11.1--Stent Free!!

Sorry this post is SO incredibly late. I was able to get my stent out a few Monday's ago. (11.1.10 to be exact) So yeah, it's been a really long time. YIKES!! Ok, so here is the update, the stent has been removed. Terry Snare was able to drive me to the the doctor's and stay with me in the case that I would need something. It was very painful Monday and the following Tuesday. I was able to go to work that Wednesday...it was a li'l rough, but it was SO great to be back to work. I just had to take pictures o' the stent!! For those who don't know what a stent looks like, here are the pictures.

The stent was 13 inches long with curly ends. The curls are to hold the stent in place. The top curl hooks into the kidneys, stent goes down the ureter, and then the bottom stent hooks into the bladder. There are also li'l holes in the tube to make it easier for fluids to pass through.

How's this for pain in my kidneys!!

I asked for them to save it for me.
They said that was the first time anybody's asked that!

Ugh...glad it's out!!

So now that it's out, I've been feeling pretty good. Every now and again I get some pain cause the doctor says that over the next couple weeks I should be passing li'l pieces from when the huge ones were broken up by the lithotripsy. I'm supposed to continue to drink LOTS and LOTS o' fluids (iced tea is a liquid...hehe) and if the pain comes back to take a pain pill and get off my feet! So that is the update...sorry it's only taken a few weeks! (:

THE END!!!

Steps...shower...and the slab!

Friday, April 16, 2010.

I decided to blog this evening; however, there are no pictures in this post. So for those o' you (like my husband) who skim thru the words part if it's not exciting and just look at the pictures...I'm sorry! I know it's been such a long time since I've blogged. Things have been busy, which is weird b/c I don't do ANYTHING. It's so crazy. With my last surgery, I was able to bounce back A LOT sooner and things were a LOT easier as far as the recovery process goes. If any o' you have facebook, you can see from my status updates that I have to have a babysitter whenever Ace leaves. I guess it makes a difference if you were in a coma for 3 days, right?

I was doing better as far as steps go, practically doing them by myself. I just preferred to hold somebody's hand so I don't fall and hurt myself. Yesterday, I did all the steps with Bobbi Jo Gearhart (my babysitter), then went to the Post Office and climbed all those stairs (there are like 15), then went back to her house and climbed up her stairs (probably like 10). When I got home I tried to go up our front porch stairs and felt a really bad pain in my left lower quadrant. So I think I pulled something. This is going to set me back a li'l bit because now people have to help me again up and down the steps. On to a more positive note, I'm doing more by myself now!! YEAH BUDDY!! I can take showers by myself. I can dress myself. Although I've been trying to do more by myself, I still can't bend over if I drop something on the floor. I can pick it up with my toes, bend my leg to my arm, and grab it with my hand. So I can SOMETIMES pick things up from the ground by myself. Oh, and I'm walking a LOT faster. I don't walk like I'm 89 anymore. Although today we went out to eat and I couldn't step up the one step, so I called for Adam to help me. There was a couple in the car watching me like, "What is wrong with that girl who is like 13?" And I SOOO wanted to lift my shirt up to flash them my HUGE scar on my belly and yell, "THIS IS WHY!!" Don't worry for all you wondering...I didn't!!!

On Tuesday (April 20th), Ace will take me to Pittsburgh to the surgeon to get my stitches out! I will also be seeing my GI doctor for my follow-up appointment. Ace was able to take off work so he could go with me, so that was a nice surprise! My appointment is early in the morning so we'll go to the appointment and hopefully Marble Slab will be open and Ace can get some ice cream!! We have a gift card and there are no Marble Slabs around here...only Pittsburgh. So we try to stop every time I have an appointment. They also have Italian Ice for me! (:

I just want you all to know that I'm working on a post o' what I think happened during the coma and the days afterwords. Some o' you may have heard the stories. In my memory, I remember being in water and a psycho girl named Wae-Wae that was trying to attack me. It's just taking a long time b/c everything I remember is SO different. I don't know what's real and what was made up in my drug induced state.

Ok...hope to have more pictures to post later! Hope this will suffice!