Surgery and Recovery

I have neglected the blog since my surgery, and I'd say I'm sorry, but come on! They cut me open! :) Before I give you all of the details, I have to start this out by saying thank you to everyone that has called or emailed or visited or sent flowers. I have been so touched by it all!

Wednesday I went in at 8 am and they wheeled me in for surgery at 9 am. The last thing I remember is the nurse telling me she had a daughter named Kailey and I said "I have a Hailey." Then it got very cold and then darkness. The doctor came out after the surgery and told Greg that the gallbladder was very jaundiced and diseased, so it was a good thing they took it out.
The next thing I remember is waking up in another cold room and saying "Ouch" with a very soar throat. Then I am being wheeled into another room where a not very nice nurse shoves pills down my throat when I can barely swallow. For her meanness I spit on her. (Not on purpose of course. At least not consciously.) Luckily she went on break not long after that and I had a very nice nurse help me the rest of the time. It took me a long time to fully wake up. Part of me didn't want to because it hurt so much! Greg didn't help things by being extremely witty and making me laugh, which hurts after you've been sliced open.

Made it home at around 4 pm. Greg got the three little ones from his folks' after dinner. I don't remember much about that night, except that every time I saw one of my kids I started crying and telling them how much I loved them. I am always extremely weepy when in pain or on meds, and this time was no exception. Trent was rolling his eyes at me by bedtime, I'm sure.
I woke up Thursday with the worst pain in my right shoulder and back. I had been warned about it, otherwise I would have been scared. They pumped me full of air in order to see better during the operation, which is why my shoulder and back hurt. It was really bad the first three days, but now it's pretty much gone.

At 9:45 that morning, I'm lying in bed watching 'August Rush' (recommend it), and there's a knock at the door. I almost didn't get it, but I'm glad I did. There stood Debbie and Tawnya, with two meals between them. What a surprise! They filled the freezer and stayed for an hour, it was so nice. And while they were there the Fed Ex guy brought two boxes of flowers, one from my mom and sister, and the other from my Book Club friends! I tried so hard not to cry (the meds, you know.). It really meant a lot to me.

So since then I've been slowly recovering. My stomach muscles still hurt a lot, and I try not to overdue it. I can walk around for a little while but then have to lie down. The heating pad is my best friend right now. I have had a sore throat and it hurts so much to cough and sneeze. It feels like my stitches are being ripped out, so I try to avoid it if possible. This doesn't hurt nearly as much as when I had my appendix out. I was 6 months pregnant with Seth and they had to do an open surgery, so this has been a much better experience. Not that this has been fun, but I am looking forward to not being so sick anymore.

Greg has been wonderful. He's being a single parent for the most part, taking care of the kids and the house. I can supervise if I need to, but he's doing all of the work. The hardest thing is that I can't pick up anything over 10 pounds for three weeks and Rachel weighs 20. So I am absolutely no help with her. We are hoping Greg's mom can watch her tomorrow so he can get into work.

So, that's about it. I am including a link to the pictures the doctor took of the surgery. Be warned, they are of my insides, so if you don't like that sort of thing, don't look. The last one is of the gallbladder when they opened it up. Yuck, I am so glad it's gone!

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x246/berlyk/gallbladder.jpg

Thanks again to everyone that has helped us. We have enough food to last us another week and we are so appreciative of all that's been done in our behalf.