This week has been quite a long one. The trouble started Wednesday when Stephanie and I went to Norfolk so that I could go have my pre-op physical for my surgery Thursday. Naturally, I had an appointment at 2 p.m. and it was supposed to go smoothly. But do they ever? No.
So it was 3:30 before I even saw my doctor, and he was in the room with me for about five minutes. He checked my heart beat, pushed around on my stomach a bit and then said "Ok, Michelle will tell you where to go next". Then he left.
Then I got sent over to the surgery center where I was supposed to get checked in and have my lab work done. So I sat there for another eternity, and filled out more paperwork, only to be told that I had to go over to the HOSPITAL to have my lab work done.
SO, we went to the hospital, waited around THERE forever, and then they made me fill out MORE paperwork. Once that was finally finished, I told them what I was there for and gave them the papers surgery had sent me with, and they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about. Once we finally got that figured out, I was able to get my blood drawn. Naturally the guy stuck the needle in me and then went "oh, I can't seem to find your vein" so he just dug around a bit. It would be horrifying if I wasn't already so used to this...
About three hours after I should have been done, we were finally out of there and Steph and I went to do some shopping. Mostly for Andy's birthday (which is Saturday) because I don't really have any money to buy for myself. I did, however, get a new DS game for about $7 and a pair of pajama pants that I could wear to my surgery because the only ones I had at mom's with me had holes in them. *hehe*
Once we got done shopping we came back to my place and dyed each other's hair. That was kind of nice. We called it our "pre-surgery party". Then she took off and I chatted with Chris for a bit before I went to bed.
Thursday was the bad part.
I had to get up at 4:20 a.m. I got dressed, got my stuff together, and mom and I went back to Norfolk. We got there around ten after six, and I got checked in. The worst thing about this kind of surgery is that the only thing (other than the hospital gown) that I was allowed to wear were my socks. Talk about uncomfortable. :S
They poked me and prodded me, took my blood pressure a million times and then finally started my IV. I can honestly say that for once it wasn't so bad. The nurse I ended up with was excellent at it and I believe that's the first time in my entire life that it only took one try to get it in. smile
By the time I actually went into surgery, I was really wishing I were anywhere else. Normally I'm pretty good about that kind of stuff, but I was tired and nervous and ready to go home. And then they strapped my arms down and everything. It was sort of creepy really. I didn't even notice going to sleep. Normally when I have had procedures in the past, my anesthesiologist would say something like "Now you're going to start falling asleep". This guy said "This one's for nausea" followed by "and this one's for pain". Nothing about the sleeping stuff and the next thing I know they're waking me up.
It was the hardest time I've ever had with anesthesia. Took me two full hours to wake up. I kept trying but my eyes just wouldn't open and I had to stay in stage one recovery for over an hour because every time they tried to take the oxygen mask off of me all my vitals dropped. Apparently while I was sleeping I quit breathing. Ick.
Once I got back to stage two recovery (which was the room I'd started out in) they let my mother come back with me and I slept for ANOTHER hour before I could fully wake up. Of course, to me all of this felt like about 10 minutes. And after I was awake and had gotten up to go to the bathroom (and nearly died of pain from moving) they said "Are you ready to go home?" and I was like "I thought I had to stay for a while?" And my mom laughed and said "We've been here for two and a half hours since the surgery got over".
So then once I got out, mom and I went to Village Inn and ate some awesome breakfast. Everything tasted great despite the fact that it hurt me immensely to try and move to the food. XD
We came home and I slept from 2 until 6, got up, ate dinner, and played Sorry! with mom. We ended up playing five games because I won them all and she kept trying to beat me. XD After that I came back online for a bit and talked to Kiley and Chris some more before going to sleep.
It's now 7:30 in the morning and I've been awake for an hour because of all the sleep I got yesterday.
Christy keeps telling me that she can't wait for me to get home, and I agree. I miss her and the cats a lot. And Andy of course, but probably the cats the most...basically because it's harder than hell to sleep without them around.
So about the surgery? I'm sure you'd like to know how it all came out. (And if you don't, I don't really care because I'm going to tell you anyway).
My doctor DID find the endometriosis that he thought he would. He ended up using lasers to remove it from five different areas. (Ouch!) He expects that it's probably still there in place he CAN'T see, and therefore wants me to take these extremely expensive (but very good) shots for the next six months.
The crazy part? I've been so worried about not being able to have children. Because I've read up on this stuff a lot and a good amount of people with endometriosis end up infertile. The doctor said that he is certain it was probably a lot worse but the pills that I've been taking since I was 12 to regulate my period have probably done wonders for it. So the irony of the whole situation is that the birth control pill saved my chances of being able to get pregnant.
Today I'm feeling crazy terrible. In order to do the surgery they had to cut below my belly button, and another one a bit lower down. So I have two really painful incisions (which I'll need to go back to the clinic next week and get my stitches out) and on top of that, all the laser work can't feel too great either. Plus (as I was warned might happen) one of the spots they removed it from was on a nerve attached to my shoulder. So now my shoulder (the same arm where they drew my blood AND put in my IV) hurts like hell.
I'm really hoping to get to go home tomorrow, but I don't know if I will be able to. Obviously because of possible weather problems, and of course because right now I can barely walk.
My brother's senior pictures came back. They are really nice looking. I really like them. Especially this one where he's sitting next to this old rusty truck. And what's funny about that is that my favorite picture of my OWN senior pictures so many years ago was next to the same truck. Along with his pictures, we had family ones done. So I finally have a decent photo of mom and Ryan and I. And Ryan and I had one done of the two of us in our MCR concert shirts that looks AMAZING. I'm really pleased because I never like pictures of myself so I'm so glad this one turned out nice.
AND, I just got the nicest Christmas card from Amy! ^_^ Aww, how I love her. She's wonderful.
Anyway, I need to lay back down. Not feeling too well. If you read through all of this, I love you to death. <3
--Faye
Lady Lennon Community Member 
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