The Unexpected: Recovery Time

Hours after surgery ~ that's a morphine smile:)

Holy smokes!  Did my life get a little turned upside down over the last couple weeks ~ hence, a long overdue post!  Ok ~ long story short :) Well...sort of:)  About two weeks ago I began to have stomach pains.  It was like a dull cramp (whole stomach) and when I laid down and pressed on the lower right side, I would get these super sharp pains spreading across my stomach.  On day 4 I went to the walk-in clinic to see what was up since nothing (and I mean nothing) would relieve this 24/7 dull pain.  Doc told me to take tylenol and advil and it will probably go away.  He said it could be numerous things like ovarian cyst, appendix, digestive system, etc.  And pretty much time will tell.  He also booked me for an ultrasound for September 12th which was waayyyyy to long for me especially since it was greatly impacting day-to-day life with my kids.

That night I had a feeling that I needed to do something about the pain.  I went to the ER and waited 3 hours to be seen ~ by the time I was seen it was late so they told me to come back in the morning to have an ultrasound.  So home I went with some painkillers.  The next morning I headed back with my husband and received an ultrasound which confirmed my appendix was abnormal.  That was around 10:30am ~ I was in a hospital bed on morphine by 1:30pm and waited for my turn for surgery.  At around 11:00pm I had my appendix removed and was awake by 1:30am.  They make 3 incisions and fill you with CO2 to balloon you up so they can move around your insides & see things clearly.  They go in with a camera and some tools and end up pulling out the appendix via belly button.  I was able to have this form of surgery because mine had not ruptured.  Tell you what though the pain from this was incredible (my emergency c-section with my daughter had nothing on this!)

My top half is to the left:)  Both the lower incisions were on my c-section incision ~ my poor lower torso:)

The surgeon said it was EXTREMELY close to rupturing so I feel sooooo lucky we caught it in time!
The next day was pain killers, sleeping and a tiny bit of eating.  That night I was discharged and off home I went.  Saturday was ok (had my son's 2nd birthday to celebrate as I missed it on the Friday as I was in hospital all day!  Had a little dinner, cake and presents with a small group of family and friends).  Sunday I had to head back to the ER because I had a bad reaction to the painkillers I was on (nausea and vomiting ~ oh lovely:).  Another 3 hour wait in the ER throwing up into the cardboard caps they give you and finally was given some anti-nausea medication.  Ended up waiting 3 hours in a chair hooked up to an IV then put into a hospital bed around 2:30am! Yes 2:30am!  They wanted me to stay overnight so the doctor could check me in the morning to make sure my stitches were still ok from the pressure from throwing up.  I was checked and discharged Monday at 10:30am.

My birthday boy:) Kinda funny two years to THE DAY I was in the hospital just in a different ward;)

**Side note: I have suffered stomach aches off and on for a couple months along with fatigue which I posted about a little while ago.  By the sounds of it ~ it is most likely connected to what was happening internally with my appendix.  I just assumed it was my anxiety causing the stomach aches ~ with returning to work and all coming up but pretty sure it was my body telling me something wasn't right:)  Thank you body:)

Monday was a bad day.  Tuesday was a very bad day.  I was feeling so horrible and mentally, emotionally I was exhausted.  Have anxiety quite bad as it is and this exacerbated it.  Was feeling extremely blue about everything that was happening.  Luckily I have support and am now feeling much more positive and hopeful about recovering.  My husband Paul was super dad/nurse and helped me tons.  He took Tuesday off and came to look after the kids so I could rest a little.

The last painkillers I took were on Sunday morning so from then on I have been healing up without painkillers.  I decided I would rather just wait it out and not have a foggy head, risk getting sick again, etc.  So here we are!  A little over a week and a half ago and healing up:)  Training at Excel has been put on hold ~ my surgeon said between 3-4 weeks I can jump back in so very excited for that.  I am able to more stationary things like walking, spin, etc. so hoping to do a spin class next week.

What have I learned?
Oh man ~ this has been a hard couple weeks ~ throws you thru a huge loop especially when you have a 2 year old and a 3 year old at home depending on you.  In addition, I am returning to work right now so I had a ton of prep to do but, of course, being so sick and tired really puts a dent in how productive you can be.  Life already had some gigantic changes and it for sure was horrible timing.  But now that I am healing up I am feeling much more positive and so appreciative of not being in constant PAIN.  Don't take your health for granted folks.  Something I think everyone knows but we easily forget until something like this happens.  This sure slowed me down which probably wasn't a bad thing and it resets your focus.  I am so grateful for my husband - Paul, my kids, my family and my friends that helped babysit while I was in hospital.

What's next?
I will get back to some training next week and see how it feels.  Everything is looking pretty good from the surgery (it was laporscopic so there are 2 small incisions on my pubic bone area and one larger one - like 2 inches long - down from my belly button).  Getting my digestive systems working again after so many chemicals in my body has been a challenge and the headaches and shoulder aches from the CO2 have been bad but are getting better.  If I wake up in the morning and I am not hurting then I am smiling!  Tell you what if you are not in pain or recovering from an injury right this second ~ get up and go do something physical!  I can't wait to get back to Excel.  Fingers crossed I will get the go ahead in a couple weeks to run the Spartan Beast (if my body is ok with it I for sure can use that for my mental health!)  Doc thinks I will be okay to do it but will check and confirm whether or not in a couple weeks.  Right now it is time to help my babies get into the rhythm of childcare, get back to working, eating right, staying hydrated and enjoying the time I have with Paul, Marley and Jonah.  Hopefully I will see some of you at Excel next week y'all!  Now tell your body you love it and that you are thankful for all the things it does for you;)  Cheers!