Recovery Week 2 down

This is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. In my mind I thought since I had laparoscopic surgery instead of the traditional abdominal surgery. I would be feeling good by now. Oh boy was I wrong.

Yes, it is different then my 2003 surgery, but in many ways the same. Here's my progress so far good and bad:

• Still need to press a pillow into my tummy to cough or sneeze.
• Steps are getting easier to climb this week, but am still only going up and down them once a day.
• I still get tired after my walks, but they have gotten longer this week too.
• I still can't wear regular pants or jeans. The button closure hits right at my belly button incision.
  
• I can bend down to pick something up if I have a case of the dropsies.
• I don't need a pillow under my knees to keep my lower half elevated.
• I can sleep on my side.
• Steri Strips (I didn't have stitches or staples) are starting to ravel. Hopefully by next weeks update, they will have started to come off.
• Still not able to drive. Won't be able to until the Steri Strips come off...all 4 of them...boo
  

I did go with the hubs yesterday to Gale's Garden Center. But I just walked around, for a little longer then I should have. Then after I rested a little bit, we went out to dinner to a Japanese Hibachi place. I didn't want to wear my sweat clothes there so I got out a pair of jeans. Probably not the best idea since that's when I discovered that the button closure hit me right at the belly button. I was definitely sore last night and took a Motrin when we got home and a Percocet when I went to bed. I was still sore when I got up this morning but the pain has been manageable and I haven't taken a pain killer today!

I have also been taking it easy today, because I'm sure I over did it yesterday.

So, I really am getting better, but greatful that my doc told me not to go back to work until my follow-up on the 23rd. I'm really not going to be ready in 3 weeks like I originally wanted to.

I hope you all had a great weekend!!

Interesting Morning

This morning at about 5:45AM, my hubby wakes me up to tell me he can't fall back to sleep because he is hearing a humming noise. He said that he thinks that the cold front brought the muckleheads in. Ok, whatever, I don't hear any humming. But, I told him that it just could be because I had been seeing them on my daily walks and have been swatting them away.

After about 5 or so minutes of trying to fall back to sleep, he tells me he's getting up to go see. I hear him go to our front bedroom and open the window. Sure enough, you heard that annoying humming. UGH! Without even seeing it, I knew that there were swarms of them coming in off of the lake.

Before I moved here, I never knew how they came off the lake. It's kind of weird. When a front comes in, they arrive in swarms that look like smokey clouds. Except these smokey clouds have a humming noise. Here's a picture that I stole off of the Internet (and didn't get the name or blog to give the person credit, duh - sorry)
They don't bite or sting. They are just annoying little pests that stick around for a day or two. Go away and then come back with the next cold front. This is what a mucklehead looks like. Then, later on in the morning, he comes running into the house. I have to go outside and see what's in the pond. To my surprise, a little frog just relaxing in the pond.


I have to say, he was a cut little thing. How he found his way into the pond is beyond me. Especially since it's not done yet. The hubs started it last summer and hasn't gotten around to finishing it yet. Plus it hasn't been cleaned out either. So then he jumped out. I think it was so I could get a better picture of it.Then he jumped back in. I haven't been outside in a while, but if I were a betting person, I think he's still there chilling....literally....LOL

Pathology Report and Outing

I know I had my first post surgery outing on Sunday. I'll post about that later. My OB/GYN called me this morning to give me my pathology report. Because they have to send everything they take out of you there to screen for cancer. Just like before each surgery I've gone through, I had to pee in a cup so they could make sure I'm not pregnant. Which totally cracked me up this time. Seeing as I was there to have a hysterectomy.

Anyways, after the usual how have you been feeling and are you still keeping up with your pain meds questions, he finally came out and said that he got the path report. Which was negative for cancer....whew...however there was a significant amount of fibroids and scar tissue. Which then led into the going back to work conversation.

Prior to the surgery, he told me that if everything was good, I could go back to work in three weeks. Day of surgery, after they were finished and came out to talk to my family, they were told that if I needed more then three weeks, they would have no problem giving me more time to heal. Today, the doc told me that because they had of lot of work to do to my insides, he didn't want me going back until I went in for my follow-up. Which isn't until June 23rd. A little longer than I anticipated, but I'll take it. After all the weather is getting nicer. And I'm not allowed to drive for a few more weeks either. That may get to me by the end of this week, I'm sure.

This past Sunday I had my first post surgery outing. Yea, I was not ready. And basically, I went from one couch to another. The hubs and me went to mom's for dinner. It started off good. I took my heavy duty Motrin and my tummy pillow and off we went. The problem was that I forgot to bring another Motrin with me to take on the way home. And we were there for several hours. I was getting tired so we left about 9PM. I was fine until we hit dead man's curve. Even though I was armed with my pillow and we took the curve slow, it was still painful. When we got home, I took a Percocet, stayed up about 15 minutes and went to sleep. Knocked out until about 2AM, got up, took a Motrin and was out until about 8:30AM.

Pain meds are a wonderful thing. And no, I am not sharing!

1 Week Down

I have one week under my belt. So far, everything is coming along just like the doctor said and what I've read on my Hystersisters website. Pretty much, I still can't do anything. Although, my walks are getting longer, but I still have to go slow. Last night, John and I walked out to the lake to watch the sunset. Thank goodness, there's a bench out there, because I had to sit and rest awhile before we walked back. I think it was a little bit too far. Considering, I've only made it the length of our street. Which, by the way, isn't very long. LOL.

In the pain department...I still have pain. But it's manageable. I am being good about taking pain meds, but they get me drowsy. However, this morning, so far I've been bad and have not taken one yet. I was trying to hold out, but I think I'm going to need one soon.

Today, I am going to go on a road trip. But only to my mom's for dinner. I could use some of momma's homemade spaghetti!! And I'll get leftovers! YAY! Don't worry, my Internet followers, John is cooking for me. But you know, it's just not the same. Plus, I feel lost not being in the kitchen. I'm hoping that by the end of next week, if John gets the pans out for me and puts them on the stove or in the oven. That I can do a little bit of cooking.

Speaking of John. I don't want to say this too loud for fear of jinxing it, but I think the C diff is going away and the good bacteria is taking over again. He has a few more days left on his antibiotics and will call his doctor this week to have it checked out.

Keep your fingers crossed!!

Surgery and Recovery

So, I've joined the ranks of the millions of women that have had hysterectomy. Although right now, I can't say I'm enjoying it.

I woke up Monday morning thinking that I was going to be famished since I was on a liquid diet since noon on Sunday and didn't have any real food since about 11:30AM. Instead, I was fine just a little nervous. Now mind you, I've had other surgeries in the past and wasn't' nervous.

I got through the first few hours ok. I pretty much laid in bed and napped, thinking that would pass the time away. Then about 11:00 I started getting hunger pangs. Loud ones! So loud that John was laughing saying that if anything, they would keep the doctors awake! Thanks, honey.

So now I was getting miserable. I wanted food. To pass the time, John suggested we play some checkers. It was an easy, no brainer game. That passed about an hour. Then I took a shower and watch Young and the Restless. We left about 1:30.

So we get to the hospital and my family was already there and told me they called me at ten to two. Ok, whatever, you told me to be there at 2:00. They got me checked in pretty quick and got me to the pre op room. Everything seemed to go pretty quick. They got my IV in, took vitals and both my doctors came in to talk with us. It really looked like they were going to get me into surgery at 3:00 as scheduled.

Oh we were so wrong! The person assigned to the OR before me went longer then anticipated. I was really starting to get an attitude. So was John. Finally, about 4:50 the anesthesiologist came in, talked to us for a few minutes, put something into my IV to relax me. Whatever it was, it really relaxed me because I don't remember leaving that pre op room.

I'm told that it lasted just about 2 1/2 hours. When I woke up in the recovery room, it actually was kind of weird. I was still hooked up to all sorts of monitors, that I don't remember from my other surgeries. I also noticed that the cuffs they wrap around your legs to prevent blood clots were on my legs. The nurse was there, and she said I was in the recovery room and they were able to it laparoscopically, but... But?! But, what?! She told me they also had to take one of my ovaries. I seriously think I was fine with that, because I was still in shock that they didn't have to cut my stomach open. Although I have to say, it sure felt like they did.

Then came the first dose of morphine!!! I think that is the wonder drug. After a few more minutes, they let John and my mom come to see me. I think it was around 9:15pm or so. I was still a little out of it and just wanted to sleep. I could tell they were even shocked with the outcome.

They didn't stay long, mom was getting tired and wanted to go home. I got up to my room at 10:30.

I had a decent night, I woke up a few times when the nurses came in to check on me. My doctor came in about 8 in the morning. We had a long talk. I asked him why I had 4 incisions instead of the normal 3 in lap surgeries. He flat out told me that they had a lot of scar tissue to work around and they needed a better angle to see. He also informed me that I will feel like I had the ab surgery....Ugh! Boy was he right.

Well, I am home now. Recovery is slow. Pain meds are wonderful. So far this is my day. Get up, take pain meds, get dressed, go downstairs, nap. Wake up, walk, eat something, nap. I'll stop there because I'm sure you get the picture. I tire out quickly. I also had to nap in the middle of writing this blog and I think it's time for another nap.

I'll continue this later

Surgery Eve

And I'm very anxious to say the least. It's really kind of strange. Tomorrow at this time, I will have an organ out of my body. Not just any organ, but a female organ and it's just so final.

We decided a long time ago that we weren't having kids. And I'm totally fine with that. Really, I'm too old and don't have patience like I used to. Besides, we just get up and travel whenever we please, why would I want to be tied down with a kid. But this just makes it so final. Somehow, I have to get through that.

The other thing that makes me anxious....will it be laparoscopic or through my abdomen....the doctors won't know until they look with the scope and then make a determination. As they said at our consult. I have an unusual situation. A lot of scar tissue from a previous surgery, a uterus the size of a 12 week pregnancy and more fibroids. Waking up in the recovery room should be very interesting.

Today has been a lazy day. Because of the possible laparoscopic surgery, I had to start a liquid diet at noon today. At 5:00, I have to drink my 'yummy' magnesium citrate. Which will lead me to an evening of calling my bathroom home. Then I have to completely stop eating and drinking at midnight. It's going to be a long night and morning since I have to be at the hospital at 2:00PM.

I no doubt, will be starving. Not to mention that I am horrible when I go without food.

So there are my pre surgery feelings in a nutshell.

I'll report back when I get home from the hospital

C -Diff sucks!

This has been the month from hell.

A week after John came home from the hospital, he started having major tummy issues. And they weren't at all normal. And being the typical man that he is, getting him to go to the dr again was nearly impossible. Especially since they couldn't find the source of the fever and Euclid Hospital.

After about day 5, things seemed to improve. But that was short lived and the tummy issues started up again. Finally about the 10th day, he admitted that this wasn't going away and it was time to call the dr. We found him a new dr at the Clinic. I called at 7:30 in the morning and we got a 9:00 appointment. I was so happy about that.

We got there and since Euclid Hospital is a Cleveland Clinic hospital, she already knew that he has spent time on a couple of different antibiotics. She also knew why he was there.

She was pretty quick to say that she thought that he had Antibiotic Associated C Diff. She sent him off to the lab to give samples and would let us know the next day. That was the 1st.

So late Friday afternoon, we got the confirmation that it was and put him on another round of antibiotics to get the infection under control.

So what is C Diff you ask? Well, thanks to Wikipedia, here's what it is:

Clostridium difficile (Greek kloster (κλωστήρ), spindle, and Latin difficile,[1] difficult), also known as "CDF/cdf", or "C. diff", is a species of Gram-positive bacteria of the genus Clostridium. Clostridia are anaerobic, spore-forming rods (bacillus).[2] C. difficile is the most serious cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) and can lead to pseudomembranous colitis, a severe infection of the colon, often resulting from eradication of the normal gut flora by antibiotics.[3] The C. difficile bacteria, which naturally reside in the body, become overgrown: The overgrowth is harmful because the bacterium releases toxins that can cause bloating, constipation, and diarrhea with abdominal pain, which may become severe. Latent symptoms often mimic some flu-like symptoms. Discontinuation of causative antibiotic treatment is often curative.[2] In more serious cases, oral administration of metronidazole or vancomycin is the treatment of choice. Relapses of C. difficile AAD have been reported in up to 20% of cases.[2]

Ok so that was pretty much a very medical definition.

Anyway he gets on the medicine, which by the way is the only one that works, but it causes loss of appetite, upset stomach and some others. Well didn't John go and lose his appetite and get an upset tummy...so bad that he pretty much stopped eating which led to him not drinking enough fluids. Which isn't a good mix when you are going to the bathroom every hour.

I could tell he was getting dehydrated and pretty much feeling miserable. He even asked me to stay home from work on Monday. Which I did and by Monday night he seemed to be doing fine and did a 6 hour stint of not going to the bathroom. Then it started again at about midnight.

I went to work Tuesday morning, he wasn't feeling all that great, but he wanted me to go. I called my mom to tell her I was at work and told her that within 24 hours we were going to be in the ER because he was really getting dehydrated.

We were in the ER 2 hours after that phone call. He called to tell me he was getting worse and wanted to go in.

Yep, he was dehydrated. They gave him a huge bag of fluids and we figured we be on our way once it was done. Wrong. John is a cardiac patient, so they wanted to monitor his heart and were keeping him over night. OH MY GOSH, the last time that was told to us, he spent a week in the hospital. Amazingly, when they told us he was staying the first thing out of his month was ok, but is it too late to order dinner, because I feel like eating. I wanted to do cartwheels. He hadn't asked for food in days. He did get dinner, but since it's not a normal hospital room, he got a Lean Cuisine dinner, which was mashed potatoes and chicken. So he was happy.

But never fear, he was out before noon today. Feeling and looking alot better. Now I just have to keep him eating and drinking.

Right now, he sleeping, actually has been since about 3:30. Which is a good thing, because in the last 72 hours he figured he's only gotten about 2 to 2 1/2 hours of sleep. And the tummy issues seem to have subsided. At least for now. I don't want to get overly excited as this is a pretty stubborn thing and it can take 10 to 30 days to clear up.

And a word to the wise...really think twice about going on any type of penicillin antibiotic because this is high risk antibiotic to bring this on.