So, did I mention during my last post that the thing that concerned me most about the timing for having my gallbladder issues was that it might interfere with my ability to go see my grandparents in Indiana? I love my family, but we are so very far apart and it gets so difficult to spend time together that I didn't want to miss even one possible day. So we pushed it! We got the Dr. go ahead and at just one week post op we headed up to see my grandparents and other assorted family.
I remember being a kid and hearing other kids talk about visiting their grandparents as something horrible. That was never the case for me. For me the white farm house with green roof and shutters on a highway in Indiana was home. It was constant. It was full of love. It was comfort. When everything else in my life changed with every new order, that house stayed always welcoming. Though I haven't officially lived in Indiana since I was a year old it has always been home to me. My grandparents taught me how to love and every so often I need that fresh reminder of unconditional love despite the conditions of the world.
Now, I know I referred to the rest of the family as assorted but they are much more than that. My cousins have always been more like sisters to me. Actually, as a little girl one of my cousins and I used to believe that we were actually with the wrong mothers. I would say that my aunt gave me to my mother because I was only 10 months behind her first daughter and that my mother gave my middle cousin to my aunt as payment for me (she is a year younger than me.) The only problem with that is that I am very obviously my dad's offspring. Ha ha! Anyway, the point of all this is that I love my family very much!
I am so glad we managed to make the trip. We spent 9 whole days up there visiting and just being. I suppose that most people don't think there is anything very vacation oriented to do in Indiana, but it is one of our favorite trips to make. We sit and talk with my grandparents. My boys play with my cousins boys. We take trips to the county fair, us girls with our little boys. We have good home cooked dinners where there are more people than can fit around any one table. We traipse through Amish country and buy their yummies. We watch our kids admire the fireworks together. We just are. And I hope that I can say we always will be.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Three Merry Months
Happy quarter of a year birthday Will! Yeah, that's right... I am acknowledging my child's quarter year birthday! He is an amazing little guy and I am totally willing to celebrate every day that I am blessed with is presence so... Happy Birthday Will!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Troubles
My but it has been a long time since I last posted. I haven't avoided posting on purpose, and I certainly have had things to fill everyone in on, but life got in the way. Boy oh boy did life get in the way!
Everyone knows life with a newborn can be rough. One sleepless night follows another. Growth spurts require round the clock feeding cycles. The diapers pile up almost as fast as the dishes and the laundry. And we have certainly faced all of that, but we had an extra wrench thrown into the works. You see on Monday I was given the go ahead to resume life as normal. That meant no more restrictions from the surgeon and I was really looking forward to being able to really pull my own weight (ever diminishing as it was!) By Wednesday our world was back in a crazy whirl.
Wednesday night Hubby offered to take care of the baby and let me get a little rest so that I would be able to take the kiddo to her grandparents the next day. I happily agreed but almost immediately felt this horrible pain in my back. That pain lasted all night long and rapidly grew to the front of my abdomen. It hurt worse that the c-section had and that frightened me, if I am being completely honest. I took some leftover pain pills from the section and still the pain pushed on. By the morning I had to inform Hubby that there was no way I could drive since I hadn't slept due to the pain. I explained it all to him and he seemed pretty sure it was a pulled muscle. It hurt four times worse than any pulled muscle I had ever had before but I trusted he knew best. We did the drop off and the pain still remained. By the time we returned I was fighting very hard to not cry in front of people. At 20 hours the pain was bad enough to make me sick. At that point Hubby had a eureka moment and immediately took me to the emergency room rather certain that the pain was being caused by my gallbladder.
UGH... the next two days were full of aggravation. First the er doc said it was my gallbladder and then changed his mind. Then he had me admitted so I could have an ultrasound but no one knew when that would happen. The doctor that saw me on the floor just totally blew off everything I had to say. She wanted to believe that it was acid reflux, despite the problems my liver was already having. Ummm, honey, I know how acid reflux feels. I would never go the er for acid reflux! When I finally had the ultrasound no one came to give me results for 12 hours! The nurses were rude and, despite my asking both the doctors and the nurses if the meds were safe while breastfeeding, gave me meds that could have caused Will issues!
By the time the second doctor came around and told me it was probably just acid reflux I was ready to just go home and find a doctor who was willing to listen to me! I had to actually ask what the ultrasound showed... she hadn't even looked it over. They treated me like some homeless person who was making things up just to have a bed to sleep in. The whole thing was aggravating! Obviously, when the doctor said she wanted to send me home I didn't argue. No one had listened to me thus far, why stay and be ignored some more?
So home I went. Over the next 5 days I had 8 more pain attacks. At least they were only lasting hours instead of days, but I couldn't get them under control. I tried only eating really healthy food but still the attacks came. I tried only drinking but still the attacks came. I tried drinking only water but still the attacks came. I finally stopped eating or drinking and the attacks still came. Eventually I decided that if the attacks were going to come anyway I should eat whatever was best for Will so I could keep him healthy. Nothing helped honestly. Hubby and I spent hours researching solutions on the Internet and nothing kept the attacks at bay. I was frequently so frustrated that I would just cry and cry.
And then, one week after the first attacks, I went to the internist. She set up appointments for me to have a test on my gallbladder to see if it worked (why they didn't do that in the hospital I will never know!) and to see a surgeon. She also had some blood work done before I left, just to be sure my liver was working fine again.
Three hours later we got the wits scared out of us. As we waited in line at Subway the doctor called. Not the receptionist, not the nurse, but the doctor. She told us to go straight to the emergency room again because my liver function was significantly worse. Fun! Hubby drove while I called our families for a little help and support. (Shout out to our parents... Thanks so much!) When we got there the emergency room apparently hadn't gotten the memo. We went right back in to the wait around and see mode.
I have to say that at this point my stress level was pretty well pegged. Sometime the next day the decision was made to just go ahead and take my gallbladder out and be done with it. A few hours later they did just that and the attacks left with the gallbladder. Hmmm... I guess it wasn't just acid reflux, eh? Haha!
Before the surgery I had read and heard stories of people being back to work after two days. Even the paper from the hospital said that the recovery takes five to ten days. Well, I don't know if it is a result of how far downhill my body had gone before the surgery or if it is from having the surgery so soon after that third c-section but I am still not back up to par. I am finally able to sleep on my side again, though getting into that position hurts. I am finally moving like a normal human though that can cause some serious soreness. I am still on restrictions as far as how much I can lift and that sort of thing, though I honestly just do what I feel ok doing. All I know is that I am slowly getting back to normal, whatever that may be.
Everyone knows life with a newborn can be rough. One sleepless night follows another. Growth spurts require round the clock feeding cycles. The diapers pile up almost as fast as the dishes and the laundry. And we have certainly faced all of that, but we had an extra wrench thrown into the works. You see on Monday I was given the go ahead to resume life as normal. That meant no more restrictions from the surgeon and I was really looking forward to being able to really pull my own weight (ever diminishing as it was!) By Wednesday our world was back in a crazy whirl.
Wednesday night Hubby offered to take care of the baby and let me get a little rest so that I would be able to take the kiddo to her grandparents the next day. I happily agreed but almost immediately felt this horrible pain in my back. That pain lasted all night long and rapidly grew to the front of my abdomen. It hurt worse that the c-section had and that frightened me, if I am being completely honest. I took some leftover pain pills from the section and still the pain pushed on. By the morning I had to inform Hubby that there was no way I could drive since I hadn't slept due to the pain. I explained it all to him and he seemed pretty sure it was a pulled muscle. It hurt four times worse than any pulled muscle I had ever had before but I trusted he knew best. We did the drop off and the pain still remained. By the time we returned I was fighting very hard to not cry in front of people. At 20 hours the pain was bad enough to make me sick. At that point Hubby had a eureka moment and immediately took me to the emergency room rather certain that the pain was being caused by my gallbladder.
UGH... the next two days were full of aggravation. First the er doc said it was my gallbladder and then changed his mind. Then he had me admitted so I could have an ultrasound but no one knew when that would happen. The doctor that saw me on the floor just totally blew off everything I had to say. She wanted to believe that it was acid reflux, despite the problems my liver was already having. Ummm, honey, I know how acid reflux feels. I would never go the er for acid reflux! When I finally had the ultrasound no one came to give me results for 12 hours! The nurses were rude and, despite my asking both the doctors and the nurses if the meds were safe while breastfeeding, gave me meds that could have caused Will issues!
By the time the second doctor came around and told me it was probably just acid reflux I was ready to just go home and find a doctor who was willing to listen to me! I had to actually ask what the ultrasound showed... she hadn't even looked it over. They treated me like some homeless person who was making things up just to have a bed to sleep in. The whole thing was aggravating! Obviously, when the doctor said she wanted to send me home I didn't argue. No one had listened to me thus far, why stay and be ignored some more?
So home I went. Over the next 5 days I had 8 more pain attacks. At least they were only lasting hours instead of days, but I couldn't get them under control. I tried only eating really healthy food but still the attacks came. I tried only drinking but still the attacks came. I tried drinking only water but still the attacks came. I finally stopped eating or drinking and the attacks still came. Eventually I decided that if the attacks were going to come anyway I should eat whatever was best for Will so I could keep him healthy. Nothing helped honestly. Hubby and I spent hours researching solutions on the Internet and nothing kept the attacks at bay. I was frequently so frustrated that I would just cry and cry.
And then, one week after the first attacks, I went to the internist. She set up appointments for me to have a test on my gallbladder to see if it worked (why they didn't do that in the hospital I will never know!) and to see a surgeon. She also had some blood work done before I left, just to be sure my liver was working fine again.
Three hours later we got the wits scared out of us. As we waited in line at Subway the doctor called. Not the receptionist, not the nurse, but the doctor. She told us to go straight to the emergency room again because my liver function was significantly worse. Fun! Hubby drove while I called our families for a little help and support. (Shout out to our parents... Thanks so much!) When we got there the emergency room apparently hadn't gotten the memo. We went right back in to the wait around and see mode.
I have to say that at this point my stress level was pretty well pegged. Sometime the next day the decision was made to just go ahead and take my gallbladder out and be done with it. A few hours later they did just that and the attacks left with the gallbladder. Hmmm... I guess it wasn't just acid reflux, eh? Haha!
Before the surgery I had read and heard stories of people being back to work after two days. Even the paper from the hospital said that the recovery takes five to ten days. Well, I don't know if it is a result of how far downhill my body had gone before the surgery or if it is from having the surgery so soon after that third c-section but I am still not back up to par. I am finally able to sleep on my side again, though getting into that position hurts. I am finally moving like a normal human though that can cause some serious soreness. I am still on restrictions as far as how much I can lift and that sort of thing, though I honestly just do what I feel ok doing. All I know is that I am slowly getting back to normal, whatever that may be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)