I'm back on the blog

Hi friends!

I've decided to sit up and try doing a bit of blogging. I'm glad to see that my husband kept everyone up-to-date on the surgery. He has been a wonderful help, as many of you recognized.

I'm now almost three weeks post-op and have made much progress. I'm still in constant pain, but am doing small new things everyday (such as putting in my contacts)! Woo hoo. I ended up staying in the hospital for 10 days, most of which I was unable to eat any solid foods because I had a paralytic illis (sp?). There was one awful day in which they wheeled me around from ward to ward running tests and trying to get my digestion to wake up again. Needless to say, it was one the times I remember constantly screaming on the tables as they performed these tests. Honestly, I do not remember a whole lot from the first few days, but according to my mother and husband, that is for the best. Mom said often it was like watching her daughter being tortured, but now we're slowly starting to see the positive results. I could not have done this without my family by my side constantly.

In general, my hospital visit was ok. All of the nurses were pleasant, except one who came in trying to fake a British accent because my mother is British and he was really pissing me off as I was literally trying not to throw up. There were a few night nurses who obviously were not skilled in log rolling and were very rough with me. Many of the nurses said they wished that the last person on shift would write notes down about their experiences with me because each one came in fairly clueless about what I had been through.

I'm fairly comfortable at home now. I'm increasing my walking each day and am currently walking about 1/2 mile per day. I'm sitting longer, but in between each activity, I have to go lay down and rest. I'm thrilled that I get to shower now, although I can't reach my head yet, so my husband still has to help. I've also learned that my walking cane comes in handy for flushing the toilet since I can't reach that either.

I've used my cane to walk outside because I have to descend my stairs and I just feel more comfortable because I still lose my balance once in a while. It is amazing to see how people treat you differently though, especially when you look young and are walking with a cane at the grand speed of 1 mile per hour (maybe). I have to say though, people do move out of your way, which is what I want at the moment. I don't want crazy kids on bikes crashing into me on the sidewalk. They are not supposed to be riding there anyway.

Well, I'm about out of energy to keep sitting, but the recovery is full of ups and downs, but luckily more ups as of late. However, I get really sharp pains in between my shoulder blades when I move my arms in certain positions. I don't know what that is about, but I guess that everything is just readjusting to their new positions.

I'll be back more frequently. Thank you to all who have commented and helped me through this process. I'll eventually post some before and after pictures, but right now I'm too nervous to look at my scar.