1 week checkup and progress

Yesterday I had my one week check up with my surgeons office.

It was great for multiple reasons:

1- I finally got out of the house. 

2- Because I was leaving, I got showered 

(which takes 3 times longer than before)

 and actually got ready for the day. 

Hair, make up, the works. 

Even my mom couldn't help but say

"You look like yourself again"

..... Thanks? 

3- I got to ask my surgeon some of my questions

4- HE SAID I COULD START PHASE 3 OF MY DIET ON SUNDAY!

Oh I am so excited. 

I basically knew that I would be ok to move forward,

but after basically a whole month 

surviving solely on liquids,

I'm excited to move one step closer to "normal" food.

5- I got my drain out. 

(try not to get grossed out by this)

A tube was sticking out of my stomach since surgery,

and I normally didn't notice it,

but for the last few days it had started feeling a bit uncomfortable.

I was surprised that it really didn't hurt to pull it out.

He basically just had to clip the stitches that was holding it in place

and pull.

As I lay there and watched him pull on this tube, 

I was surprised mostly by the length. 

I guess I just imagined that it was a short tube,

but it ended up being about the length of my forearm!

THAT WAS IN ME! 

Other updates:

- I have become easily BORED. 

I am just not accustomed to "doing nothing" 

I try to stay busy, but I am just not used to so much unstructured time.

I am also SO BORED with my diet.

Sugar free pudding, sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles,

soups. So much soup.

Did I mention I'm excited for Sunday? 

- I no longer sleep all day.

- I have even gone some days without pain meds! 

(some days I am taking it every 4 hours on the hour, but hey... baby steps)

-My mom says she can already noticed that I look thinner.

I'm always the last to notice,

 but I guess that's a good sign.

-I don't handle the protein shakes very well,

but my surgeon said that if it's giving me a stomach ache, 

to not worry about it until I can handle it.

Hallelujah. 

Mental Breakdown #1

Surgery is a painful thing.

This post is dedicated to setting aside the "oh how wonderful"s 

and focus on the real.

When I was in the hospital I impressed myself with how well I was handling the pain.

By Wednesday I thought to myself "Oh, I can totally go home today".

Some things I did not consider when I made this assessment:

1. I was given Morphine every 2 hours almost to the minute. If I even so much as whimpered, all I had to do was push a button and someone came rushing in to almost immediately relieve that pain.  

2. I would not have Morphine at home

3. The prescription pain killers they would give me would take longer to kick in and I would be able to use them less frequently than the morphine. 

4. I would no longer have an IV to keep me hydrated. 

I started Wednesday just feeling great.

I did a couple laps around the nurses station that we could almost consider struts. 

I was able to get myself in and out of bed almost without help,

and I was able to stay awake longer than the other two days. 

I felt like I was ready to go home.

So went its time to release me, 

they disconnect my IV

give me a prescription,

and send me on my merry little way.

When we get home I take my usual nap, 

and I sink so far into my dad's side of my parents bed that I'm sure passerby's would have thought I was fused to the thing. 

And the thing is, that when I sink into the bed 

its really hard to adjust from there. 

So I'm basically stuck in one position for multiple hours.

Not always bad, but if I fall asleep for multiple hours without moving,

I wake up with not only abdominal pains but also back and neck kinks. 

Wednesday evening this exact thing happened,

when I woke up I was in a lot of pain. 

My pain medicine had worn off, and my back and neck were cramped up so bad

that no matter what position I was in, 

I was in so much pain.

Lean forward- back relief, abdomen pain

Lean back, abdomen relief, serious back relief. 

Get up- pain all over.

I asked for my mama nurse to get me some meds stat! 

She regretfully informed me that it had only been 3 hours since I had taken it 

and I was going to have to wait another hour.

I groaned and tried to get comfortable.

Which only lasted about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes I seriously LOST it.

I was a hot mess.

I hurt everywhere.

I was exhausted, 

emotional,

and I seriously didn't think I could handle waiting another hour.
I started crying so hard that my parents tried to lay me down the couch with my legs up so that I could maybe relieve some of the pressure on my back while laying down.
As everyone was surrounded me and trying so kindly to help me get comfortable,
Lucy our dog could tell I was in distress and in an effort to sooth me,
jumped on my stomach.

Then, I really lost it.
The real meltdown began and it  looked a little too much like these:

(Imagine that the bottle is full of my pain medication) 

But only Miranda could really understand me:

Not a pretty sight. 

It got to the point where it hurt to cry and breathe because I was so tense.

After the hour was up, 

I was given my sweet(/actually the nastiest tasting) elixir and felt relief. 

Soon, exhausted from the melt down, I feel asleep for the night.

But no need to worry folks! 

Then next morning my mom called my nurse. 

We found out that because my medication doesn't have any Tylenol in it, 

that if it starts to wear off at 3 hours that I can take (liquid) Tylenol to ease the pain for the last hour 

so we don't have another "episode".