I'm Alive!!!

Hi All, Tomorrow will be one week since my surgery and for the most part feeling good. I can't wait to get my staples out though. Because I am swollen and bloated I feel like the staples are pulling, plus they rub up again my shirt. I don't get them out until Thursday which is my first post-op appointment. The whole expericence so far has been really interesting. You read all this information to try and prepare yourself but as you've heard before everyone is different. On the day of surgery I was still able to drop my daughter off at school which made me really happy. Then it was off to the hospital where my surgery was delayed for an hour as I sat there in anticipation. I don't remember to much after getting into the operating room. Next thing I remeber waking up in recovery and being very thirsty and not able to have anything to drink for 24 hours. Then I got my menstrual period which they said was brought on by the anesthesia. Its hard enough dealing with surgery now I have to deal with that too. (Men are lucky!!!) After that I awoke Tues. at 2 am to find my arm with the IV had swollen to almost double the size. The nurse then had to poke around to find a good vein on the other side. Around 6 am is when the parade began. So many people came into my room you would have thought I was a celebrity. They poked at my belly, asked all kind of questions, took vitals, finally brought some water, gave me all kinds of injections, and a bunch of other sorted stuff. Wednesday I left the hospital and headed home. Make sure you take a pain killer before heading home to help with those pot holes. Since I've been home I'm just taking it easy. Even my three year old seems to understand. She asks me every morning if my boo boos are still there. The other thing thats a pain is the gas. Everything even water seems to make me burp like I have indigestion. I hope this resides soon. The hardest thing by far though has been people around me eating normal food. I've been tempted by pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, pretzels, chips, corn on the cob, and my favorite chicken parm w/ spagetti and bread. I know I will have alot of obsticules that come up and I need to just deal with them as they come and remember the reason why I did this. Thanks to everyone who wished me well and I hope everyone is acheving their personal goals. If anyone has questions for me about the surgery please let me know. Karen

hi karen great job!!! keep up the great spirits!! you will be fine hugs roberta

hey karen keep up the good work!!! you sound like you are coping one day at a time and that is the clue, i think, even though i dont follow my own advice. im hoping to have my surgery the end of july and im at the nervous am i making the right decision stage. you sound wonderful and im sure each day will bring more improvement. take care, jacki