MY SURGERY

A week ago Steve and I were getting ready for the BIG day. I was nervous and very anxious as I wasn't going to know the outcome of the surgery until I woke up. He drove me to the hospital. As we were walking in to the hospital, I rolled my ankle pretty bad. All we could do was laugh. Then as we were being led up to the surgery waiting area by one of the volunteers, I started hemorrhaging in the elevator. I grabbed onto Steve's arm and whispered that I was bleeding pretty badly. We got off the elevator and I was afraid to even move. We finally clued in this 80 year old woman/volunteer what was going on and she panicked. She brought me directly into the surgery pre-op area and I headed for the bathroom. I was laughing internally as I witnessed about 7 nurses squeezing in the bathroom/changing area with me. I was quite the scene. Once things were taken care of, I was put in a bed and immediately had two 18 gauge needles placed in my wrists and fluid pumped in.

After surgery, I remember waking up to the most intense pain I have ever felt. The nurses and doctor were pumping in so much pain medicine that I stopped breathing. I vaguely remember people yelling at me and rubbing my sternum. That was the only time I felt complete relief from the pain - it was awful. I eventually was given my own pain med pump and finally brought up to a room. My husband and parents were finally able to see me. It had been a LONG day. My dad brought me a huge bear, it was the only thing that put a smile on my face for days.

I had many complications. I stopped breathing again on the floor due to pain medications. They moved me to a room right next to the nurses desk so they could keep a closer eye on me. My blood pressure was so low (70/30) and my hematocrit and hemoglobin were really low as well. I blew IV after IV. You can see in this picture that my wrist was swollen.

The doctor was hoping that I would bring my numbers up on my own, but after 3 days they weren't changing, so I had to have a blood transfusion.

It's always a little creepy when you have someone else's blood being pumped into you. I also stopped peeing on my own and had to have a foley put back in. My stomach had a terrible rash on it that was really itchy. I would scratch and itch all night long. The doctor finally was able to figure out that it was the drape cloth used in surgery because of the shape it left on my stomach. I'll chalk my sensitive skin up to my dad.
I was finally released yesterday. I was home long enough to pack up and head to my mom's house with Stevie and my sister Amy and her family. It was time for her to head back to Ohio. That was a really, really hard goodbye. She's done SO much for me, more than I could ever repay. I'm staying at my mom's with Stevie for a few days. Steve leaves with Kayla on Thursday for Utah for a couple of weeks. The recovery will be long and hard. I can't lift more then a few pounds for 6 weeks which means that I can't lift Ben. He'll stay with my good friend Becky for a little while. Then I will rely on my husband and children to help lift him when he comes home. I'm grateful for all my well wishers and those that continue to check up on me. I'm healing...but it will be a LONG process.