Easter and Spring

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.

Spring has Sprung

The weather has been so nice here the last few days. The kids have had so much fun jumping on the trampoline and running around with Suzie. I took Rachel out and sat on the back steps for awhile yesterday and she loved it. She was doing her puppet thing, with her arms and legs pumping like crazy. Too cute. Elise was at Isaac's house. (He is her future husband, by the way. They've already decided they're in love. I'll have to get a picture of him.) It's so nice to see the lawn again, even if it's still dormant. Our yard is in need of some serious work and we can't wait to get out there and do it. (We live next to a farm, so what you see behind the tramp is their trees and fields that need some work.) The tulips are beginning to bloom and hopefully the leaves will be back on the trees soon. I love Spring!

I have felt pretty good the last few days. Tonight hasn't been the best, but I've got my anti-nausea meds, so that helps. I wish it took away the pain, though. One more week and they'll slice me open. The kids are very freaked out by that, so I try to reassure them that it'll only be little cuts and I'll be up and nagging them again before they know it.

Sun and Jin, and Juliet

So, I didn't post about LOST last week because I was quite
underwhelmed by the episode. I knew it couldn't possibly be as
good as Desmond's. Yeah, we knew Ben was in love with Juliet and she loved Goodwin. Yawn.

Now this weeks, that's another story. I dabbed my eyes several times and was full on crying at the end. They threw us for a loop with the flash forward AND backwards. Greg figured it out when Jin was running into the hospital. Poor Sun, having to give birth without her husband. And sweet Hurley coming to see her. I loved how Jin came to realize that it was the man he was before that caused her to cheat and that he wasn't the same anymore. He has come a long way since they first crashed on the island. When he was asking if the baby was his, he was so sincere and humble. Greg didn't like this one.

We were supposed to be surprised that Michael was the spy on the boat, but it was so anti-climactic. Anyone who watches the show figured that out a long time ago, duh. Can't wait to hear what he's been up to. And this is funny: Greg's trainer is named Kevin Johnson, which is what Michael's used as his alias.

Sometimes Life Sucks

Thursday was not a great day for me, so I worked on the post about Elise and made the slide show and it helped. I was feeling very 'poor me' and it helped to focus on something else for awhile. I was feeling so low because I found out that I have to have my gallbladder removed on March 26th. It will eventually be a good thing because I have been very sick since November and it has really been disrupting our lives.

I have commented a few times in here that I've had the stomach flu a number of times this winter. I know now that it was my gallbladder reacting to hormones and it wasn't happy. It started out that once a month I would throw up all day and crawling wasn't even possible so I'd lay on the bathroom floor. Then it turned to every other week. Then it was weekly and finally after three days of not being able to keep anything down, Greg took me to the ER. After a head CT and blood work came back negative, they did an ultrasound and found my gallbladder is 1/3 full of sludge. Which is a gross way of saying it's beginning to form stones.

They can remove it laparoscopicly, and it's an out-patient procedure, so I won't have to stay overnight. Greg will be able to help and I've had several neighbors offer to come to my aid as well. We started our Spring cleaning today so I don't have to worry about it when I'm down.

I've done what I said I wouldn't, and that is use this blog to only highlight the good stuff going on. I haven't posted even a quarter of the times I've been sick, mainly thinking that you didn't want to hear about me pucking. And though I will spare the gross parts, I realize that keeping my friends and family in the dark about important stuff isn't helping anyone. I detest trying to be perfect and readily admit I am far from it. I have posted about my lack of cleaning skills, but I've somehow seen my illness as a weakness and have been embarrassed about it. Like I can help it! Friday was one of those days when I took a look at my life and came to understand that those of you that read this know and love me, no matter if I have a gallbladder or not. And I shouldn't pretend anymore. When life sucks, I'm going to post about it. You've been warned.

Princesses on Ice

My Princess

Elise had, in her words,"The BEST date ever!" last night. It was also, "The longest date ever!". She and I, along with 5 of my friends and their daughters, went to see Disney's Princesses on Ice. And we didn't just go see it. That would have been too simple. Each of the girls were dressed as their favorite Princess, along with having their faces painted. I wish I would've had a video camera as Danylle had all of her costumes hanging on a table for those that needed them, while Kayla had her face paints set up at the other one to do each girls face. We caused quite a commotion! Even the security guards stopped to admire the girls as we got ready.

Elise was beside herself with excitement as the show began. She would squeal each time a new Princess came out and I was sure she was going to come out of her skin when it was Cinderella's turn. Watching her was as much fun as watching the skating. She has such an enthusiasm for life and everything in it, and when she loves something, she LOVES it. It is so much fun being her mom. We had a great time and I loved sharing every minute of it with her.