Fare thee well, Chomper!

Ok, so here's a recap on my surgery. And that being on drugs thing? Well, I've taken a few Vicodin today but I swear they are doing nothing for me except making me feel spacey. NOT working on the pain, I tell you. So, I've resorted to swiping a few of Jeff's 800 mg. ibuprofen and those seem to be taking the edge off. But I still feel "weird" and I really hate that feeling.

I went in at 6:45 a.m. to get everything started. Filled out some paperwork, waited, was escorted to an "interview room", waited, several people came in to take vitals, talk to me, etc. I was told to undress completely and put on a gown and a robe. So, I got to sit naked, wrapped in thin material for over an hour while I waited for the doctor. He breezed in, said "so what are we doing today?" (you don't know?) and I waited some more. Finally I walked to OR #1 where I was greeted by no less than 8 people! I felt kind of weird, like "here I am for the party!". A nurse took off my robe, at which point I'm sure part of my butt was showing, but I said "I guess in a few minutes this won't matter anyway" because I knew my most glorious parts were about to be exposed for the world to see (and it didn't help that Jeff mentioned "what if they have cell phones and they snap pictures?"). The anesthesiologist positioned my arm on the little "arm bed" (for lack of a better word!) and produced a syringe the size of a baby bottle! He said "you're gonna love this stuff" and pushed the plunger. I felt a burning sensation in my throat and face and then I was out! I woke up with an oxygen mask on my face (a bit claustrophobic) and tried to pull myself out of drugged oblivion. Before I was quite ready for that, two nurses had me up and at 'em, getting dressed and out to a recliner where I sat with Jeff while the pharmacy delivered my pain meds and a nurse discharged us. I had made previous arrangements with my dr. to actually see "Chomper" and all it's weirdness, but alas, someone had sent him on to the lab, so all I got were some lame photos (and of course, the cyst was intact in the photos, so I will never know if it had teeth, hair, muscle fibers, or thyroid tissue!). I wasn't really in a position to worry much about it, I could barely stand up long enough to walk to the car. I rested, dozed and finally got up for dinner (which was delivered by my wonderful neighbor Carla, along with gifts for everyone - she's SO generous!). I felt pretty chipper! I even cleaned up after dinner! And checked my email! And watched the kids work on their dance! Yay! This wasn't so bad.

Cut to 2:30 a.m. I woke up, sure I had just been run over by a semi truck. My body hurt from head to toe. And I had to pee. I shuffled out of bed, taking my Vicodin with me, my glass of Gatorade and a package of graham crackers to the bathroom. I took a Vicodin, a swig of Gatorade and ate half a graham cracker before going to the bathroom. I could barely move, so that was a challenge. I finally shuffled back to bed and inched my way back down to a flat position. Where did all this pain come from? Yikes. I dozed and woke up again around 8 and decided to shower. Wow, that was a feat. Plus, I had to replace a few bandaids when I got out (just love ripping those suckers off my skin!). Carla brought Jeff and I coffee and pastries and we visited until around 10. I went back to bed, and lay there until 4:45, unable to go to sleep, but not feeling well enough to do anything but lay there with my eyes closed. I finally got up to check my email and blog. Another dinner is on it's way from my other neighbor Amy, so that's nice. But I still hurt like hell and I'm really hoping tomorrow is better.

At any rate, I survived and now my insides just have to catch up. Will write more later when I'm feeling more chipper. Thanks for everyone who sent texts and phone calls and good wishes my way! Much appreciated!

Surgery!

Yesterday I had surgery on my wrist to remove a "volar ganglion cyst". This was a rather unsightly bump on my wrist that had become increasingly bothersome. I thought it would be a simple procedure but it turned out to be a bit more than I bargained for. For one thing I had to go under general anesthesia for the first time. Me being me, that prompted me to worry about that 1% chance of "cardiac arrest or death". Jeff observed that I might have a "heightened sense of anxiety" surrounding surgery (ya think?). I knew, of course, that once I fell asleep, I wouldn't care if they cut my hand off, but it was the anticipation that was killing me (ok, and the fact that they wrote "NO" in permanent marker on my right arm, and "YES" on my left so as not to operate on the wrong appendage!). Clearly, everything turned out fine, as I am typing this one-handed and am alive and well. But I did not anticipate how hard it would be to do everything with my right hand (I'm left-handed!). Can't eat with my left hand because I can't bend my wrist. Can't write because while my fingers and thumb are free, the cast is too thick to grasp a pen. Can't wash the right side of my body well. I have to keep my arm elevated above my heart as much as possible (I slept surprisingly well with my arm up on three pillows!). And try putting gel in your hair with one hand!

We are hosting our end-of-season softball party at our house tonight, too! How crazy is that? To top it off, its raining so now I need to come up with some way to entertain 10 girls and their siblings indoors. In the meantime I have some Percocet to get me through!