Slow and Steady

... Wins the Race!  I don't have to remind myself to take it easy.  My body will not LET me do anything else.  A quick recap...

Monday, May 5th I completed the yummy bowel prep.  Tuesday, Jason had me at the hospital by 6am for surgery that was scheduled for 7:30am.  After the usual pleasantries, it wasn't long at all before the anesthesiologist came in with the "happy juice".  She injected it into my IV and the last thing I remember before being wheeled out of the prep area was kissing my wonderful husband.  They told him to go find a LOT of things to do that the surgery would be roughly 6 hours.  8... YES... 8!!! hours later they finally let him know that I had just been taken to recovery and would see him in probably another 2 hours in my room.  The surgery had a couple of unexpected complications and they had to give me two units of blood in the OR.  The entire rest of that day is a complete blur.  Wednesday, May 8th... I got two more units of blood throughout the day and plenty of pain medicine.  And my mother-in-law came to the hospital for a visit.  I got out of bed to sit in the chair for the first time.  My pca pump was removed sometime early in the day once I could eat and swallow the pain pills.  I kicked my husband out of the hospital to a local hotel for the night so that he could get some real sleep.  Thursday, May 9th... all hell broke loose  at 4am when they realized I had hit my max dosage for Tylenol based pain meds at my 1:30am dose and couldn't have any further medication until the doc could work out what I was allowed/could take.  Because of my many medication allergies and the fact that I was still nursing, they couldn't give me just anything.  I called my husband in tears because of the pain and he rushed right in to take care of me.  They didn't get it worked out until nearly 8:00am.  The doc came in and apologized.  Once we got the pain under control, the rest of the day was fabulous.  But, the lack of pain control and associated issues set me back and I was unable to go home that day.  I finally got to get out of bed for my first walk around the surgical floor right around 1pm.  Hospital food sucks!  Afternoon came and I started up a steady low-grade temp (for the second afternoon in a row) and it was decided that I definitely would not be going home today.  Friday, May 9th... a couple of walks around the floor and fever is under control.  Pain management seems to be working.  I was released right around 7pm to go home.

The doctor made a mistake on the prescription for pain meds and we couldn't get it filled - guess it really was a good thing we had decided to stop at a pharmacy less than 15 minutes or so from the hospital instead of driving the whole 2 hours home.  We rushed back to the hospital to get them to fix it all.  By then, I was in a LOT of pain again and very stressed.  We got everything temporarily resolved and got one of the two pain meds that was supposed to last me through the weekend.  I didn't think to ask the doctor what the NEW dosing instructions would be without the other pain med.  So, at 3:30am on Saturday I was shaking and hysterical with pain.  My wonderful mother and husband managed to move the rocker/glider from the nursery into my bedroom for me to try to get a little more sleep in.  And, once I spoke with the doctor in the morning and got the new dosing instructions we were doing great again.  I wasn't able to nurse Josiah at all on Saturday.  He just wouldn't latch on and I was still in considerable pain.  On Sunday, I got the BEST Mother's Day present of all when Josiah latched right on and spent the day nursing to his hearts content with my mother's help.  Monday, May 12th we got the prescription issues worked out with the surgeon and my local primary care doctor.  Tuesday, I had a kink in my foley catheter and thought I wanted to die right around lunch time.  Once we figured out what was wrong, I just spent the rest of the day resting and thanking God for His amazing mercy in it being something so simple and easily resolved.  I even managed to hobble downstairs and out onto the back deck to sit and breath in the beautiful sunny day and relax in one of the gliders mom got for my deck.  Sunshine, a nice breeze, good pain control and beautiful orchard/mountain views... God's therapy at it's best.

That brings us to today... it's been a good day.  It wasn't as warm outside, but I did manage to get outside to get some fresh air and relax for a bit.  Josiah is still nursing 100% of the time with no supplementation and no seeming adverse reactions to my current meds.  All of my little ones are adjusting rather well.  My husband is working amazingly hard to be all that we need of him right now.  My mom is still sleeping on my couch and here nearly 24/7 to make sure we are okay through this week. Oh... and my laptop was shipped to HP today to be repaired while I recover.  I'm working on this "loaner" my hubby provided.

Tomorrow is yet another day and another time for the Lord to show my family His amazing love and provision for us.  I plan to pick up my socks and continue my knitting tomorrow.  I might even finish them depending on how the day goes.  Hug your loved ones and never forget to take time to show them just how important they are to you.  You might not have another chance and they need to hear it from you.

Godspeed... ~ Tiffani

Comments

[Shelley]

so sorry to hear of the many mess-ups with the pain management, but very glad to know your mom and hubby are taking good care of you... share a pic of those socks when you're done!