Day of surgery

Today has gone really well.  Surgery started at 8:00 a.m.  I was out of surgery after about 3.5 hours.  I remember a little of the communal post-op room, but  there's a hole in my memory until I woke up in a private room around 1:00 p.m.

The post-op nurse gave me some toradol in my IV for pain, which worked so well that I was nearly pain-free.  It is some amazing stuff. :)  I haven't needed any other pain meds.

I've felt so much better than I did after my previous robotic lap.  The anti-nausea patch behind my ear is working quite well.  I was allowed to eat solid foods at 3:00 pm; snacks never tasted so good.  Around 5:00 p.m. I took an escorted walk down the hallway and then spent several hours sitting up in the chair next to my bed.  Two years ago I didn't get out of bed until the following morning and that was only to go to the bathroom.  I'm guessing that part of the difference is that two years ago one of my incisions had to be made larger so fibroid could be removed; that wasn't necessary today.

The catheter was removed at 6:30 p.m.  It hurt and left me with uncomfortable cramps.  However, I am happy to report my bladder has been working quite well, both before and after catheter removal.  (I'm sure you all wanted to know that.) That's a definite improvement from two years ago.

A nutritionist stopped by to help figure out what I could eat for dinner with all my food intolerances.  She was really helpful and ended up going to the grocery store to get a few items just for my dinner.  I was so impressed and grateful.  She even called me from the grocery store to confirm that a couple ingredients would be okay.

My dinner was delicious.  :)  (That's almond milk in the white cup!)

The goal for my discharge is still by lunch tomorrow.

Out of surgery

My surgery is done.  It took about 3.5 hours.  Dr. E spoke with DH and said she was able to remove all the endo.  I'm all tucked in bed and am looking forward to being able to eat solid foods in about an hour (when my diet restrictions are lifted).

Thank you all for your prayers!!

A bit like Mardi Gras

My robotic laparoscopy to remove the endo is Thursday.  Tomorrow I'll be on a clear liquid diet all day plus the ever-popular bowel prep (bottle of magnesium citrate at midday).  I'm hoping the car trip tomorrow night will be...uneventful in the GI department.  :)  That means today is my last day of real food, so I'm enjoying it as much as possible, sort of like celebrating Mardi Gras before fasting on Ash Wednesday.

I received the Anointing of Sick after Mass on Sunday which has kept the anxiety away.  My pastor kindly volunteered to offer Mass on Thursday for me.

I've been taking advantage of my last few days of mobility.  I cleaned the bathtub.  I vacuumed the whole apartment.  Tonight I might clean the inside of the refrigerator.  There's nothing like the prospect of not being able to bend down for weeks to get me motivated to clean.  ;)

The plan is that I will spend Thursday night in the hospital and hopefully will be discharged Friday.

I will be offering the pain of my recovery for all those considering abortion, for those affected by abortion, for Lucky as Sunshine and her husband, and for all of you.

DH or I will post something here on Thursday after surgery is done.  Thank you in advance for your prayers!

So I did survive

1. My last post was about making it through Christmas family gatherings with babies around.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas despite whatever difficult or sad circumstances you faced.  I'm happy to report that the day went better than I thought (as most of you probably predicted).  I didn't cry. I didn't actually go near the two babies, but I had an excuse:  I was sick with a really bad cold or mild flu.  I spent the 24th in bed at my aunt's house and missed the babyless family festivities that day.  I felt good enough to make a public appearance on the 25th.  I went into my IF survival mode where I kind of numb my feelings of sadness and try to put on a smile on the outside.  Not that I recommend being sick during a family gathering, but it did make a nice conversation starter so there was no baby-related conversation directed at me.  I was ready to change the subject if someone did try to ask about us having kids.  Thankfully the babies only stayed about three hours and slept for most of that time, so there was really only an hour of so of relatives ooohing and aaahing over them. It warmed my heart to see one of my aunts hold one of the babies for a while; she was IF (probably is menopausal now) and has one adopted son.  It looked like it was a bit healing for her.  So, all in all, it wasn't so bad.  I still marvel at the fact that many people can conceive fairly easily with everything that has to go right in order for conception to happen.  I guess when you can't conceive and multiple medical issues are causing it, you think about these things.

2.  We did our third SF collection for the SFA and semen culture.  Since no lab around here will do the culture to check for possible infection, we did it while visiting my parents after Christmas.  We carefully arranged logistics so that (hopefully) no one knew what we were doing or where we went. The only issue was that it was quite cold outside, and even though DH kept the sample inside his coat during the drive from my parents' house to the lab, the lab tech said the container felt cold to her.  That made me nervous...  I don't remember how long they let the culture sit, so I haven't asked for the results from Dr. K yet.  DH and I really hope we're not asked to redo it...

3.  My surgery to remove the hard-to-reach endo is next week Thursday, January 22.  I didn't choose the day; it was given to me by the nurse.  I'm disappointed that I won't be able to go to the March for Life, but it'll be a good reminder to offer my sufferings for all those who are considering abortion or have had one in the past.

4.  Dr. E e-mailed me a pdf file of a doctor's excuse letter that I could give to my employer.  Before sending it to my timekeeper, I opened it briefly and just glanced at the top of the page to make sure the file was okay.  My timekeeper later e-mailed me saying that she didn't need all that medical information, just the letter.  I was confused so I opened the attachment.  It was nine pages long, with the letter as the first page.  The rest of it was my previous operation report and post-op visit note.  At the top of page two in capital letters was my diagnosis "ENDOMETRIOSIS."  I probably turned fifty shades of red.  Thankfully the timekeeper said she shredded the extra pages when she printed the letter for my file.  I am hoping that she is not a person who gossips.  I have never met her in person, and she doesn't interact with the other people I work with (other than requests for time off).  I am super relieved that my boss was not copied on the e-mail with my, ahem, informative attachment.  I probably would have died on the spot if he had seen it.  I have told him nothing about why I've had my previous surgeries or that we're TTC and IF.

5.  The last two months I've been enjoying a nice break from many of the pills I've been taking while TTC.  I stopped taking Clomid, the antibiotics, and all over-the-counter supplements except the prenatal vitamin (at Dr. E's request).  It's been a nice two cycles without the stress of TTC or so many pills to remember.

6.  I am in possession of some lovely organic flannel material so hopefully before next week I'll be able to make an attempt at sewing my own cloth pads.  I still need to find some metal snaps that are nickel-free, which is proving more difficult than I thought.  (I'm allergic to nickel.)  Whenever I finish them, I will share pictures here.  I'm sure you can't wait.  :)