Thursday, September 24, 2009

Thanks For The Prayers

Yesterday was my big appointment with the anesthesiologist for the selective root nerve block. Out of respect for the squeamish, I'll spare you details of the five inch needle shoved into my spine for 25 minutes. Ugh. It was both worse and not near as bad as I imagined. It hurt a lot when they hit the bone and they needed to reposition it twice. Otherwise it was more weird than painful.

The important bits:

* My doc is an angel. He's this gentle, peaceful, guy who seems to genuinely love people. The OB/GYN who did my hysterectomy back in '99 was the best doc on the planet. When I was going under he held my hand, looked in my eyes and said, "I'll take care of you and won't let anything bad happen." It was the best way to go into surgery ever. The guy yesterday was just like that. Thank you Lord.

* I weathered the procedure well but instead of bobbing over to the post-op room with the other patients, my blood pressure crashed to 71/43 (that's the last one I heard before everything went completely black and my hearing disappeared) and I spent a little extra time on the hospital bed. Then I was on monitors for about an hour as my BP kept recovering and then crashing again. I blacked out several times getting dressed... it was some doozy of a day. Fortunately, salt always helps me so I ate salty foods until my hands swelled and quit passing out. Then I came home and slept hard for about four hours.

* I am having a flare-up from the procedure as they told me to expect. Ouch. But the meds they have me on are strong and very helpful. It's hard to swing homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, budgeting etc. I think If I just try really, really hard I'll do just fine.

Do you ever get it in your head you are doing something and just won't let it go even though it's not important at all? I really wanted to do all seven days of the Cardvaarks sketch challenge. I even got up early yesterday to stamp and color my images before my procedure so I'd just need to assemble the card when I got home. Then I had the whole going in shock thing to sort out and I slept a lot instead. So I got up early again this morning to finish the card before the 7:00 AM deadline and someone in my house had put the images somewhere. They are still MIA. I was so disappointed. But it's not a big deal at all. It's pretty much the opposite of important.

I think in life it is easy to put too much focus on a little thing and let it bog you down. It's especially easy when big things in your life (like health in mine) are beyond your control. But holding on too tightly to silly diversions is a quick way to add stress and none of us need that.

Perhaps I'll blog again later with day five of the sketch challenge. Or maybe instead, after finishing our school day, I'll curl up with a good book.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I vote for good book.

I also vote for you taking a day off after surgical procedures (as much as is possible, what with children needing supervision), but I can guess about how far I'm gonna get with that vote.

I'd glad you love your doctor. Here's to the procedure doing what it was intended to do!

Maggi said...

I'm so glad you're home safe and sound! If I get a vote, I say go for the book. :D

Take care!

Perpetual Beginner said...

Book, definitely book. And always, always plan for a day of nothing much when having any kind of surgical procedure. Every once in a while you may luck out, but of a dozen or more such procedures in the immediate family, that's happened only once. (Fortunately, the emergency wisdom tooth removal just before my black belt test. Otherwise I would have been so screwed!) Every other time, the affected person just hasn't been up for much for about 24 hours.

Carmen said...

I am genuinely amazed at your strength and determination. Another vote for the book and throw in a duvet and snooze as well. Take it easy :)

Kim said...

Good heavens, girl, try to relax for a while! You need to take care of yourself first this time, before taking care of everyone and everything else. (Easier said than done, I know!)

Bombshell Stamps said...

You sure are a trooper Nicole, and my thoughts and prayers are with you. Thanks for the update, and hope all the probing and discomfort lead to a pain free life. I couldn't believe you were thinking about crafting too! You're an amazing inspiration ;)

GlitteryKatie said...

Ouch- my epidural site on my spine is twanging in sympathy!!
Day off at the very least- and demand TLC from the hubs and boys!!!

Anonymous said...

What an ordeal! I hope you are feeling better soon and that it was worth it.

Details, details... I, too, get bogged down in details that don't matter. I'm trying, lately, to catch myself when I do it and remember that very little of it matters. I'm reading a book right now that says those of us who get bogged down in details are often trying to escape pain. Makes sense to me - when I work compulsively (not just hard - compulsively), I lose sight of other stuff. I often find out later that I'm having some anxiety and realize that I unconsciously covered up some of it by working compulsively.

So, see, I can see how having that goal for Cardvaarks makes some kind of sense. Hang in there, dear Nicole. I know better days are ahead.

Amy