...is quite boring, really. I had an uneventful surgery (praise God!) and an extremely uneventful recovery (praise God again!). So uneventful that I was bored out of my skull (though the being waited on and catered to is quite lovely and almost worth the price of admission). The last 11 days have been pretty painless thanks to chemistry (yay for Vicodin), and I'm finally feeling about 90% of normal. Not too bad.
So, back to the boredom. Wanna know what I did with my time?
* I knitted five scarves. (Knitting is my other other other other other craft obsession. Guess what everyone's getting for Christmas this year?!)
* I watched every episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" seasons 1 to 8. At first this was a great idea. Then I had to laugh which is not an altogether pleasant feeling after abdominal surgery. Please note: Do NOT watch comedies when recovering from abdominal surgery.
* I drank one entire case of 7-Up, two stacks of saltines and about two pounds of rice.
* I lost ten pounds in the last four weeks, with half that time spent sitting on my ass doing absolutely nothing. Pretty cool, eh?
* I watched about ten movies, most of them featuring Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks or Jennifer Garner. My bedroom has been chick flick central.
* I played 2000 games of reMovem on my iphone. That freebie game is seriously addictive.
* I walked laps around my cul-de-sac starting on my fourth day of recovery. I *had* to get out of the house. Today we went to Legoland. So glad to be mobile again!
Wednesday was my first full day up and about and though I'm a bit more tired at the end of the day, I'm amazed at how resilient and strong my aging body is. And yesterday my surgeon gave me the thumbs up to resume all my normal activities, like pick up my kids and get squeezy hugs and push a stroller around Legoland.
So, for any of you out there who are facing a cholesystectomy (having your gallbladder removed), rest assured it's a pretty basic procedure and a week or so resting in bed with some good drugs and a doting mother and/or husband is really all it takes in recovery. (Though I also wish I'd had a good recliner since getting in and out of bed by myself was impossible for the first few days.) I'm glad I had it done and am looking forward to a more pain-free life from here on out.
Gallstones are very common in women who fit the fat-fair-forty profile, but there are other factors that can predispose us to attacks. Go here to read more about gallstones. And, if you have any of these sypmtoms, especially if you're fat+fair+forty-ish and your doctor tells you have GERD or acid reflux, request a gallbladder ultrasound or a blood liver levels test to rule out gallstones. I saw four different doctors who all said I had acid reflux when, in fact, I never did. Tums and Prilosec did nothing for my symptoms, and none of those bozos ever thought to check for gallstones. It was the Doogie Houser-esque doctor who treated me during my last ER visit who finally got it right. Bravo, Doogie!
So thanks for all your well wishes and kind words for a speedy recovery. Your prayers were heard! Thank you!
And Makena says "hi!".
So glad everything went well and was *relatively* painless (thanks to the drugs). Glad to see you back at your blog and your gorgeous photos of your adorable kids.
Posted by: Etta | August 22, 2008 at 05:30 PM
Happy to hear all went well! Love the cutie photo. :)
Posted by: Candice | August 22, 2008 at 06:24 PM
Hey Tina girl! Soooooo glad to hear you are doing well. I've been thinking/praying for you and missing you lots! Wishing you continued luckahs on your recovery. Miss Makena is looking cute as ever!
Mwah & Hugs!!!
Posted by: Christy | August 22, 2008 at 10:50 PM
Glad everything went well and that you are in good spirits--your post made me laugh several times.
Posted by: maple jenny | August 23, 2008 at 02:51 PM
I'm so glad to hear that you're well on your way to being...like new? :) Here's to a speedy rest of your recovery!
Posted by: Aubrey | August 23, 2008 at 03:12 PM
Excellent! :) So glad to hear all is well. Miss you!
Posted by: Martha | August 23, 2008 at 06:49 PM
Glad to read that things went well and you found fun ways to spend your recovery time. All the best.
Posted by: Lisa | August 24, 2008 at 08:10 PM
Hello! I AM facing gallbladder surgery so enjoyed reading about yours. Well I didn't ENJOY it, but you know what I mean! LOL
Email me at [email protected] if you feel up to it and I have a few questions to ask you about yours if you don't mind.
As for doctors..........after 2 years of nausea that is getting worse and worse and 3 doctors (family, gastro, and gyne) and many tests, my insistence that it is my gallbladder finally revealed that...........it IS my gallbladder!
Posted by: Bonnie in Murrysville | August 25, 2008 at 10:13 AM
great to hear all is well!
Posted by: Leanne Stamatellos | August 27, 2008 at 07:54 PM