First Weekend Home

I am so glad to be home, and because I want to get back to normal I over did it Friday and today. I didn't do a ton of stuff, but I did some cleaning and kept forgetting I couldn't lift or bend. My incisions are killing me now. It's hard to sit or lay in a comfortable position. Standing is really the only way to not hurt.

Phillip was a homeschool teacher this weekend. I am not smarter than a 5th grader when it come to math. Kyle's behind in math largely due to me not being able to explain it to him. Phillip has worked with Kyle most of today on his work and is getting him caught up.

During the discussion of the tumor surgery and knee surgery, my knee surgeon may the comment about my knee surgery being "elective". This has us concerned because we would be responsible for 20% of the surgery which could be quite a large amount. I will have to call on Monday to find out how they plan to file it with the insurance. If they file it as elective, then I will probably not have the surgery until next year. I'm hoping they don't file it that way, but we will see.

This weekend we haven't sone much because I had to rest quite a bit this morning. We did bills, bought groceries and that's pretty much it. Exciting, I know. Tomorrow we have to semi-gloss the daycare walls and some other work that has been put off since my surgery. We had our annual cleaning day on Friday. We close the daycare one Friday a year and clean the daycare from top to bottom.

My goals this week are to figure out if I can have surgery or not and if so, when. This way I can schedule the rest of my life....lol. Everything is on hold because of the surgery. I have alot of other things to figure out as well. We had a substitute become unreliable and our school age teacher gave her 2 week notice. This means I have to find additional back up teachers and hire a new school age teacher. So, once again I have to get the daycare to be completely covered AGAIN before I can have surgery. We have cancelled our Easter Florida trip, but if I don't have surgery, we will be able to go. I'm really frustrated with the amount of things I have to get back under control.

Well, I am going to watch some TV and go to bed early. My incisions are hurting and I may have to take something tonight for it. Been trying not to, but I may give in tonight.

In the hospital

Well, I feel that I was completely unprepared for this surgery. I had no clue that things were going to happen that have happened. First of all, imagine my shock when I woke up with a tube in my nose, down my throat! The surgery was done laproscopically, which was supposed to mean a quicker recovery. Phillip and I were told I would be in the hospital overnight, possilbe 2 days. Well, This is day 4. I was told this morning I could go home Thursday or Friday. UGH. I can't sleep without Phillip so I am pretty much awake all night. I maybe sleep 2 hours off and on. I may take a short 1 hour nap during the day.
Today they took the tube out. I had a BM this morning and the tube came out around 11 am. Unfortunately I am still on a liquid diet, which means jellos, juice, tea and bullion. Woo Hoo.
The other bad thing is the gas pains. I seem to have gas bubbles trap in one area near one of the incisions which are incredibly painful. I;'m talking labor painful. So, they have given me Morphine, which doesn't make the gas bubble go away but it manages the pain.
I should get real food tomorrow. I had bullion, unsweetened tea with sugar packets, jello and grape juice. I ate the jello....lol. Phillip is bringing me sweet tea when he comes later tonight.
I have a list of foods I am dying to eat. Mostly chicken....lol..
Pathology came back on the tumor and it was fine. Everything looks good and they say I am progressing well. I had no idea I would be in the hospital this long though. I thought 3 to 4 days if he had to cut me, 1-2 days with Laproscopic. So, now I am looking at 6 days to a week! I just want to eat.

Phillip is bringing the kids to see tonight. I didn't want them (or anyone) to see me with that stupid tube in my nose. Only a select few have enjoyed that view....lol.....

Well I may take a short nap and try to get a popsicle.

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the surgery to remove the carcinoid tumor from my stomach. The game plan is to try to do it laproscopically with an endoscopy (camera) to find it and remove it. If the tumor is in a spot where he can't get to it then he will have to actually cut. Either way, I will be at the hospital overnight. The amount of days is dependent on the way surgery goes. The recovery time is 2 weeks. I am able to reschedule surgery for my knee in 2 weeks as well.
I am scheduled to be at St. Joe's at 830am and surgery is at 1030 am. Phillip will be with me (of course).

I appreciate everyone's prayers.. I will definately need them :)

Update on surgery status, Candace's birthday

Well, fun stuff first. Today (March 14th) is Candace's 21st birthday. Of course that means free lunch at Asianna. THe five of us, Rainna and Sammy and Candace all went, Joel opted for a nap :)

Sammy enjoyed dipping his chicken in any thing he could find. He also enjoyed a lemon. Unfortunately no one came to sing to candace (much to her delight) because they forgot about us (we did ask). HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANDACE!!!

So, to update the surgery situation, I went through with the knee pre-op appointment, but halfway through my registration at ParkRidge I got calls from both my knee doctor and the tumor-removing doctor. I was told to cancel the knee surgery and do the tumor surgery first. So, on Monday I have a CT scan and I will schedule surgery. I am hoping to get it done in the next week and am praying for a very very short recovery time so I can do the knee quickly. I really don;t want to be recovering through the summer. I want to be able to walk during the nice weather months and enjoy it, not having to be stuck inside recovering. The pain in my knee is worsening and due to my stomach pain (i have h-pylori and gastritis) I can't take Ibuprofen anymore. Right now I am taking no pain meds. They've given me Xanax to deal with the stress and my anxiety before the surgeries, etc. I'm on 3 meds for the H-Pylori and 2 peptos 3x a day. I feel like an old person with all this medication!

So, basically, I should have a date for the tumor surgery, but I will not know how quick I can reschedule the knee surgery until I have the tumor surgery. He was unsure how much cutting he would have to do (he's really unsure if he will even be able to find it!) As soon as I have something to update, I will add it on here.

More Drama about the surgery

Today I got more results from the GI scope. Apparently I have a tumor (carcinoid) in my duodenum. THis has to be removed and my regular doctor wants it done before my knee surgery. HOWEVER, I have read up on this and it doens't seem life threatening from what I have read. I meet with the surgeon tomorrow at 11 and I will know more. I am hoping he will let me have my knee surgery as usual on Tuesday and then have the tumor removed a few weeks later. I have a CT scan on Friday as well. TOmorrow I will know what to expect as far as recovery and what he thinks about the knee surgery situation. I really don't see what one has to do with the other, but you never know. I will update again when I have more info.

Kyle's tournament game, Remodel update, Last week before surgery

This past Saturday was Kyle's basketball tournament game. They didn't win, but they all played well. He got a trophy and he was pretty proud of that.

The remodel on the daycare didn't get any work on it this weekend. I think we were both so overworked, we just enjoyed being lazy. Of course being lazy included working in the yard, doing laundry and lceaning the house, but we weren't at the daycare at all, so that was a nice break.

Next week is the last week before my surgery. I have a ton of stuff to get done before then. I HAVE to have the toddler room set up and ready (furniture is arriving mid-week), have all my paperwork in order, everything turned in, anything I will need for a few weeks bought, etc. I am assuming I will not be mobile for at least three weeks (as in mobile on my own) but with the possibility of 8 -10 weeks.

Friday I will have a surgery date and hopefully a hospital release date. Phillip will be home with me until the end of March.

Surgery Schedule and SNOW DAYS!!!

Last night we got lots of snow! No school today or tomorrow! It was really bad out on Hendersonville Rd, near where Joel and Candace live. My doctor and PT are out that way and the parking lots were sheets of ice and the roads were horrible! I went to PT today and made my surgery appointment while I was there. On March 13th I will see my doctor to do medical history and them to the hospital for a visit to the anaestesiologist. Then March 17th (St.Patrick's Day) will be my surgery. I won't know the time until March 13th. I have the center covered (staff wise) and hopefully we will be able to open the toddler room that week as well.

I will continue PT until surgery so I can get my knee strong enough to recover quickly. We have the daycare covered so I can be out up to three months (there is NO WAY I could deal with that)but I am hoping for only 3 weeks. We'll see what happens :)