Where have we been ...

So where have I been lately? Easy question, but not sure if you're ready for the round up. So here it goes....

At the end of the school year, we took a family vacation to Holiday World. Fun times had by all! (Wrote about it a few posts back. Yeah, I actually posted about something!)  Then, it was the Stewart Family Reunion. (oh wait, I actually wrote about that too!)  Had a week off of running ragged, then the next week Tay went to church camp, where she was saved! So proud of my girl. She will be baptized at church this next Sunday. She's so excited and we're all so proud of her!

Then the next week was my surgery on June 20th. Oh.My.Goodness what an ordeal that was. I went in knowing there were a lot of possibilities, remove that, fix this, possibly fix that, possibly remove that, etc. To maybe help some understand me, is that I have a connective tissue disorder called Elhers Danlos. Google it if you'd like, but the jist of it is, my connective tissue isn't as strong or elastic as a normal persons, therefore, one of the side effects of bad tissue is pelvic prolapse. I had surgery three years ago to fix the very problem, but alas, my bad tissue didn't hold the sutures. So it all fell, yet again. But this time I was to have a hysterectomy. We arrived at the hospital bright and early, checked in, brought back to get the IV set up. Then, at 9 am  I was off to surgery.

We were expecting the surgery to last around 6 hours. Mike spent the entire time at the hospital, walking the halls. He said he just couldn't sit around and watch the clock.  So, at 3 o'clock when the sixth hour came and went, he started to get worried. He was getting regular updates up until that time. Then all the shift people had left. Then came 4, 5, 6, 7 ...  well you get the picture. At 10 pm that night, he was asking anyone about me who came out the door from surgery. Mostly what he was told was, she's still in surgery. In the waiting room of the hospital there is a tv on the wall that has patients names and their "status" I guess of their surgery. Here's a picture of the tv board at 9 pm that night.

Yes, that's me at the very top. Mike said my name stayed there all day. So finally around 10 pm, someone came and told Mike what room I would be in, so he went up there to wait for me for an hour and watched some tv. Mike said he laid on the bed and almost fell asleep when my doctor came in and talked to him. At that point it was around 11 pm.  She told him everything she did to me.



This is a picture of the da vinci surgical system (robot) that helped performed the surgery on me. My doctor sat to the side of the table while the robot actually performs the surgery. I'm sure it's more technical than that but that's what I understood it to mean. :) From what Mike told me, I was in surgery almost 12 hours. My doctor said I was in recovery at this point but not fully awake yet and that I should be in the room in another half hour or so.

From what I remember, I woke in recovery. And the first thing I remember was intense pain in my shoulders and neck. The next thing that happened was I threw up. Gross I know, but I was so groggy that I remember something coming up and out. Actually, it was days after this that I fully remembered doing this. I was so out of it, I still wasn't fully aware or awake at that time!  But the pain in my upper body was so intense. And I do remember someone wiping my face and my lips off. I remember that feeling good to me. Next thing I know, I'm being wheeled upstairs. When I got to my room, they wheeled me in and tried to help me into my bed. Then I saw Mike after they got me settled. The nurses left, Mike sat down and asked me if I knew what time it was. I didn't have my contacts in, so I really had no clue. I looked at what I thought was a window, but still couldn't see good. He said it's after midnight. WHAT?!?!  I thought the surgery was to be around 6 hours. I was aware at that moment! I had enough mind set to ask him if he was kidding! Seriously?!? He said yes it's almost 1 am. 

Needless to say, that night was rough, nurses come in every couple of hours to check my temp and BP.  I was eating ice like it was a Krispy Kreme donut!! Mike helped me so much that night, the whole time he was there with me.

I ended up being there from that Wednesday, till Saturday morning. I was going to try and go home that Friday, but I had developed a low grade fever by then, so nope, had to stay. I tried taking a shower, all I could do was just stand there. The nurse handed me a bar of soap. Seems like I washed something, don't remember what, but I remember thinking, "that's good, I'm exhausted!" My doctor kept close tabs on me the whole time, she came to see me 3 times I think. Nurses would tell me that she'd called to check up on me. She's been with me every step of the way with this connective tissue problem.

Mike told me the next day about the table I was on in surgery was inverted. My feet were higher than my head. That's when I figured out why my shoulders and neck were hurting so bad. I.was.so.sore from that! My doctor said I had pressure points on my shoulders from the table. (Here I am 4 weeks later, and my shoulders are still somewhat sore!) I developed problems with my throat from the tube being in there so long. My throat soon swelled a bit, was very rough. The uvula had stretched from the swelling and was touching the back of my tongue almost making me gag from it. I was eating ice and swallowing  it to try to keep it all in the back of my throat.

Good grief? Nope, it's not over yet. The next week, I developed a low grade fever. Called my doctor, she then called in prescriptions for 2 different antibiotics.  My doctor used 2 different kinds of "mesh" to help tie every thing up after the hysterectomy, even my bladder. So there was risk of infection and my body not liking the foreign material.  But for the next week at home, I had a fever every day at some point, but, ibuprofen would make it go away. Not that it wasn't bad enough that I felt absolutely terrible, weak, sore, and trying to recover, now I had fevers to make me feel worse.  I saw my doctor 2 times that week in her office. She kept very close tabs on me. Although the fevers were scary, very scary!

Finally after a week being home, the fevers subsided. Thank you lord! So I'm almost 4 weeks out from having my surgery! I've had more energy these last couple of days than I've had in 4 weeks! This has been the most difficult time in my life so far I think. I'm now restricted and unable to pick up Aiden, which is killing me, but I've sat with him on the couch, and hugged him as much as I can. Taylor had a really hard time while I was in the hospital. I'd heard she got really down and was really worried. Bless my girl's heart! I really hated to hear she was so worried and scared for her mama! It has really been hard on all the family. Both sets of grandparents came over every day to help out around the house, with the kids, etc. I thank the good lord for my family. They were my saving grace! I now know when times are tough and I'm feeling what seems to be my worst, my family jumps right in and helps!

So on the road to recovery! I see my doctor again next week for another check up.  Not sure if she's ready to cut me loose, we'll just have to wait and see.....