had sweat so much for the past few days. I don't know if that was pain or medication or just my body reacting to the trauma. But I was really feeling dirty.

Saturday came and I was released to go home. Oh boy....let the pain begin. The husband came and got me and it's only three minutes to my house from the hospital. I was so wiped out. I got in the shower and that felt so good to get clean. Then I got in my bed. But the pain was so bad just from doing so little I was hoping I had not done something to damage the surgery. I have been in bed almost 24/7 since then.

Every day I get a little better. My incision still hurts and getting up and down is still a bit hard. I came home with the catheter in my bladder which was so uncomfortable. It hurt to walk around or sit down with that in..not to mention just the incision an my body hurt. So I was in bed a lot. I went to the doctor later in the week and he took out the catheter and the staples. Now I don't have anymore tubes or drains or staples coming out of me. I do have a stent in my bladder that is uncomfortable. It will stay in for a month and then it will be taken out.

I have so much to get caught up on reading everyone's blogs and seeing what you all have been up to. Thank you again for all your prayers and good wishes and cards. Thanks to Magnolia Sun for posting about my status.

I just have to say that prayer and faith in the Lord got me through this. I know my family prayed and my church family prayed and some of my friends and blogging friends prayed. I am so thankful that the Lord loves me and all of us to bring us through these tough times. We may not always get the answer to our prayers that we want, but we have to have faith in the Lord that he is all knowing and whatever the answer is, is the right answer for whatever reason.

I'm so thankful to have a surgeon that was experienced and knowledgeable about my problem and was able to perform the surgery without further complications.

I've been doing some reading since I've been in the bed. I'll try to post all the books I've read lately soon.