I'm a Big, Fat Liar

I broke my promise about posting yesterday afternoon, and for that I feel terrible. I will tell you all what I've been telling Pat since I got home from the hospital. I simply cannot be held responsible for anything that may come out of my mouth while under the influence of narcotic painkillers. And I do have a valid excuse for dropping the ball yesterday, I really do. There was an epic battle raging in my stomach between caffeine and painkillers. For future reference: Coffee+Oxycodone=worst nausea EVER!!! I will be steering clear of the caffeine for the duration of my recovery time.

Anyway, on to the good stuff. Let me preface this by saying that I love love love my doctor. He's sensitive to my needs and was able to give my condition the urgent attention that was needed to move the process along. That being said, I had a terrible hospital experience.

My surgery went well, just not exactly according to plan. An orthopedic surgeon had to be called in once my surgeon opened me up and found a quarter sized bone spur connected to my scapula. So that had to be shaved off, and my whole shoulder blade had to be moved out of the way to remove the cyst. I came out of surgery with quite a few stitches and a drain attached to a tube that goes into the incision. For this reason, my doctor decided it would be in my best interest to be admitted, at least for the night. The only problem was that he wanted to put me on the Oncology Floor (with the rest of his patients), and there were no rooms available. So I spent in excess of 12 hours in multiple recovery rooms, waiting for a room to open up. I find it ironic that they would call such a place a "recovery" room, because between the beeping of machines, hustle and bustle of nurses, and the woman next to me complaining constantly, there was absolutely no recovery taking place during that time. The only way to "recover" in such a place is to be unconscious. And sadly, most of the people in that room were. So, I did what any drugged-up, frustrated person in my situation would do. I bawled my eyes out. Luckily, not long after that, I was admitted to my room.

The fun doesn't end there, however. I ended up in a room with a girl about my age, whose boyfriend was coming and going late into the night. Even when he did finally leave, she spent a good hour arguing on the phone with him. And they must not have gotten the memo about the restriction on cell phone use in patient rooms, because both of their phones were ringing constantly. I was already struggling with sleep because the morphine drip made me itch worse that I ever imagined possible (talk about an itch you can't scratch). But I made it through the night and begged my doctor to release me the next day. After taking me off the IV meds and stabilizing me with oral painkillers, I was finally able to go home.

With the help of my wonderful mother and amazing husband, the next few days went fairly smoothly. Pat has been sleeping on the couch with me every night since I got home from the hospital, waking me up every 4 hours to take my meds, and helping me to the bathroom. And my mother, God bless her heart, did all of my laundry, cooked a few meals, and vacuumed. I was NOT happy to see her leave on Monday.

But alas, the healing process has begun, and I find that I feel just a little bit better each day. Last night, for the first time, I was able to sleep for almost 5 hours straight! I had the first of 2 post-op appointments today. My surgeon felt it would be best to leave the drain in place, as my incision is still producing quite a bit of fluid. I will be going back next Thurs to get the drain removed, as well as my stitches. I have quite a bit of nausea that comes in waves and hits like a ton of bricks. But it usually subsides on its own with no vomiting involved (minus the incident halfway through this post where I had to run to the bathroom and release the contents of my stomach into the porcelain god). My doctor thinks this is just the result of prolonged use of Percocet, and he is keeping a close watch to make sure this doesn't turn into a regular thing.

I also got the final report from Pathology today. They had sent the entire mass of fluid, along with the piece of bone, to the lab. Their firm diagnosis is a bone cyst. Dr. Khatri used a fancy medical term for it, but I cannot remember what the word was. It is completely benign, and the only thing they're concerned about is the very small chance that it could come back. All in all, that's a diagnosis that we couldn't be more pleased with. It's been a tiring road to this point, but we finally made it! I was telling one of my girlfriends that I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, literally and figuratively. ;)

And with that, here are a few pics taken over the last week. ((Please ignore the terrible condition of my skin. I tend to have nasty, stress-induced breakouts, and due to recent events, this one is a doozie.))

My beautiful flowers!

The bouquet on the left is from my grandparents and aunts & uncles (thank you all, they're GORGEOUS!), and the pink roses are from my daddy. :)

My mom & I. I cannot put into words how comforting it was to have her here.

This is how the cat and I have taken to sleeping. She's such a little cuddlebug when she wants to be. And she is enjoying every last minute of my days spent at home.

In closing, I want to thank you all for taking this crazy roller coaster ride with us. It is your love and support, along with the strength and grace of God, that have gotten us through this.