Hi again

I was planning on writing a blog before I went in for surgery, but then got to busy trying to catch up and get ahead for when I did have surgery. Then you guessed it I had surgery. Now I did start this blog last week a few days after surgery but umm turns out writing while in pain and still so tired is a bad idea. It sucked, so here I am a little over a week later re-writing the whole thing. Now was I in terrible pain this whole time, no thank god I have not been. I have however, had the joy of having COVID for the last week. I am definitely fine and not currently rocking in a corner crying. Let's dive into the last few weeks and then I will get into the stuff James has managed to do while I have been a bad patient.

The surgery. It actually went very well! I unfortunately had to get up at the crazy hour of 4am. Thank goodness I have a fantastic husband, even if he is still a terrible editor. He got up with me and hauled my very tired self to Peter Lougheed. I had been told by the pre-op nurse that I would be admitted for one night possibly two depending on how my pain was. I got there and got through admitting and went to pre-op. I will say all my nurses and doctors were absolutely amazing! The resident knock me out doctor(can't spell ane..anest..., and yes I looked it up, but can't be bothered)(Yes I am also abusing brackets, get over it), was the first to come see me. He had a bunch of questions to ask and to talk me though the plan. He was very thorough. He even put in my IV. Get this, he even (my veins are terrible when I haven't been drinking fluids) took ten minutes to make sure he could get it in one poke(checked all my veins) and then got lidocaine to freeze the area, and success he got it in. The second IV they needed was held off until I went to lala land to prevent pain, which I am very grateful for as it was a huge IV that took three pokes to get in. Now you may be wondering if they waited until you were out how do you know it took three tries. Haha, because I have terrible veins, bruise easy and scar from every IV I have ever had. I was then visited by the two resident surgeons assisting with the surgery as it needs 6 hands. They were also very nice and both mentioned that I could probably go home that day if I wanted and all went well. This was so exciting as I have terrible memories of PL. Off to surgery I went. I got out apparently at 11:30, or at least that is when the info board was updated with my having been moved to recovery. I officially woke up(aware and remember) at 12pm.

The recovery in hospital. I ate alot of ice chips while in recovery. My mouth was so so dry. The nurse said I was more awake then they were expecting and still had an hour and half in recovery. So I ate my ice cubes, until I suddenly realized I had to go to the bathroom. Stupid dry mouth. I was not going in a pot in the bed so hold it I did. My nurse was kind as I only had another 20 minutes and she was going on break so she sent me to my room early! Transfered and straight to the bathroom for me! James arrived in my room. I drank more water and begged the husband with something with suger to maybe coat my mouth a little more. I also had to bed the nurse to turn off the IV(walked myself to the bathroom the first time and second) and I needed those fluids turned off. Twice to the bathroom in just over an hour when you hurt, is not it. The hubby brought beverage worked but umm the result was still another trip to the bathroom. The resident came to see me and said I could indeed go home if I felt up to it as long as I went to the bathroom first. HAHA. I told her I had already gone three times. About two hours later I was actually out the door. My mistake was forgetting to ask for the injection of hydromorphine before I left. I was okayish getting dressed, walking out the door and once again stopping at the bathroom. By the time I got a few feet from the car I was no longer okay. James bless him had already got my prescription of hydromorphine fillled and once I was in the car ran back to pick it up(it wasn't ready quite yet and he didn't want me standing around waiting). I took the meds and off we went.

The recovery at home. Ouch ouch ouch. The ride was hell and in rush hour traffic. I got home and went straight to bed, after I again went to the bathroom. Off to sleep I went. Now here is the part that I find very annoying. I have a problem. Now I have had worse pain, far worse with migraines and period related pain(hence the hysterectomy). Now I have never been given strong pain meds because I wasn't showing enough pain. Like when I was told by a doctor that because I walked to the hospital my ankle was fine(five blocks), it was in fact not fine but severely sprained. That was a good time. Anyway back on task. Now I have the good meds, and here comes my second annoyance. I couldn't take them. I took the one in the car, admittedly it didn't do much, but since I got home I couldn't take it. Turns out my fear of becoming addicted to medicine and alcohol is umm very strong, which is why I hardly drink and apparently won't even take the meds I am prescribed. Tylenol and advil became my friends. Thankfully the resident told me to take both the tylenol and advil together every 6 hours if I wasn't using the prescribed meds. That got me through the first few days. Then...

......COVID struck. I of course am the only one in the house who got sick. The kids got the sniffles for a few days and I got severe headache, sneezing(goddamn that hurts), coughing(hurts even more) and so much congestion. Here I am one and half week post surgery and I am finally starting to feel better from the virus who shall no longer be named. I am still quite sore but I am also taking less tylenol and advil, cause its for the weak. sobs, weak translating to smart and self loving people. Why am I like this? I am also terrible at not doing things. No I have not lifted anything heavy and I am resting. I have also folded clothes James briefly set on the bed while he went to do another chore. I realized though that the only surgeries I have had I had to care for a new born following, so even without doing lifting or cleaning I still was getting up at all hours breastfeeding, changing diapers and all the other stuff babies need. I am very good at taking care of others in my house but struggle with doing the same for me. James is very annoyed with me. I am trying to be less aggravating over the last few days. I have been staying in bed longer(not at all because I can avoid pain meds longer) and not "helping" with chores as much. Everyone goes back to work/school soon and I have promised to do better and behave.

James has been approved for return to work. He is now in the process of getting all the paperwork finished(the doctors office lost it the first time). He told his boss he would be back on the third but will be late as he has to take the kids(I can drive once I can turn and twist comfortably, not there yet) and also has to have bloodwork. He is still going for bloodwork every two weeks and we are hoping in September he will be able to get off the prednisone, he was weaned off earlier but needed to go back on again, at a lower dose but still on it. He is feeling amazing and can't wait to get back to being even more normal!

The kiddos went to camp for four days before I went for surgery and had a blast! They have been a little bored for the last week and a bit as their dad has been busy being mom and dad. Our son has been officially diagnosed with ADHD. That appointment was very funny. The doctor(Peds) is amazing, which makes our kids doubly lucky as our family doctor is equally amazing. He said we could get more paper work done at the school if we thought his teachers would give different answers, but based on what I answered and observing our son in the appointment he had no issue giving his diagnosis. I told him that I have also seen him at school since I work there. Our son was very much himself at the appointment. We have a medicine we are trialing. We were worried that it would change him to much but he is still R, just with a better focus and listening! And sadly it hasn't taken away his penchant for falling off furniture or climbing, so daily heart attacks are still a problem. He hasn't had any big outbursts since on the meds, even when he has had sugar. We had cut out sugar from his diet to help with these outbursts but he is a kid. We still keep sugar very limited, but allow it on special occasions! We will see if it helps him at school.

Now for the house. Why is it so much always hits at the same time. This year has been so much already. Transplant,(which was good and hard at the same time), I get scheduled for surgery(same) but that wasn't enough, no lets add a dead dad to the mix as well. That has to be all right. That is more than enough. Nope, the house decided to fall apart at the same time. Now the downstairs bathroom has been a problem, but not the ceiling is actively falling apart. We need to rip that out..... A picture frame randomly broke..... And the goddamn sink in the kitchen is out to get us. It is very clogged(person coming Monday for that), but a part broke. Is it a part that can be easily replaced? No,no it is freaking not. We have to replace most of the stuff under the sink. I guess the guy coming Monday will have an easier time getting into the pipe since it currently isn't attached. I umm maybe did too much trying to be helpful. I am fine haha. Between this and the mice, I am almost convince it would be worth dealing with insurance if lightning could strike the house and burn it to the ground. No, Kyla you love your house and the land. Sigh, true. The next blog you can look forward to plumbing and once I can lift and haul a bathroom demo!

The garden. Well that is a sad affair. Gophers and birds ate most of the carrots, lettuce and radishes before they could even grow. One zucchini plant made it and the onions and potatoes have been harvested. James did the harvesting, so I have no pictures. I have of course realised this too late. I do have some photos of the zucchini! Some of it we left to grow a little to long....

Excuse the messy bed this is one day into COVID and day 6 post surgery.

We got a fairly good harvest of potatoes. We only did one kind and it was new so only one bed. Then the onions were hit and miss, some got large but most were small. Luckily the zucchini is still producing and likely will for a while yet so we have lots of that. I am looking forward to finding out if James can make my tasty zucchini brownies. This is the only way my daughter will eat zucchini. He already made yummy zucchini bites so there is hope for the brownies. I have not seen them yet, but have been promised they will be made before the zucchini goes bad. Opening the oven is sadly not on the list of things I can do without much pain. Speaking of which this is where I leave you. Ouch ouch ouch. I have been sitting here in this position to long and my lap sites are starting to yell at me, and oh shit I am half an hour late for my next dose of tylenol.

Talk to you all again later! I return to work the 24th of September so maybe I will manage to actually get a blog out every week since I have nothing else I can really do and doctor already told me I HAVE to take the full six weeks. Byeee