Musings from the Bed part 2.......

More things I have learned while laying here in bed for 13 days....

1. No matter how many pillows you send your husband out to buy, they will all feel like bricks after laying on them for a few days.

2. Whatever you do, when it's been a week since you've seen the downstairs floor of your home, DO NOT go down there....it isn't pretty!

3. No amount of pain killers can dull the annoyance of mouthy teenagers!

4.When you are propped in the same position on a memory foam mattress, it forgets the original flat position and will look like a bird's nest from day 6 on.

5. Ceareal is hard to eat in a semi-laying down position.

6. You can only watch so many political debates before you begin to think that kermit the frog would make a better president than all of them.

7. No matter how many times they show that dream house on HGTV, I still do not like that bedroom, nor do I think it is a good idea to build three new houses on either side of it blocking the gorgeous view of the Ocean!

8. No matter how few calories are consumed, there is no way to lose weight laying flat on your back for almost two weeks.....no matter how many toe wiggles you do!

More about the surgery:

First of all I have to reiterate how wonderful that IV was! I cannot tell you how much I have been tortured by them in the past. I let the first nurse who was working with me know that I was a hard stick, so she went to get someone else. This lady came in so confident and understanding. She said she had also been tortured in the past by IV's and had made it one of her goals to be good at it. When she actually suck me, we were talking about my photography, so I really barely felt it at all. The art of distraction, works every time.

Waking up in the recovery room was both shocking and scary. I had been told that I would be given some meds before I woke up that would make me comfortable until about 4 hours after the surgery.....but I woke up in soooo much pain. I remember moaning with every breath and trying to stop shaking. I was given more pain meds twice by IV until I could tolerate the pain and calm my shaking.

As soon as I gaged my pain at about a 5, they wheeled me down to a room where David could come and sit with me. I heard the nurses talking about how anxious David was to see me and how often he'd asked about me. They said he was very presistent but sweet. aw! I guess I had been in that recovery room far longer than anticipated so he was getting antsy.

After eating a packet of crackers, washing them down with gingerale, and swallowing two pain pills, my IV was removed and I was able to get dressed and leave.

My friend Michelle had kept Bren all day so that Bren could play with her pals Finn and Bella. When Michelle dropped Bren off, she also brought us a pan of lasagna, a big bowl of salad, crusty bread with herbed butter and the most decadent chocolate cupcakes ever! She's such a doll! Bren and Finn made me some get well hearts while at Michelle's. It was such a sweet little surprise.

I rested comfortably for a few hours and then the pain started creeping in. At about 10:00 pm, every time I moved I felt like my ankle was being burned with a branding iron! Yikes!! It was official, all of the IV meds had worn off and now my ankle was angry and let me know it!

Day 2 after surgery was a blur and full of tears! I cried because I was in pain, I cried because I had to crutch to the bathroom, I cried because my pillows were bricks, I cried because David had so much to do since I was immobilized, I cried because I ever fell in the first place! I think I used up all of my tears for the year already and we are only in day 11 of 2008!

The hospital called early that morning to see how I was and to see how the pain meds were working. I let them know how much pain I was feeling and they advised me to call my doctor and see if I could get the dosage increased. Dr, Bradley did so without question and I was relieved to know that I would get a little more power out of them. Even still, as it approached an hour until my next dose, I was in tears counting every minute down. I spent most of day 2 just trying to hold it together between pain med doses. Every little thing was an irritant and I just wanted to be alone in my dark room. I kept the TV on hoping I'd be distracted enough while I was awake to rise above the pain, but it didn't work as much as I needed it to. There was a lightening storm outside most of that day which really reflected how I felt inside.

I awoke this morning at 5:30 am to crutch my way to the bathroom. The first thing I said as I pulled myself up out of bed was, "Thank you Lord!" I no longer felt the hot iron branding and the pain I did feel was far more manageable than it had been the day before. The skies had parted, the sun was out and even though I'm still ready for my pain pill before my dose is due, I'm not in tears anymore waiting for it.

It only gets better from here! All down hill, baby!!