Sorry I have been remiss in keeping this up to date. The Wednesday after Thanksgiving I went to the ER because I was having severe stomach pains that started Thanksgiving night. At first I had thought the pains were indigestion or something from having eaten too much! Then after almost a week I figured it had to be something more serious. Well, as many of you know, at the time I didn't think I had any insurance so figured my best bet was to carry my ass to the ER over at St. Petersburg General Hospital. My friend Crystal went with me, I had borrowed her mom's car. So I get in there and after a bit the doctor on call tells me he thinks it might be my gall bladder. So they had someone come in and give me an ultrasound. That was fun - brought back baby memories! LOL After what seemed like a billion hours later, the doctor comes in and says that yes, it's my gall bladder and that they are going to admit me and do surgery to remove it. Ack! I immediately freaked out! I've never had surgery before. The good news was that the lady who took my information to admit me came in and said that my medicaid was active so everything would be covered. Hooray!! So right around that time Crystal had to leave. Mark and Linda came to get her and the car. I said goodbye and they wheeled me into a room in the hospital. I was so nervous and scared but they kept pumping me with morphine so I also kept drifting off into sleep. LOL I stayed in that room for about 8 hours and then they told me that the rooms were all full and they were going to transfer me up to the Labor and Delivery floor because I was a young female. I was pretty darn happy about that because I have had 2 out of 3 of my children in this hospital and knew that the Labor and Delivery nurses were awesome!!
So, I was scheduled to have surgery that day but they delayed it because apparently the ER was packed and they were having to do emergency surgeries left and right. So, I patiently waited my turn. Thursday night comes and the nurse tells me they are scheduling my surgery for that night. She said to be ready by 8:30pm because they were taking me at 9 to go into surgery. So I get ready and I call everyone and let them know. 9pm comes and she comes in and says that they have rescheduled it again. Arrrg! The next day the surgeon comes in and apologizes for not doing the surgery the night before but he didn't want to work that late. What?? LOL Poor thing. So he says he swears that he will do the surgery the following day and that I am his first surgery on the board. OK so I patiently wait (with the help of morphine and wonderfully attentive nurses) for the next day. Let me add in here that when the surgeon canceled my 9pm surgery I literally burst into tears because it had been over 48 hours since I'd last eaten and I was hungry and thirsty and so scared. The nurse who broke the news to me felt so bad and she brought me all sorts of snacks and drinks. LOL I love the L&D nurses!
So, the next day comes and I get all ready to go. They get a new IV in (the other one had stopped and collapsed - OUCH) and wheel me down to the pre-OR. They got me on all the monitors and there are nurses prepping me and talking to me and I'm freaking the hell out. My pulse was going crazy! LOL I was so scared and they had me waiting for eternity because apparently the surgeon had been called to Bayfront Hospital on an emergency. I'm thinking, "OMG if they reschedule again I'm gonna go postal!!!" but finally they push me into the OR!! They have me get on the operating table and the anesthesiologist tells me he's going to give me something to relax and bingo-bango, I'm out within a minute! I wake up a few hours later in the recovery area and they wheel me to my room. The next thing I remember is the nurse asking me how I was feeling and that she was going to go get me something for the pain. The first pain I felt was my shoulder. OMG was that pain intense!! Apparently they'd had my arm in such a way that it had made my shoulder kink or something. After that pain the abdomen pain from the surgery hit. I couldn't move, I was thirsty and in lots of pain and I swear the nurse took a hundred years to get back. I was moaning and begging for help. Couldn't reach the call button and the phone kept ringing and I couldn't reach that either. Finally, I passed out and got woken up a bit later by the nurses pumping my IV with morphine. Sweet, blissful sleep...
After that I was stuck in the hospital until the following Monday. They kept saying they were keeping me another day because they wanted to make sure my blood sugar was under control. In a way it irritated me because I missed my kids and Daniel and wanted to be with them. At the same time I was being well cared for by my nurses and was enjoying my vacation. LOL They finally released me Monday evening. Linda picked me up after she picked Scott up from school. We drove to CVS to fill my 12 prescriptions and then home! I spent a few days in a pain-pill stupor, sleeping and barely doing anything but recovering. Every day is better and better for me. The incisions are healing nicely. I'm off the pain pills. Barely any pain any more. I'm back up and able to move with ease. My sugar levels are starting to get back to normal levels. Just taking it easy still.
I have been stitching some on the Faerie name piece that I'm doing for Alyssa (Crystal's daughter). I will upload a picture to show my progress here. I'm really excited doing this piece. It's cute! It is also a really quick stitch. I am positive Alyssa and Crystal will love it.
Well, in case I don't get back to posting before - Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule and a Happy New Year to ALL!! May this next year be blessed with good health, peace and happiness. Much love to my friends and family for all their support during this past year. **Hugs**
