More recovery and culture results

The doctor wasn't kidding when she said it would be a two-week recovery. I am trying to keep that in mind. It's tough though because I have periods where I feel back to normal and then when the pain returns or I can't move a certain way or I still have to walk really slowly I'm surprised by it (when I shouldn't be surprised...because it hasn't been two weeks yet). I guess they are good reminders to continue to take it easy. :)

Little improvements toward normal make me happy. I am able to put on socks (creatively) without pain and without bending forward. My urge to urinate finally returned yesterday, 11 days after surgery. There was much rejoicing. I don't remember other people talking about that post-surgery so I thought I'd mention it. It feels very strange to lose that function and have to remember every few hours to go to the bathroom.

I am still taking prescription strength ibuprofen on a schedule, although I've stopped setting an alarm to take the middle-of-the-night dose. I take the opioid as needed--especially for when I go out in public. I went out to run errands with DH on Saturday, and it was so nice to have a change of scenery, although by the end I was ready to use one of those motorized scooters. :) I went to Mass on Sunday and was able to sit, stand, and kneel along with everyone else, although more slowly. I couldn't genuflect though. The priest who gave me the Anointing of the Sick asked me how I was doing after Mass; it was nice that he remembered. It was my first Mass since surgery. I was able to watch Mass online while I was not feeling so great, including Pope Benedict's last public Mass on Ash Wednesday. It was bittersweet. I'm going to miss him. :(

DH is doing a great job taking care of me. Acting as a nurse does not come naturally to him, so I am really thankful for all he has done. He has told me multiple times that if it were him having surgery, he would just want to be left alone as much as possible, so I know this is requiring a lot of extra patience from him. He does like to feel helpful though so I think he was a little disappointed when I no longer needed him when getting out of bed or up from the reclining chair. ;)

The bad part about recovery now is that I am post-peak and PMSing. (Apparently major surgery isn't enough stress for my body to have a double peak or even a delay...) When you're taking opioids, you can't take naltrexone because they cancel each other out. The surgeon asked me to discontinue the naltrexone a week before surgery to make sure the anesthesia worked properly, so I've been off of it for almost three weeks. I am currently alternating between extreme crabbiness and crying. I can take HCG tonight so that should help some, whenever it kicks in.

The surgeon sent me a big packet of papers (everything that she faxed to Dr. K at PPVI) with most of my surgery results, including op report, pathology report, and all culture results to date. Very interesting reading. :) The fungus results won't be finalized for a month, unless they are positive, which means they would be ready sooner. They let it sit for a month before declaring that there is no fungus.

The part I was excited about was the bacterial culture results. They were positive! It's not normally something to be excited about but it's something to try to treat that might be a factor in our IF. (I'd rather know what's wrong and have the doctor try to fix it than have everything come out normal and have no where to start with treatment ideas...not that my preferences have any weight or influence of course.) ;) Anyway, I had lactobacillus and multiple Gram positive rods (specific anaerobic bacteria were not listed). I wonder how many antibiotics it's going to take to wipe out these bugs. Given how many antibiotics I've been on in the past few years, I might have some pretty tough (resistant) bacteria living in my uterus. Bacteria, your days are numbered!! :)