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Friday, November 21, 2008

Feeling full

[discussion of lack of ladybits warning]

*

HELLO!

Thank you for all those lovely well wishes, I'm sure they were floating around my head in hospital like some kind of charm shield. The nurses were all commenting about my swift progress when I was showering myself on day 3. Not that I particularly wanted to shower myself -- I wasn't given a choice, they were majorly understaffed -- but when you need a shower, you need a shower. And I could sit and hold onto things at the same time, so it wasn't too big a deal.

The surgeon said I could go home on Monday. He's very nice, but he's a bit perfunctory. I decided to stay another day (I had the luxury of a private hospital, which is really the only thing I can thank Mr Howard for after forcing us to take health insurance a few years ago, even though I choke on the thought a bit. I did draw the line at watching him on Monday night, though. He still makes me ill when I hear his voice.) because I got a bit wobbly about being at home with our bed that hasn't got a really secure bedhead for sitting up, and that has two huge prowling kitties that like to leap on my lap unexpectedly. So I stayed until Tuesday.

Then on Tuesday the surgeon said that the nurses could take off my plastic wound dressing before I left, to save me coming back to his rooms the next day. He went, and when the nurse came in I asked her about it. 'Nope,' she said. Keep it on until the weekend at least. It has healing and supportive qualities and you'd be much better off. Take it off yourself then.'

I love that sort of knowledge, the stuff that actually benefits the patient rather than is convenient for the doctor. But I shouldn't moan -- my surgeon, and anaesthetist, were fabulous. I've now got no womb, but two healthy ovaries and I still have my appendix (did I mention removing it was an optional extra if it looked a bit peaky?). Which means that I get to keep my wurty hormones, and I get to have a 'normal' menopause, whatever normal means.

At the moment I don't feel like anything has been taken out; when I was a small girl I had a recurring nightmare that people would steal into my bedroom at night, cut me open (in a very small-girl un-gory way, sort of like opening one of those teddybear pyjama-holding pillows) and take out all the bits, replacing them with assorted nasties -- machinery, snakes, stones, whatever -- and sew me up again. I'd wake up, be alive for a few moments then die agonisingly. And then wake up, and prod my tummy cautiously. I feel like someone's done that to my abdomen, it's bloated and full of odd pains and aches and wind. I'm being careful to keep up my pain relief!

The womb itself was apparently very distended with fibroids, so once this bloating disappears I SHOULD feel like something's gone. The poor organ has been to the pathologists to be checked; I haven't heard back from my doctor so I presume there's nothing urgently nasty about it.

The thing that surprised me most about the last week is how little I felt like reading. All that time, all that lying about, and my brain just wasn't interested in text. I watched a lot of bad television, things that made me very glad I don't usually watch a lot of live television. I played a lot of gameboy, particularly Sid Meier's Civilisation Revolution, which is easy and just involves wandering around building cities and snotting other people's armies. I used to play Civ I on my Mac Classic, and don't like many of the changes made to the game, there's less of the actual city control and more emphasis on the snotting. But good when your brain doesn't work.

I'm playing Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass at the moment, and I'm halfway through the game, with the help of the occasional cheatsheet, which I justify because my brain still a bit of a puddle. Bumblebee is very jealous of the fact that I spend my days lolling about playing games, so I've taken to reading to him in bed after school. We're reading Diana Wynne Jones' The Pinhoe Egg. The one book I did read in hospital was her The Merlin Conspiracy. I think I could read her anywhere. People say she's better than JK Rowling; I think they've got separate strengths. Diana's characters aren't as lovable as JKR's, but her vision of magic is, for me, more appealing, much more wicca, or even shinto than JKR. I can see why the Japanese adore her.

My goodness, I'm blathering a bit, aren't I? I'm getting a bit stiff, so it's time to walk around a bit then lie down a lot. I'll be back before you know it, maybe tomorrow. Before I go I just want to say that Best Beloved is still earning his name, big time. He's spending his time cooking me the most wonderful meals (of which I can usually only eat a little bit) and making me comfortable. I have to think of a way to thank him properly.




*THANK YOU (properly) to Laura and Dorian. This image is the front of their get-well card, greeting me when I got home, made by old-fashioned cut & paste methods. I lurv it. (And, BTW, the kitties have behaved themselves beautifully.)

23 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome back old darling,

lovely to hear you so cheery. Don't look forward to menapause too much - it sucks bigtime!!

Enjoy the pampering.

Megxx

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Good to hear you sounding so chipper. Excellent choice about staying till Tuesday -- I let them turf me out on the Monday (is Thursday traditionally hysterectomy day or something?) and it was definitely too early. Also excellent advice about leaving the dressing on, something I wish someone had told me.

The bloating etc is probably partly the intestinal effects of the pain relief -- the leaflet in the box ought to say. Once you wean yourself off it, the tum should right itself semi-immediately.

Mindy said...

Glad to hear things went well. Let me know if you want the vampires and I will see if I can burn them to disc.

Word verification: pelys. I think it's trying to be sympathetic.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

So glad you're back on the webs - and well enough to be. Hope you're helfy and depained right soon.

(That Laura-and-Dorian! They're (and individually) grouse.)

genevieve said...

Thank you for getting fingers to board and letting us know, and enjoy those games (That's a great author recommendation too!!)
Please take care. I feel ouchy just reading all this.
XXOO

cristy said...

So nice to see you back online. I have been thinking of you all week. Take care. I hope that you feel much better very soon.

Poppy Letterpress said...

Great to hear that you're recovering well and being taken care of equally so. I've been checking in daily, hoping to find an update that you're okay and slowly on the mend. xx

Anonymous said...

Liek the others said, good to hear you up and about.

take care!

Anonymous said...

welcome home

xx

(sorsed)

Anonymous said...

&duck, good to have you back and that all went well.
Don't worry about menopause just bring on the HRT !!!
Keep getting better and enjoy the pampering, reading and games.

PS We buried little Diesel today.
She died peacefully yesterday just after eating her brekky. She is buried next to Turbo, Spike and Bug.
We are down to one cat now.

GS said...

Welcome back. Enjoy your convalescence :)

Anonymous said...

Ouch. I had my gallbladder out and it was not as serious as your operation but it took so long to get up and cracking. I hope you recover.

naomi said...

Yay, Duck is back surfing the intertubes!! Good to see petal, much nicer with your voice back

Anonymous said...

Hooray for your recovery and hope you feel much better soon!

I like the thought of BB and BB bee-ing bachelors together, just for a week. Men, men, men, men, maan-ly men, meeeeeeennnnn... (that is effing bad TV.)

[w/v lingese]

Penthe said...

Welcome back to the webs. Glad to hear things are progressing well, and entirely agree about Diana Wynne Jones.

Pen

Elsewhere007 said...

Happy recovery! Hope things are a lot better for you now...

Ann ODyne said...

Wishing you wellness always.

Mummy/Crit said...

Yay ducky, good to hear you're home and in your recovery phase. I know what you mean about Civ.I haven't been able to bring myself to play the new one. I used to play it with Baterz and we'd have the silliest time.

pk said...

Hey: you are famous: the Sunday Age has included you in a big page of women bloggers......expect mass traffic soon, and glad it all went well love Betty

Ampersand Duck said...

Hey WOW, Betty! How excitement! Thanks for telling me!

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

hello Ducky - just adding my well wisherliness to everyone else's :-)

Deborah said...

Here really as a friend of a friend, in that bloggy interconnected way, to say all the best for your recovery, and to admit to never having played Civ II, or any subsequent Civ, because I loved Civ I so much (but it almost ruined my honours year...).

Ampersand Duck said...

Hi Deborah, thanks for popping by. You really don't need to be the friend of a friend to comment on a blog, feel free to partake anytime!

Civ I was lovely, wasn't it? I miss building roads anywhere I like, and I miss building a palace, amongst other things. I wasted a whole lot of study hours playing it too.