I'm home sort of

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Registered: 04-25-2003
I'm home sort of
30
Fri, 07-15-2005 - 3:16am

Hi everyone just a quick post to let you all know that I am out of hospital, staying at Nat's until I am able to drive again.

Nat did come with me to the hospital and she waited until I came out of recovery before she left. She didnt come back again though, I had to catch a taxi back here but she is insisting I stay here for at least the next two days.

I did get the keyhole surgery done, it wasnt straightforward because apparently my gallbladder was very inflamed. I had ultrasounds done in Sept and I think I said that there was a stone jammed right there in the bile duct - I had attacks almost constantly from Sept through to Feb no matter what I ate and then they just stopped and I was eating a lot of things I shouldnt have been able to without getting attacks. When he took the gallbladder out, he said it was complicated because that stone was still jammed right there. The surgeon couldnt understand why I havent been in agony all this time.

My tummy is very sore and swollen, I can breathe without pain today and I am very glad I didnt have to have the open surgery.

Thanks for all your good thoughts and well wishes, I will try to get online for a bit longer tomorrow but for now I am taking my tramadol which will zonk me out


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Registered: 02-04-2005
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 12:18am
For some reason this made me think of this comedian I worked with once.
He told the audience. "I'm recovering from surgery, I just had my Mother removed from my back."
Oh well, get well soon.
Hugs,
Laurie
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Registered: 10-04-2004
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 7:59am
Of course... that goes without saying... though I do miss it!

What's the use in regrets
They're just thing we haven't done yet
What are regrets?
They're just lessons we haven't learned yet


Pass In Time ~ Beth Orton

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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 5:22pm
thanks Nony, I am feeling a lot better today, was the first one up in this household so I have parked my butt at the computer and I am not moving until I am done!

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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 5:28pm
Thanks Pooh- Its more not having to do housework than TLC as Natalie seems to spend 80% of her day in bed. I never met anyone who slept so much!

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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 5:31pm
thanks Halo, I really appreciate the no jokes thing today, because the two things that are still very hard are laughing and coughing!

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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 5:43pm

Thanks Cat, I am trying not to let being out of work at the moment get me down, I think it will be better when I am back at my own place, there is not a lot to do here.
You are getting the pain in the right area- I will tell you how it started for me, I was getting a feeling like tightness or pressure there, not painful but just noticeable and that was months before I actually had an attack. I get asthma from time to time and that starts like a tightening around my chest that feels like it gets tighter and tighter until I am short of breath and when I got an attack, they all started like that- so I wasnt sure if I was going to have an asthma attack or not. Then it became a gripping pain from nowhere specific -it hurt my tummy, in my back and my chest and it intensified to a point where whatever position I tried to ease the pain just seemed to make it worse. The pressure of my weight when I tried walking was the worst thing and when I had that first attack I vomited from the pain, I was sweating and shaking and dizzy- the whole attack lasted a good six hours. The attacks I had after that werent as bad as the first one but started the same way and involved the intense pain. I couldnt tell at all where the pain was actually coming from til the attack was subsiding and then I was sore under my ribs on my right hand side, and through to my back.
Its often caused by a high cholestrol diet but my cholestrol level is actually lower than average so they think it was the sudden weight loss that brought it on. When I started having the attacks, they told me to cut out fat in my diet but I was still getting regular attacks no matter what I ate or didnt eat- apparently going hungry makes it worse as well- but they tell me due to the position of the gallstone that I was an exception and generally cutting out fat in your diet will ease the problem.
I am not sure how it all works over there, but here the sooner you get into the system, the sooner you can go on a waiting list for your op- that is through the public health system so I dont have to pay anything. I had an ultrasound first and they can clearly see the gallstones on that.

GOod luck and take care, its not fun but at least the worst of it is over for me now, yay!


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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 5:49pm
thanks Gigi and dont worry, I wont go back to work until the doctor says I can. The guy who is filling in for me at work really needs the money and he told me to tell the surgeon to feel free to do anything else that needs doing like maybe amputate a leg or two so he can have the work... I am getting an extra allowance from the govt to cover for the loss of earnings, not as much as I would earn but its better than nothing so I am going to be a good girl and take the time I need. I surgeon told me 6 weeks because I am doing such a physical job but last time I saw the doctor he told me 2 or 3. I will see him on Friday and see what he says then.

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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 5:55pm

poor Nat would like to be a good nurse, its what she always dreamed of being but as usual there is a big gap in what she dreams of and what she is actually capable of. She did something silly which I know wasnt intentional and I do forgive her - I just know I wouldnt have made the same mistake. She brought me in a drink and some pain meds the other night and left them on the bedroom floor. I assumed the drink was water and it was about 4am, pitch black when I decided I better take some. As soon as I tasted that the drink was sweet, I knew what she had done and I knew what I had just swallowed. She had given me fizzy (soda) drink and when I turned the light on, my worst fears were confirmed- the cup was crawling with ants! So I have had my protein for the week.... I was woken a little bit later by the sound of the cat puking under my bed which was the last thing I needed to hear!

But no harm done and Nat feels bad enough


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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 5:58pm
Thanks Raye! And now I am recovering I have all this time on my hands and nothing to do.. who can I annoy, I wonder? lol!

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Registered: 04-25-2003
Sat, 07-16-2005 - 6:00pm
oh I had THAT surgery a few years ago! lol

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