I thought I’d post pics of the photobook I made for Papa for Father’s Day. I made it on my Mac but if you are Macless you can surely go to Snapfish or Shutterfly or the like to make one similar. Here’s the link to the photo set on Flickr. And here’s a link to a slideshow.
Bless Your Heart
Living out loud in the Carolinas
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My recovery has been going pretty well. The first few days were really rough in that they weren’t so bad so I moved around too much and then paid dearly later with a seriously sore tummy. The Tuesday after I got home (on Sunday) my Mom and Sara and the boys came over for a visit. My Mom brought me a walker! Like an old lady walker. So funny. But surprisingly useful. Especially when getting out of bed.
I tell ya, just laying around is hard work. I kept forgetting and bending or getting up too fast. Jon went back to work on Saturday and he was so worried. Bless his heart he called like every 2 hours. Saturday night was rough. I ran a fever and threw up which made Sunday even worse. Jon had to work again so he called his parents to come be with me and bring me dinner. It was really sweet for them to come but I think they were here more for Jon than me.
I received a fabulous care package in the mail from Miss Christina.
It included a mini day at the beach. 
It was so sweet and really brightened my day!
CSP’s been so good taking care of me. Checking my wounds and taking my temp. And the pugs have LOVED all the napping. I’m tearing through my library books and Netflix movies. Good thing for Netflix cause my dvr is on the fritz and we’re waiting for a new one to come in. What bad timing! So hopefully this will be my last hysterectomy focused post. There are certainly more exciting things to talk about! -
Read yesterday’s post so today’s will make sense.
I totally forgot about Saturday night! Jon’s parents came to visit and brought food from Shomars! Woohoo! I had a chicken pita and 4 fries and was just stuffed. Plus root beer! It was great! Then we watched fireworks from my room’s window. We think one of the malls was setting them off for the 4th.
We woke up Sunday morning at the crack. Had breakfast which was supposed to be a breakfast burrito but was really 2 egg disks with ketchup and olives. Talked to the meal selections woman again at 7am and picked out my lunch then had a hard time convincing her we wouldn’t be there for dinner. The white haired doctor came back and checked me out and told me I could go home that day. My nurse came in with my meds and told me when we were ready to go just hit the nurse button and they’d come with a wheel chair. Sounds good. I finally got a toot out which pleased the nurses so they said I could go after lunch. So we packed up, taking our time then we hit the nurse button. They told me I couldn’t go! That I had to wait an hour since I’d taken a pain pill. So we hung out for another hour then hit the button again. And waited and waited and waited. No one was coming for us. So we just grabbed our stuff and went out in the hall. I was slow moving down the hall. A nurse saw us.
Are you leaving?
Yes.
Wanna wheelchair?
That’d be nice, thank you.
This is the only one we have on this floor (brings out a rickety wheelchair).So Jon went on down to get the car and meet us out front. That wheelchair would barely move and my nurse weighed maybe 100 lbs. I felt bad for her, but she somehow got me downstairs. We were waiting out front when this guy came by and walked so close to the nurse we could smell him. How’re you doin young lady? Her “Fine.” was tight lipped. Then he just kept walking. Like she wasn’t standing there with a patient in a wheelchair. What did he think? That she’d just run after him? Wait! Take me with you!
We came home and Jon’s parents had dinner waiting for us. It was so nice. The best part was they also cleaned up after dinner, so all we had to do was climb the stairs and go to bed. Nothing like good food and your own bed!
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After Sara & the boys left I was exhausted from their visit so I tried to catch a little cat nap. A little while later Papa & Gigi came to visit. They brought fun cards and flowers and helped me eat my lunch. I got worn out trying to cut my chicken. While they were there I gave Papa his Father’s Day present. I know it’s late, but you may remember I’d been fighting with Apple about delivering it, and it finally came the day before I went into the hospital. I have to give you just a little background about why I made a photo book for Papa for Father’s Day. He travels a LOT for work and takes with him a manilla file folder with loose photos in it of all of us. Most of them are photos he printed on regular printer paper. It’s a pitiful sight. So I stole his folder one day, scanned in the photos that I didn’t have, put them together with the ones that I had taken, added a whole bunch more that I knew he’d love, and made a photo book.
Papa is hands down the best person to give a gift to. He oohs and ahhs and just makes you feel like it’s the best present ever and he couldn’t possibly be happier. He was just thrilled with it. He & Gigi looked it over then the nurse came in.
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So, where were we? The morning of Saturday June 30th came with a cast of very interesting characters in the form of hospital staff. My breakfast appeared at 7am- chicken broth, apple juice and jello. YUM. Then a creepy man came in to take my blood. While he worked on me he told CSP the most bizarre stories without any prompting from either Jon or I. The guy never spoke a word to me. It was just weird. Then a woman wearing an awful lot of perfume and a large grin came in with a white haired doctor, neither of whom I’d ever met. Oh, and during breakfast this woman came in my room, stopped at the doorway and announced in the most monotonous voice since Bueller, Bueller “I’m here for your meal selections.” She had a thick mask of makeup with drawn on brows and at least a dozen stud earrings in each ear. She was not pleased if I didn’t select the first meal choice she offered and she pronounced vegetables like “veggie tuh bulls”. Cracked us up.
Somewhere in all this I noticed my belly was all puffed up and asked the nurse about it. She said they filled my abdomen with gas and that I’d have to poot before I could go home. I’d never felt sexier. (more…) -
I’m so far behind in telling y’all about the whole hysterectomy adventure but I’m on pills people and they are addling my brain and making me sleep a lot. So please forgive. I hate being so behind though. I thought today about how much I need to blog about including stuff that happened yesterday and today but I haven’t even finished telling you about what happened last week and I have never needed a personal servant more!
So let’s just get through this ok?
Friday June 29th we woke up and even though we didn’t have to be at the hospital until 11am we somehow managed to run late and didn’t make it until 11:30. By then I was already dying of thirst. I understand the whole no drinking after midnight rule but I sure don’t like it. And my bowel was still in active “prep” mode (i.e. exploding every half hour). Probably because I didn’t read the directions on my Magnesium Citrate bottle and drank the whole thing when it turns out I only needed 8 oz. Oops.
My surgery took place at the big downtown main campus of our hospital system. I’ve only been here to visit people so as a patient it’s a little imposing. I walked up to the information desk with CSP & MIL in tow. My FIL dropped her off and she hung out with Jon while I was under then stayed with us until 10:30 that night. A lady at the info desk looked up my info and told me to follow her, that she was Bernice our escort. She took us up an escalator then up a few floors in the elevator then into a very crowded waiting room. She told CSP & MIL to go sit in some chairs she pointed to then she walked out. We were in front of a desk with a couple of people sitting at it so I told the lady at the desk my name and we started a round of questions. Then Bernice came back in and told me to follow her and started berating me for not keeping up. (more…) -
So I know yer just itchin to hear more about my girlie bits but I have to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to tell you….
I’m so excited y’all! I won a free pair of Crocs over at Croc Fans!
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Ok so the whole uterus removal process started on Thursday, June 28th. I had to stick to a clear liquid diet all day. That included clear flavored Jello, broth, and popsicles. For breakfast I had a cup of apple juice and a popsicle, then Candice and I headed out to Target. I’d been told to bring my own pjs, but nothing with a waistband because of the incisions. So I needed a new nightgown. Plus I had to buy some Magnesium Citrate for a bowel prep. Whatever that meant. I asked the lady at the pharmacy to help me find the Magnesium stuff and she directed me to a plain green bottle. Only $1.07. I picked up 2 just in case. We shopped around for some more stuff and I was just so so hungry. There’s a Jamba Juice in my Target and I tried to convince myself that a smoothie was sort of a clear liquid but Candice intervened. I eventually got so hungry I grabbed a box of popsicles and snarfed down 3 before we hit the checkout.
I ran into the Lane Bryant next door to Target while Candice loaded the car and grabbed a nightgown. All the night shirts I own are paint stained or old and ugly… not appropriate to wear in front of strangers. LB was having a big panty sale so I bought a few pair to wear post recovery. I don’t have a single pair of pretty panties left. They are all stained and holey. So I was psyched to stock up on cute panties again.
I got home and drank one of the bottles of Magnesium Citrate over ice. It wasn’t all that bad. Kind of like super sweet flat Sprite. Went down pretty easy. I sat there waiting for something amazing to happen but nothing did. So I putzed around the house packing my hospital bag and getting ready for my big day Friday. Also trying not to think about solid foods.
And then it happened. Now, this is the part of this post that my Mom will be mortified by, but she’s out of town for the next week so I think I’m safe. She hates it when I talk about bodily functions on here, but hey, it’s my blog and I usually warn y’all if it’s gonna get a little freaky. For the sake of decorum though I’ll insert the click here to read more thing… (more…) -
Hey y’all. Thank you for all the sweet emails and comments. Thanks to Lisa for updating while I was in the hospital. I feel like hell. The first couple of days home it hurt getting up out of bed and off the sofa but otherwise I was feeling fine. Hey! This is no biggie! People should have organs removed every day! And then I finally pooped Tuesday night. I hadn’t pooped since Thursday. I normally don’t talk about poo on here but this one deserves recognition. It felt like an angry drunken porcupine was clawing his way out of my body. Jon heard my screams and ran upstairs and hugged me. He told me I was doing a good job while he flushed the toilet. Jon is the best husband ever.
I have ever so much to tell you but that requires sitting up here on this chair and typing and that hurts my belly. So I have to go in baby steps. I will tell you that the 3ish days I spent in the hospital felt like 3ish weeks. That it’s harder than you think to keep pugs from jumping on you, especially the belly area. That I’m not watching near the amount of tv I thought I would, nor am I sleeping as much as I’d thought. And that my doctor called Monday night to check up on me, and per my request he has pictures. Pictures people. Of my disembodied uterus. He didn’t stuff it with socks like I wanted him to (so I could see the stretching capability) but he did photograph it and for that I’m grateful. I can not wait to see those pics. My appt isn’t until the 14th or something so we’ll have to wait til then. But I promise to share. -
Hey y’all! So I’m home. I came home yesterday afternoon. Lots to tell you but I’m pretty doped up so I must go lay down again soon. Thanks so much for the emails & cards etc. Y’all rock. Oh, I did take some pics. Go here to see!
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Bless Your Heart 