Hello there....

I know I've been MIA.  I apologize.  I guess I'm feeling like I'm not very dependable.  The last month has been stressful for me.  I had been having some symptoms of things not quite being right.  Mentioning them to my dr. about 6 months ago, she kinda blew me off.  Then another symptom happened, and I got right in for an appointment since this latest symptom isn't really normal for a post-menopausal woman.  That appointment led to a gyn appointment, which then led to an oncology gyn appointment.  Pre-cancerous cells were found.  The dr. explained that "pre-cancer" and "stage 1 cancer" aren't that far apart.....    The surgery was scheduled but it would take 3 weeks.  Pre-op prep was not going to be fun, and I spent all day Sunday between bed and the bathroom....
We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am on Monday.  We live just over an hour and a half from the hospital.  That meant we had to arise at 2:45 am, leave by 3:45 to get there on time.  We had to include pit stops for me in case....
We got there, waited around a bit, and then were all in a group, led upstairs to the pre-surgery center.  I started to get slightly panicked but my DH was there with me all the way, keeping me calm. I  knew he would have a long wait so felt bad for him too.
The pre-surgery parts are scary for me, but once I was asleep, I had no idea what was going on - and I didn't want to either.
Waking up was no fun.  It was extremely painful.  The nurse was male, and he was speaking really loudly to me, but very quietly to the lady next to me.  I felt badly for all the noise I was making (I'm a moaner) but I just couldn't help it. 
I was sent to the "short stay" ward.  OMG, this was the worst hospital experience I ever had.  I was in a lot of pain, I had to keep calling for assistance, I was tethered to the bed by the cuffs on my legs to keep from getting blood clots, by the catheter (ick) and by the IV.  My hand was killing me with the IV in it.  My belly was sore.  But the worst pain was coming from the gas they had blown up my insides with.  They gotta move all the other organs out of the way.  OMG.  It was insane.  I was so distended.  Then, as the anesthesia wore off, my right shoulder (yes, shoulder) was killing me. I thought someone had broken my shoulder or collarbone.  I was in terrible pain.  Nothing helped it.  Not the meds, not walking, not anything.  It continued to get worse and worse.  The nurse didn't know what else to do with me.  I did not sleep - not one wink during the night.  That didn't help my mood any!
I was so grateful the next day when the drs started showing up.  They said there are nerves near the diaphragm that also affect the right shoulder.  Well, with all of my organs being out of place from the gas, I guess I was one of the "lucky" ones that got to have a LOT of pain from this side affect.  OUCH!  I could not wait to get out of there and called my DH and asked him to be there by noon.  I was dressed and ready to get the heck out of there.  I won't go into the details of the mess I think that ward is in.  It was just awful tho.

I was much better being home.  I slept really hard the first night.  Drugs are great for that.  So was my exhaustion.  But then came the next couple of days.  The gas was still causing me issues.  I was still exhausted.  My belly tender. 

Yesterday, Friday, my darling daughter and grand daughter came to visit.  It was SO great seeing them.  The sad part was, I couldn't hold my grand daughter - can't pick up anything over 10 lbs and actually anything under that feels heavy too.  The baby wanted to come to me so badly, and believe me when I say, it was next to impossible not to give in to her.  Luckily, DH was around (although had lots of work to do) and he spent a good amount of time interacting with Baby.  And she soaked it up too!  :-)
It was so great to have my family around me.  Thank you Dear Daughter and Dear Granddaughter and Dear Husband for being there for me this week.  I love you all dearly.

I have some photos but will save them for another day. I get to go out today for a ride to the library.  If I'm feeling up to it, and DH wants to, I'm hoping to go from town, to the city, to Panera.  They have a new bread out and I wanna try it.  :-)

I will be getting a few crafting things together to try to get some things done. I don't think I'll be weaving for at least a couple of weeks. I don't want to strain anything.  But I can sew, and do a few other easy things.

I'm back, and will try to get back to blogging more often again.
Always,
Martha