Recovering nicely!

Hey everyone!

Well, as Kyle posted, I did manage to get in for surgery Friday night. They put me under and next thing I knew, I was awake in the recovery room, just DYING to have a drink of water or ice chips or something, but was told I couldn't have anything by mouth still.

Apparently, along with the intestine and cyst they planned to remove, they also drained the abcesses, and performed three strictureplasties. As I understand, this is a pretty simple procedure. They make a slit along the length of the intestine, then bunch it together and sew it shut, sort of like sewing a puffed sleeve, as my mom put it. This results in the intestine being a bit shorter but wider at the strictured parts. It's good to know they really take a good look while you're under to make sure they're not missing any other problems! I have three little incisions, one in my bellybutton (the biggest one), one just below it, and another on my left hip.

At some point they wheeled me up to my room on the 10th floor, where they kept me under observation and I mostly just slept. They let me swab my mouth with club soda and water, but still nothing else. I just slept lots, aided by the morphine drip. I wasn't allowed much- 1 ml every 6 minutes at the most, and it would deliver this dosage when I press a little button attached to my gown.

Saturday was mostly a blur, and I don't really remember much of it.

Sunday I felt much more lucid, though still a little weird on the morphine. Fr Larry and Myra came to visit and Fr Larry joked that they't cut off my feet! Meanie...

So today I still can't really eat, though they just gave me a popsicle, and let me tell you, pink popsicles have never tasted so yummy! 5 days of tasting nothing but the inside of your own sick mouth is not fun.

I'm not feeling too much pain. My sutures and stuff ache a bit more today cuz they're making me sit up in bed which is making stuff move around. I suppose this is pretty good for just a couple days after surgery though! Hopefully tomorrow they'll let me have broth or ice cream or something. I'm also not using my morphine nearly so much today, and they make me get up for lots of walks around.

Feel free to come visit- it's usually best to come in the afternoon, since I'm most alert then and usually all the doctors have come and gone by then. I"m on the 10th floor in the surgical observation unit, room 1069, it's all the way at the end of the hall. This floor as a patient lounge too, so if I"m up to it, we can go hang out in the lounge as well as in my room!

Thanks for all the well-wishes, and I'm on my road to recovery! Thank goodness all this is nearly over!!

-Leanne