The Gall Of It All- Part Two

Alrighty then, so after the initial diagnostic attack, I seriously altered my diet. I had a very terrible Thanksgiving, back in hospital, just for the day, and needed some heavy duty pain meds for a bit. I lost 15 pounds before my surgery and for the first week or so thought I would die of starvation. Lol!! I am still sick of fruit!! ;)

Then at the end of November, I got a call that Dec 6th would be my surgery date. Ryan took some days off of work, and Mom took the kids for us.

We arrived at the hospital and checked in. After round one with the hospital gown, I got semi-naked with the   nurse as she explained that I had it on completely backwards. Lol!! Oops. Once I was in my pretty get-up, they told us that the doc performing my surgery was running 1.5 hours late. We'd already had to be there a full hour early, so I was a tad bit annoyed. Not that I said anything. :P

Ry went to do some shopping, and finally it was time to go in.

First the intern stabbed me with the IV. (Just kidding, it was fine with the first try). I got to wear a hair net, and those blue footy slippers that perfectly matched my gown. I was all ready for my big entrance.

I walked (without my glasses, which they had taken) to the operating room, where I climbed onto the table. There were a whole lot of people in there, and they immediately put an 'oxygen' mask on me and told me to breathe deep. Both arms stretched out to the sides of me, they added something to the IV, and then more of the 'something' moments later. And then I was out. :)

I am SO thankful that I didn't dream. I have had some nasty mind tricks played on me while put under, and this time was just blank-time-warp-ness. Yay!!

I actually don't remember waking up at all, or the hour or so after I woke up. I do know about two hours later they moved me. Ryan was there soon after. I was just tired and wanted to lay. Glad to be alive. :)

The only real terribleness was when it was time to go. I had to sit up, (and the nurse didn't even help- NOT my fave person). I seriously could NOT leverage myself. It hurt SO bad I totally lost it. Can we say 'panic attack'?

Anyway, I got into the wheelchair, into the changeroom, dressed myself, and rode down to the van. We drove home safe and sound.

The first week of recover both sucked and were awesome. Friends and family brought food, flowers and cards. I figured out how to get myself off of the couch, and eventually looked at the incisions. (For those of you who don't know me well, I'm a bit of a queasy girl. NOT good with gore, or gashes.) I must say it was VERY odd seeing office hardware in my body. Yikes.

If you're brave (or a masochist), you can look at the picture of my stapled belly below. Apologies in advance. :(

Humbling indeed. Lol!!

Anyway, After the week, we took a trip to P.G. to get the staples taken out and do some appt.s and Christmas shopping with the kids. At that point the doc mentioned that it had been a rough surgery, and he had sliced me open more than usual. He advised another two weeks of rest, before returning to work. The trip was two full days on my feet. I made it through, but when I got home I had to banish myself to the couch again, I was so done.

By three weeks I was pretty recovered. I was still having some wierd pains now and again, although a friend suggested that as my liver was now adjusting to doing both it's and the gallbladder's jobs, it may be a little angry with me. Also, the body has to adjust to a constant trickle of bile flowing through it. Not really the way it was meant to be.

For any of you that don't know, your gallbladder holds the bile that your liver produces. When you eat something, the gallbladder releases a burst of bile to help digest your food. When your gallbladder goes bye-bye, the bile is constantly released into your system, in small amounts. So there is a small amount of bile there when there is no food to digest, and there is only small amounts of bile to help when there is food.

To wrap this all up, before I scar you with my picture, I was doing well until I moved a dresser down two flights of stairs by myself two days ago. I figured that at this point I was good to go, but have been in very serious pain for these two days. If I pop a couple of Advil  I'm fine, so I'm trying to rest a bit and hope to heal quickly.

I have been warned about something called adhesions, and after researching a bit, I choose not to worry about that just yet. Often at four weeks, it is a common thing, but most of the time it goes away on its own. :)

P.S. This pic was 6 days after surgery.

Blessings, Char