Recovery Week Five

I have to admit I am feeling pretty good!  I am finally at the point where I am actually enjoying my time off from work.  Excellent.  I have a meeting with my boss on Monday to talk about coming back to work.  Just in time.

Oh, look...flowers on the blog.  Weird.

Really the only time I am uncomfortable is if anything pushes against my lower abdomen.  Sammy is having problems with this part.

"Why can't I climb in your lap, mom?  I am an excellent lap dog."

Today marks the beginning of Easter weekend. The husband only works a half day today and then he is off until Monday. Yay. It should be a fun weekend with family.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Recovery Week Four

I will warn you up front that there will be lots of pictures of flowers in this post.  I am in love with the spring weather we are having here in Houston and possibly more in love with the flowers and plants I got planted last weekend.

If you are a hater of flowers, this will be a tough post for you.  And while I am on things I love, I love that this is my view right now.

I am working from my beautiful dining room right now...I really love this room in my house.

As far as recovery goes, I am feeling pretty good.  I am back driving now which I missed.  It is nice to be able to run to the post office or shopping.  I still can't pick up heavy items, of course, and I do still get very tired in the afternoon.

One of the most frustrating things to me right now is not being able to go to the gym.  Since I lack that ability I kind of have a terrible attitude of well since I can't really work on the weight loss I might as well eat whatever I want.  So counter productive.  I have some good days with food and some bad days.  I guess I should be happy they are not all bad days.

The other thing that still freaks me out a bit is that my lower belly is still asleep.  I have very little feeling down there, I can feel pressure, but not much more.  I am told this is normal, but it is still super weird.  That's great that it's normal, but why does that happen!?  Crazy.  I have talked with some friends who have had c-sections and they have had the same experience.  Ehh.

Yesterday I took the opportunity to get my hair cut.  It was kind of nice to go get my hair cut at 10:45 AM on a Wednesday.  I could get used to that.  I got 6 inches cut off, added some layers and some side swept bangs.

(I was parked while taking this picture)

Love it.  Thanks Rob!

I hope you are having a great week!

Recovery Week One

A week ago today around this time I was in surgery.  It was a planned surgery to remove fibroid tumors from my uterus.  The doctor thought there were 5, but it turns out one of the tumors that she thought was two was fused together and really big. so she only have to remove four.  I don't know if that was a good or bad thing...it is just a fact.

So far my recovery is going pretty well.  Today I am having a more painful day; I seem to have good days and bad...true of most life stages, no?  Today the part of my stomach that is still numb from the surgery (completely normal by the way) seems to be waking up some and is hurting.

My awesome sister came in town on Sunday and stayed with me until this morning to help me.  The husband had to go back to work on Monday so I was extra happy to have her here.

 

She helped me by doing all the things around the house that I cannot do right now, plus cooked dinners for us.  I miss her already and I am sure the husband will miss her too since he will have to pick up the slack.  Thank you Sissy for coming to help...I love you tons!!

Yesterday I left the house for the first time since I got home from the hospital.  It was actually a few days early for doctor recommended house leaving since that isn't supposed to happen until week two, but I was feeling good and we were just going around the corner to the drug store.  My big purchase?

More reading materials!  Yay.

In my spare time while not working and not being able to do a lot around the house, I have had lots of time for thinking and internet browsing.  I saw a couple of things on Facebook this week that provoked some thought.  The first one was this...

This is so true, right?  I make it no secret on the blog that I struggle with my weight and that I am actively trying to lose weight right now.  It's important.  This surgery was not weight related, but if I don't make permanent changes there could be future surgeries that are.  I want to be a good example to my nieces and nephew and any future children that I may have.  This quote gives me even more motivation.

The other was this...

So are vegetables...they just need s good wash.

Food for thought.

Have a great Thursday!!  You have almost made it to the weekend!!

Surgery Update

My surgery went as planned with no complications. I'm resting as comfortably as I can in a private room. The husband is here with me. He is a sweetheart...even telling me I look pretty & bringing me a Hello Kitty lamb to snuggle.

I am loving the non slid socks and compression sock layer I am rocking (I'm sure the husband is too).

Don't be jealous.

Have a lovely day!!!

Weekend Finds and Tuesday Ramblings

I had my eye on this picture frame at Pier 1 and when I stopped in over the weekend it was on clearance.  Yes, please.

I immediately thought that this first dance picture which I had in a plain silver frame would look very cute in it.

I like it.  These are on top of the chest in our bedroom.  There is also a picture of the husband with our niece Chelsie who is now seven, she was barely one in the picture on the left.  Time flies!  I love the picture of my parents at their wedding as well.  I picked up the blue distressed frame on the right on clearance this weekend too.  I like pops of color.

Now for my ramblings and a funny story.  Today is my pre-op visit with my doctor.  I have my list of questions ready which include awesome things like how long will my incision be and how will I be closed (staples, stitches, glue?); along with necessary questions like what time do I check in to the hospital on Thursday.

This will be my first trip to the office since I received news I was not expecting during my last visit.  My surgery is to remove fibroid tumors from my uterus so there would be space to carry a baby to term.  There are 5 tumors, three that measure 6 centimeters across at their widest and then two smaller ones.

The news I received last month when I was in the office was that the results of my blood work and the ultra sound that she had done on my initial visit showed that my egg count was low and the chances of getting pregnant naturally were very slim.  I was all alone in the office, no husband there for support, and this news hit me like a ton of bricks.  Now don't get me wrong, the husband would have been there if i had invited him, but I had no idea I would need him there. My doctor could see my eyes begin to well up with tears and she started to name lots of options for a family...adoption, egg donor ship, etc.

My doctor sent me back down for more blood work to check one of my levels again.  So I was off (don't worry the funny part of the story is coming).  I headed out of the doctor's office to the lab to get my blood drawn.  The office is in a professional building at the Woman's Hospital so there are women with their beautiful children everywhere.  I found it kind of comforting since I was sure some of them had received news like mine at one point.

I get to the lab and the very sweet technician greets me to take my blood.  She is gigantically pregnant and is telling me how wiped out she is.  I am sure she was.  She probably has a sweet baby by now, she was seven months along in December.  I get seated and she puts the evil blue elastic band on my arm to look for a vein.  Then she says to me, "Here squeeze the egg."  Yes, she was handing me a white stress ball in the shape of an egg.  Hi, your ovaries are broken, squeeze this egg.  How funny is that?

Through tears of telling the husband the news I received I still found this blood drawing story hilarious.  You can't make it up.  I am so thankful for my sense of humor or I might have burst into tears and run out of the office right there and left the sweet pregnant technician very confused.

Today I will also find out if the blood work taken during this story gave us any new information.

Enjoy your Tuesday, remember laughter really can make you feel better.

Wonderful Wednesday

I am feeling very thoughtful today.  I am also feeling like sharing...so here is what I am thinking about...

I am thinking my friend Liz's twin sons are adorable (and I am not just saying that since they are wearing onsies I made for them).  I am also thinking I will be printing and framing this picture, I love that little Daniel is sticking his tongue out.

I'm feeling so content and happy right now and I am so pleased with these feelings.  I feel kind of like this cat looks.

Comfortable.  It is surprising to me how comfortable and content I am feeling considering I will be having surgery next week.  I thought as the countdown to surgery day ticked forward I would feel more anxious and crazy, but instead I just feel calm and confident.  I am proud of me for that.

I am thinking a lot about my Hattiesburg family and hoping all of the people there who were devastated by the tornado last Sunday are doing okay and are on the mend.  I am so thankful my family was unharmed and I am also thankful that no one in Hattiesburg was killed during the storm.  Things could have been so much worse.  I know there is a lot of rebuilding to do, but I know it will happen in time.

I am happy I got to spend time in Hattiesburg on Saturday.  I love my family and I have so much fun hanging out with my nieces.  I love that Courtney and I wear coordinating jammer pants.

Morning sofa chats would just not be the same if our pj pants clashed.

I am always thankful when we cross the Texas border coming back from Hattiesburg that I do not live in El Paso.

That would add considerable time to our trip.

I love these faces.

I think about that most days though.  I feel loved.

So true.

I hope you are having a fantastic Wednesday!

Terrific - Terrifying Tuesday

My dog is so hilarious, she thinks she is a small dog.  She thinks she fits on the ottoman.

"What?  I am tiny."

My 60 pound lap dog.  Isn't she pretty?  Silly girl.

Last night I put the finishing touches on the heart-man onsies.

Now I just need to get them in the mail to Will and Daniel.  Sweet boys.

I hadn't painted a t-shirt in years.  I am pleased with how these turned out, even though they are not perfect...I think it gives them charm.

So, about 9 months ago I had surgery.  As it turns out I will be having surgery again at the end of February.  This time it is a scheduled surgery and this time it will be a little more invasive.  I am having some fibroid tumors removed from my uterus.  The surgery will be similar to a woman having a cesarean section so in the grand scheme of surgery types not a gigantic deal, I know women have c-sections everyday.

As it turns out I think I find unplanned surgery a little less stressful.  Last time I was in pain, I went to the doctor, they gave me some meds and put me to sleep and I woke up feeling much better.  This time I am not hurting and I know the surgery is coming which gives my creative mind too much time to think about it.  Last night I had a terrifying nightmare during which I was awake for the surgery and couldn't move or talk.  It was a little scary.  Sigh.  The only comic relief to the dream was a couple of people making funny faces at me.  At least I can still laugh, right?

When I am awake I am not scared and I am not stressing too much...in fact while I was falling asleep last night I was thinking about what to pack for our Italy trip.  The surgery wasn't even on my mind.  Funny how dreams work, isn't it?

This morning I was up and busy early and wearing a cute outfit that includes this awesome necklace my sister gave me for Christmas.

She has one too.  We call it our sisters necklace.  We are silly.  Thanks for the necklace Sissy!

Have a wonderful Tuesday friends!