Christmas Prep

I am diligently using the last week of my FMLA to Christmas shop. I resolved to be done with Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving this year so I can just sit  back and enjoy the Christmas season.  This time of year has been a struggle for me for the last several years due to the level of busyness. I am hoping that with this approach it will be more enjoyable and I will be more able to focus on the magic and spirit of the season.

Sigh

It is my last week of recovery.  I am very glad I got the two more weeks to be home.  I am sure if I had gone back to work after two weeks I would have not been healed enough and would have overdone it trying to do everything at work and around the house.  This has been a blessing.

Overdid it a bit

I felt so good when I got up this morning that I went on a walk.  Before today I have only been able to manage about one lap around the park and then I need to sit down.  I was feeling really great so I walked four laps.  Even after the laps I felt great and ate some delicious leftover turkey meatloaf Hillary made.  After that I went to Costco to pick up my pictures (problems with that) so I was at Costco for about 45 minutes and knew it was bad.  I think had I just walked and then took it easy I would have been fine but the Costco trip threw me over the edge.  I had to take some ibuprofen and sit on the couch the rest of the day.  It is a hard life!

Just Mercy

This book was written by Bryan Stevenson and was a great non-fiction book about racism and the over-representation of people of color in prisons and on death row.  Towards the end of the book there is a character that Bryan meets in a courthouse.  She is an elderly lady who states she is not there for any one person but is there as a "stonecatcher".  She explained to the author the story in the Bible where Jesus comes to the defense of a female prostitute and admonishes the crowd to let the person who has not sinned throw the first stone.  Clearly I am taking huge liberties in my summary of the story!  She states her role in being present in the courthouse is to be with people who are grieving and there are stones being thrown at them as their stonecatcher.  I am in love with this term and had a nice long think about what it might mean to be a stonecatcher for someone.  In the story she sat with people who were hurting and allowed them to lean on her.  I think there is probably no right definition for the word stonecatcher but I imagine it could vary based on the circumstances.  It was so moving to think about what an honor it would be to be with someone in their time of need and catch the stones being thrown at them by life.

Post Post Surgery Update!

Things have been going really well with my recovery.  I haven't taken any prescription pain medication in days and don't have to take quite as much ibuprofen as I was taking before.  I went to the grocery store with Keith yesterday and the hour trip being up and moving around took me about 12 hours to recover from!  It gets better each day and I was finally able to sleep all night in bed instead of on the recliner.  That was WONDERFUL.  I have my post op appointment (one of three) on Friday and will find out the prognosis for when I can return to work.  I have to say I couldn't even think of work last week (other than checking my e-mails) but there seems to be room in my head in the last couple of days to think of things other than healing.

On a different note, I read an article about being more happy and am going to try one of the tips presented in the article.  I think of myself as a generally happy person but being happy is such a integral thing in life that being more deliberate about happiness doesn't seem like a bad investment of time. The thing I am going to try is to write down three things I am grateful for each night.  I like this one because it allows for specificity as over time things like health and home get used early and to make it meaningful I will have to be specific.

Post Surgery Update

It has been four days since my surgery and I am recovering and healing well.  The surgery ended up taking longer than anticipated due to finding more fibroids, finding endometriosis completely covering one of my ovaries and finding a cyst on the other ovary that needed attention.  They ended up taking out my uterus, one ovary and my fallopian tubes.  They kept the one ovary which I am grateful for as it will help with hormonal regulation.

Poor Keith was alone in the waiting room for a surgery that was supposed to last an hour and a half and ended up lasting two and a half hours.  He was pretty worried.  He said it was very cool though because when the doctor came out after the surgery was over, she had pictures she was able to show him of what was going on in the surgery.  I would love to see those pictures and will probably not be able to stop myself from asking for a peek at my post-surgical appointment in a couple of weeks!

I haven't been too uncomfortable and in fact, have been pleasantly surprised at the pain management.  I have come off of the Norco and, if everything goes well today without the Norco, will plan on stepping down on the ibuprofen to a lower dose.  The only area that consistently hurts is my lower back and right hip.  My theory is that this part of my body does not appreciate all of the sitting and laying around so I am getting up more often and staying up longer.

It sure is amazing to me that I didn't even have to spend one night in the hospital for a hysterectomy.  Modern medicine is marvelous!

Ready?!

I think I am ready for surgery on Friday.  I have all of my prescriptions and a plan for the house being clean and the groceries being bought.  There is nothing for me to do except manage my anxiety.  Thank goodness for the doctor who gave me a prescription for Xanax to help with that!  I haven't had to take any but it is nice knowing I have it if I need it.

It will be a busy week both at work and home so that should help with my worry.  We can find out who McKayla's fifth grade teacher will be tomorrow after work.  Thank goodness we have all of her school supplies bought, her hair cut and the new shoes bought.  Having surgery at the beginning of the school year is less than convenient!

Most importantly, I have books to read and a list of shows to recover to on Netflix.  My doctor said it may take up to four weeks to be ready to go back to work but that is the only curveball in this situation as I was planning to go back in two weeks but I am sure that will be fine with my office, just needing to reorganize in my mind.