Sugeries DONE!

Keep your fingers crossed everyone!  I just had my 2nd (and hopefully last) surgery for kidney stones!

Wednesday I woke up feeling great & ready to get this over and done with.  We kept SAW & Bug home from school to watch MJ (& so that they were home in case anything went wrong).  We left a little early to finish up some Christmas shopping.  Then off to the clinic.

I was under the impression that I was allowed to have water before my surgery, but I was wrong.  Luckily I hadn't had that much and I had a lot of prep time to get it through my system, so it wasn't a big deal.  Not a big deal until AFTER surgery that is.  After surgery I was in a lot of pain!  They had already given my quite a bit of morphine, but it just wasn't helping.  I was the last surgery of the day and there were only 2 nurses left in the whole place.  I felt bad because I knew that they had places to go & did not plan on spending their evening babying me.  I felt a little rushed, but it was okay.  
  When we got home I went straight to bed, but I was feeling a little chatty & so I talked to SAW & Bug for a bit.  I don't remember much of the conversations, but I'm sure they are comical memories the kids will remind me of later.
I barely remember Thursday, I know I slept a lot, but that's about it.  Friday I was ready to go though!  I had to get out of the house!  I stopped by work & let them know that I was still alive and would be working this weekend, and then we went for a drive.  2 days post op is just not enough recovery time to go off-roading.  Now we know!  That was one of those moments where I thought it might not be a good idea, but I had to go with my fall back theory "You'll never know until you try". 
So, here I am at work... wishing I were in bed...LOL!  But I have to believe that I am helping myself by not sitting around in bed!  Right??? 
I guess we'll see.
Thanks for all your support & prayers!

Recovery

re·cov·er·y (r-kv-r)

n. pl. re·cov·er·ies

1. The act, process, duration, or an instance of recovering.

2. A return to a normal condition.

3. Something gained or restored in recovering.

4. The act of obtaining usable substances from unusable sources.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

I like the 2nd definition best.  A return to a normal condition.  I have been in pain so long that I wonder what a "normal condition" is.  Okay, Okay - so that has to be an exaggeration right?  It really hasn't been that long.  It is also NOTHING compared to what others have been through and are currently going through.  I know that I am being a big baby.  But it's my party and I'll cry if I want to!
So - returning to a normal condition is taking a little longer than normal.  The nurse said that going to work Saturday should be fine, but I called my boss after surgery and informed them that there was no way I could make it in.  Good thing too because I spent most of Saturday in bed whining and crying and taking my pain meds.  SAW was amazing at taking care of me and rotated my heating pads every hour!  Bug was a HUGE help with MJ and Mike was great at overseeing it all.  I am blessed with a good family that can pull it together when they really need to!  Saturday night I tossed and turned and had to get up every 30 minutes to run to the bathroom.  That's the thing about stints is that they constantly make you feel like you have to pee - and it always feel like an emergency.  It rarely is.  So I watched the clock until it was time for me to take another pain pill and tried to get some sleep.  It was obvious that I was keeping Mike up so I headed down to the couch and finally fell asleep.  Only 1 problem - I was only able to get an hour of sleep because I had to get up to drive Mike to work.  I was also scheduled to work Sunday so I had to have the car.  So off we went...I dropped him off & came back home to get ready for work.
SAW came to check on me right on time & I informed him I had to work - he did not think that was a good idea, but he assured me things would be taken care of at home. 
So off to work I went.  by the time I got there my pain meds were wearing off but I couldn't take anymore because I had to be able to function at work.  Work & Vicodin do not mix well.
Needless to say - it was a short day.  I HAD to go home early because I could NOT stand the pain.  Back in to bed I went & slept & read and slept some more.
Poor Bug was having a hard time keeping MJ happy - she kept calling for me, but she did not want to be in my bedroom with me.  It was a long day for everyone, I was keeping on top of taking my pain meds so there isn't a whole lot I remember... at about 12 midnight MJ decided that she had had enough of being without me.  We rocked in the rocking chair and talked and cuddled.  We came downstairs to have a little snack and watch a little Baby 1st TV (if you have a baby it is a MUST HAVE channel!).  We cuddled a little more & then she just wanted to play a little.  Finally she decided that it was okay for her to go back to sleep.  She has been much much better today!  Sometimes all a girl needs is a little mommy time.
So, another day down. I'm still in the pain .vs. uncomfortableness stage, but it's getting better.   I hope I am feeling up to hanging out with Mike's family on Thanksgiving.

Kidney stones - they still suck

So, after multiple visits to multiple doctors - one of them finally did something.

The diagnoses - 1 9.8mm stone in my right kidney, a 9.8 stone in my left kidney and at lest 2 more smaller stones.

Yesterday I had lithotripsy done on my right kidney and had a stint put in each side.  I'll have them for at least 2 weeks.  Then I will have to go in for actual surgery to remove the stones from my left side.  I can already notice a difference in my pain level. They gave me some good drugs to manage it if it gets too bad.  I was on them when I called my Dad last night.  Whooooo - I was quite the chatty Cathy!  My Dad's not a big talker on the phone, so it was pretty funny.

I just took my pills with the intention of going to sleep, but here I am...
Anyways....
I guess I'll update y'all more later.

the dropsies, the stones, and bills - 3 things I hate

I have the dropsies lately.  It's super irritating and sometimes scary.  The other day I almost dropped a seriously sharp knife on my foot.  Instead I dropped everything else.  I have dropped, spilled and thrown almost everything I have touched lately.  What causes it?  I know I used to be a seriously accident prone child, but as an adult I have done fairly well.  Now this.  Weird!  Even as i type this I am noticing french onion dip on the desk and on the mouse... oh, and there's the chip that caused it on the floor!  Here's hoping I don't spill my giant Arizona Tea all over my computer because I just uploaded more pictures on here!

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I had my kidney ultrasound today.  It was interesting.  It was a bit of a workout too.  turning from this side to that side, holding my breath until I thought I would burst!  The tech was great, but man did some of it HURT!  Why did she have to push so hard??  I'm sure I'll have a bruise tomorrow.  Hopefully, though, by next week, my Doc will have the results and we can initiate a plan to get this kidney stone crap taken care of.  I hate being sick.  I hate the feeling that I have brought this upon myself. OK, so, in reality I guess I did, but still...

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I turned in my notice on Monday!  My last day of work will be the 14th of June.  I'd love to quit sooner but we need the next few paychecks to get all caught up on bills.  Ugh,  Bills!  I don't understand why everything has to cost so much???  Who decided that a new cell phone has to cost over $200 (and what dumb ass decided that my husband could charge one to our bill??)??  What idiots decided that 2 people with bad credit needed to be approved for MORE credit??  Are these people stupid???  I am an out of control spender with a guilt problem... is there a 12 step program for that??

Hope you all have a great weekend and week to follow.  Read something fabulous and do something fun!