I am up and sipping Crystal Light and able to make a short post to let every one know I’m on the mend. I won’t go into too much details because I’m just too tired so I’ll just keep this short for now with just a brief overview of the highlights from the past couple of days.

Thursday was my gastric bypass surgery and hubby drove me to the hospital. As he was getting out of the car he took a really bad fall, twisting his right knee and leg and scrapping his right elbow. He managed to walk me to the floor to get checked in for surgery, but I insisted that he go to the Emergency Room to get checked out. It took a few hours for xrays and other tests, but luckily nothing is broke – just swollen and very bruised. So he is keeping his leg up and resting and managing to take very good care of me too. He’s my hero.

The surgery itself went well, however, they had trouble putting me under, and that process ended up taking several hours, resulting in my being put on a breathing tube and unconscious for about 24 hours in ICU after the surgery. When I was finally conscious on Friday and they removed the breathing tube my throat was raw making it very difficult to swallow anything. Plus my tummy was very sore from the surgery and my innards were not happy having been rearranged and all kinds of gas and other bodily fluids roaming around were causing distress. The nurse I had in ICU was wonderful and she helped me through my first tentative steps to the bathroom, my one (and thankfully only) really bad bought with gas pain that felt as if my inside were being torn inside out, and waited on me hand and foot.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stay in ICU and I had to be moved to the regular floor, but at least it was a private room. My hubby and mom were with me and after the first three nurses came in to get me set up, they were afarid to leave me alone there. It was most likely because it was very late on a Friday that I managed to get the luck of the draw to get the three stooges of nurses and if I was feeling better it would have been rather funny, but I was too groggy and in too much pain so all I could do was endure.

The first nurse trips over my IV tubing yanking it hard, which then causes my entire hand to swell up like a balloon. She lifts up my hand and declares, “That isn’t good.” Eventually she finally cuts off my wristband which is now digging in to my skin and removes the IV as my hand continues to swell. The second nurse comes in with a heart monitor to hook me up too. She is in worse shape that I am, limping and wheezing and can barely get the monitor strap over my head to hang it around my neck. The third nurse comes in to hook up a new IV. After trying a few times in my other arm, she decided it was my fault and left, declaring that if I had better veins and hadn’t flinched she could have gotten an IV in. So now my left hand and wrist are swollen from the yanked IV and my other hand and arm is feeling like a pin cushion and bruises are starting to form. A few hours later, eventually a competent nurse showed up and managed to put in an IV.

I managed to rest a bit during the night and the morning, and thankfully I was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon. Yesterday all I could manage to do was sleep and stumble to the bathroom now and then. My throat was still raw and my hand was still swollen though it was coming down a bit.

This morning I am actually beginning to feel human again. My throat is still a little sore but much better so it makes it easier to get in the much needed liquids I need to drink. My hand is also doing much better and the swelling has gone down a lot. I can finally close my fingers enough to make a fist again. It is still a little puffy and still leaking a bit – the tiny hole where the IV was leaks some kind of clear liquid so I keep a bandaide over it. I am able to sit up and even watched a few of favorite tv shows that hubby taped for me. Hubby’s birthday was yesterday, so this morning my daughter and I gave him his cards and gifts we had prepared last week. I’m hoping to taking a shower later on and who knows maybe even venture outside for a short walk. But one step at a time, I don’t want to over do it.

I’m looking forward to feeling a bit better every day. This week is just clear liquids. Thursday I have my doctor appointment and will most likely get the ok start having more kinds of liquids like protein shakes. Eventually in a couple weeks I’m hoping to feel well enough perhaps to go out and see a movie with the family. One day at a time, getting better and better.

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