FINALLY, the Hysterectomy

So, I FINALLY did it, after three docs (beginning when I turned 32) told me I'd probably need a hysterectomy. The only reasons I waited were because of costs and not being really sure that was the answer. As it turns out, I now wish I'd done it YEARS ago!

I returned from our diocesan pilgrimage to the Holy Land last Wednesday afternoon/evening. Last Thursday held a half day or pre-ops and errands and then Friday morning, I was at the hospital at 5:00 AM. One of the pre-ops was actually a surprise and I only found out about it because I returned a call (again) from one office saying that I had just had my pre-op and they were like "no, you have one here too". I was thinking "where exactly is here?" and the rest is history. Seriously, communication is KEY, people. get with it. Both docs and places seemed oddly surprised that I actually had a list of questions to ask. DUH.
For me, if you don't have questions, you're missing out on opportunities - not only to find out what the heck is going on with your own health, but to learn.

It was FREEZING cold there at the hospital and soon after I showed up, about 5 other women did as well, with their families. I was the first one to go in, with these words " Alright ladies, let's get this party started, I'll see y'all on the flip side", hahaha. For the last two years, I have basically been ready to throw my uterus as far away as humanly possible. Seriously, I went into my gynecologist in January and said "I'm done. And by done, I mean D-O-N-E, DONE. I'm not leaving here without a shot or a pill or WHATEVER needs to be done AND a date for surgery because....I'm DONE." She heard me and gave me something...I think it was dimethylprogesterone. It's a hormone that gave me nonstop headaches and by week two numbness in my arms which was causing massive anxiety and I thought I was going to stroke out. So, I stopped that and suffered until my surgery. I had/have three cysts on one ovary, one on the other, a big fibroid, and some little nabothian cysts. I almost forgot to mention the endometriosis which was growing in thickness and probably pathology. As a result of this, my fallopian tubes had to be removed as well and I'm not sure what they did to one of my ovaries, but I'll find out tomorrow at my follow-up. I do remember hearing (while I was still coming out from anesthesia) that something was on it and something about pathology.

I KNEW that leg warmers would eventually come back! Actually these puppies were put on my calves to keep me from getting clots in my legs. Filled with air tubes, each leg alternated with a rolling pressure and it was like a massage. They felt kind of weird, but also kind of cool. 
I woke up and had a bit of doubly / hazy vision, but it wasn't too bad. I had negged for NO narcotic pain meds as they mess with my breathing and I like to breathe. Breathing is good.
So, they gave me Tylenol3 (Codeine) at some point and something else which they shot into my IV. They shot it so quickly that within 4 seconds, I had double vision again and felt weird. After that passed, I declined all medicine and was fine. Since last Friday, I've only had a bit of general discomfort and soreness and a bit of actually soft pain when I've coughed or sneezed. In fact, the worst pain I've felt at all was from the IV sites and the gas pain that was expected (they fill your abdomen with CO2 when you have abdominal surgery). 
THAT HURT. 

I'm afraid I was a wee bit annoying when I got in my room and on my phone
Out of surgery (the procedure went very well), resting, and dining on gourmet ice chips and a bowl of the blackest soup I've ever seen. And there's a lemon thing that looks promising. Thanks Fr. Rob for coming by! In addition to anointing, he was an expert witness so I could get my stuff back. The poor officer! I told him I had $20 in my bag I case I needed to pay off a nurse to bring me a soup I could identify.

Be jealous -"House Made" Lemon Juice! I'm assuming the Sodium Benzoate and Bisulfate are also homegrown... ;-) ~ at Touro's House of Fine Lemony Dining.

Spent one night in the hospital and from what my surgeon had said the day before, many do not, but he likes his patients to stay a night. The worst part about that was asking each nurse to please take out the unused IV on my right hand because it hurt and not having that done until RIGHT before I was discharged. Ridiculous. You know what else was ridiculous? Hospital waste. 

It's a thing.

I did not realize until when I had gone to the bathroom by myself a couple of times that EACH time I had asked for water/ice refills (6-7 times), the nurses had brought me a new container and thrown the old one away. No one had touched in the inside of any containers and it was just for pouring water. I get it that catheters cannot be reused, but what about those fancy leg warmers that only touched my compression-stockinged legs? Tossed in the trash. When I was about to walk out, one of the nurses told me to take the bin of stuff that had been on my desk near my IV. It had been out of reach the whole time and was covered by a garbage bag and no one had mentioned it to me. Inside: Kleenex (which I had badly needed), toothpaste & brush, lotion, dry foam cleanser, and more. Again, communication would be nice, people.

So, where are we?

Right, I'm DONE and in recovery. My actual procedure was the robotically assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy. My recovery period looks something like this:

- Boring....just kidding...or maybe I'm not

- 1-week no driving, but my doc called me yesterday and said driving would be fine for small distances. Of course, one block could kill me in New Orleans with all of these potholes and road issues.

- 4-6 days rough times

- 2 weeks to start feeling "back to normal"

- 6 weeks no lifting anything larger than a gallon jug of milk, swimming, or sexual activity

- avoid bending, pushing, pulling and things like jumping and working out (I avoid working out already). I'm wondering how to stick to that when I have to push/pull myself up

- avoid stairs if possible (yeah, right) or take them slowly, one at a time.

So far, so good! Wish me luck and if you found this and have questions, feel free to email me. If you're in line for a hysterectomy, good luck and godspeed!

A Prayer for Peace

The past year has been VERY full of exciting things and I'm happy to report that the horizon is filled with more adventures! In the midst of excitement and happiness has also been some stress. Currently, most of my stresses center around beginning to pack up my belongings and wondering about my seminary housing assignment, having a hysterectomy in mid-June, getting rid of this lingering cold, and seeing that last paycheck arrive in eight days and wondering about the lengthy dry spell to follow! While these are VERY minor compared to a world full of people with worse things to worry about, they are still worrisome to me.

Me in Central India (near Kwardha) in 2015

Heavenly Father, please grant me peace of mind and calm my troubled heart. My soul is like a turbulent sea. I can't seem to find my balance so I stumble and worry constantly. Give me the strength and clarity of mind to find my purpose and walk the path you've laid out for me. I trust your Love God, and know that you will heal this stress. Just as the sun rises each day against the dark of night. Please bring me clarity with the light of God.
In your name I pray, Amen.

(Found at http://www.prayers-for-special-help.com/prayer-for-peace-of-mind.html)

LEAPing into Monday

Happy Leap Year / Day folks! I'm currently not this energetic or excited about it, but here's my Bitmoji looking all excited :-) I'll get there. In fact, the whole weekend was sort of a transition to my being back to my normally excited and happy self!

                 

My weekend included a choral workshop at a Catholic HS in Baton Rouge, a meeting for the St. Paul's (and Diocesan) pilgrimage to The Holy Land, a funeral, almost no sleep Saturday night (stress), and a Sunday full of grading and paperwork plus cleaning my apartment, wheeeeee! 

                     

Still, I had some serious moments of re-realization of how short life is. Looking at how fast time passes for us on Earth, it just blows my mind again and again. I found myself thinking of all the things I want to do in life and all the adventures to be had. There just isn't any time compared to the massive amount of life that's possible. I thought "I'd better be thankful for what I've done, then......and I'd better be thankful right now"!  You know, I AM very thankful, but I feel the need to practice that gratitude more overtly and more often, like every day! "Every day is a gift" - I used to have that sticker on my car. I need to buy it again.
The past two weeks have been rather crazy health-wise. I've come off of some medicine (Medroxyprogesterone) because of some scary side effects and have been worried about that. I'm already taking an iron prescription and this medicine is, among other things, to shrink my endometrial lining, and also to help prepare me for a scheduled and necessary hysterectomy in May. The medicine can cause strokes (of the eye and more) and lesions, serious depression (to which I am already susceptible) and all sorts of things, but it's pretty rare. I did suffer a depressive episode and full on weepiness. I also had numbness in my hands, debilitating headaches, insane ocular pressure and pinpoint pupils. It scared me a LOT and that in itself wasn't helping the situation for this already-anxious person! ESPECIALLY since it happened in the midst of exciting and happy visits to seminaries. All the travel of the past few weeks combined with not feeling so well was hard.
After getting off of the medicine, I've been taking it somewhat easy and have been miserable with the withdrawal. Last night I used an ice pack for my headache and it is the ONLY thing that has worked. This morning, it's my first time in three weeks that I have only a minor headache, but still have ocular and temple pressure. 

Still, THIS IS GOOD PROGRESS!

Back to that being thankful part....I am TRULY thankful for no more serious side effects and for feeling a bit better. We never know what we have in the way of time left. This whole incident provided me with yet another layer of being thankful for my overall good health, for opportunities that lie ahead, and for life itself. Today, it SEEMS like we get an extra day, a leap day in a leap year! Aside from the real reason we have Leap Year, I'm treating today like a day "out of time" - a day to remind myself to look at everything with hope and gratitude and to be thankful for what God has already given me and what the Holy Spirit has in store for me.

                  

So, this post is pretty much for myself and to get all that off my chest, but if it helps anyone think about being thankful for every day, then good! :-) Sometimes, I just need to ramble on.