Today is the first day I have felt great from beginning to end, without some kind of ache or pain. It has been almost five weeks since my surgery and I have been doing a whole bunch of nothing beyond my half-day-work-day. My life has felt somewhat uneventful since the surgery and I feel as if I have been on pause for a little while. I cannot express how grateful I am to have been working a short day. It has made a huge difference in my recovery due to the fact that I have been able to come home, eat some lunch and then take some time to rest before my family comes home. I know it sounds boring as hell, and it has been, but it is exactly what I needed. After working five hours, I am ready for some down time. It is evident to me that rebuilding my stamina is going to consume much of my winter.
Another thing, I have not been able to wear my beloved Levi’s jeans in some time and I sure miss them. I have tried to sneak them back into my life on a couple of occasions, only to find that either the waistband or pocket rivets rub against one of my incisions causing more pain. So I am currently content to wear dresses each and every day until I feel better. I have said it before and I am going to say it again, but I did not think that recovery was going to be so time consuming. However, after speaking to many others on the recovery time for abdominal surgery, I don’t feel so bad. I’ve heard that it will take six to eight weeks to feel better. I’ve also heard that one month of recovery per hour of surgery is common; I’ve also read on some forums that it can take up to a FULL YEAR to feel my best again! Since I actually had four procedures and was under anesthesia for almost five hours, I am going to say that I am doing quite well. I almost rode my bike today, but backed out at the last minute. I am feeling like a chicken. I don’t want to hurt myself, but I also have a tendency to feel great, do too much and then have a setback. I refuse to let that happen this time around. I hurt myself a couple of weeks ago lifting Max up onto the bed. I’m trying to take the best care of me so that I can sign up for that next round of pilates that is coming around in late November. I also have my eye on a yoga class at Kaiser. I figure I can go at my own pace and slowly build myself back up. I need to get rid of this bloat that I am experiencing.
On another note, ya know that poem that describes friendships as a reason, a season or a lifetime? Well I have had the best experience and I take nothing as chance. I am one of those people that believe everything happens for a reason, even if I am not sure what that reason is at the time. I see signs and receive confirmation of feelings in things I observe around me every day. However, once in a while something happens that is so crystal clear, it needs no question. Here is what happened recently:
I am new at The Mulberry School so I am meeting new people every day. During my first week, maybe even my first day I met this really nice woman who is a parent at the school. We were both on the playground at recess time and we introduced ourselves, shared a little chit-chat. I explained that I was the new third grade aide, and she explained that she was an OBGYN surgeon. WOW! (This is where the reason falls into place) How incredible is this? I could not resist the urge to tell her a bit of my story and she was familiar with both Ashermans Syndrome and the most recent, Benign Cystic Mesothelioma. She said that in her twenty years of surgery, she had only seen the BCM once. We spoke of recovery time and some other things and left it at that. Afterwards I could not stop thinking about it. I wondered if it was her patient that had the BCCM and if she had followed up or done any long term maintenance. When I saw her next, I asked that very thing and she said that it was not her patient so she had no information to share. She did have a suggestion for me though. I explained that since it is so rare and undocumented, I was having a tough time finding much information about it. She said that she would be returning to work the following week and would be happy to look it up on her medical database at work and email me all of her findings. Well, that was last week and she followed through and emailed me all of the info she found. She also said that if I sent her my medical record number, she would send all of my stuff over to the OBGYN oncologist for review and share a new doctor opinion with me. How wonderful is that? My concern was that from what I could find, it said that this is possibly caused by prior surgery or trauma. Both of which I suffered after the birth of my youngest child over sixteen years ago. I have actually complained of many maladies over the years that have gone unexplained. I found that the real only treatment is surgical removal, and that the recurrence rate is over fifty percent, suggesting that long term monitoring is ideal for the patient. My doctor really wasn’t sure of the long term monitoring part. She seemed to think that since most of it was removed, I need not worry about it any further. Now that I have some reputable information to present her with, I imagine I will have no problem requesting a CT or ultrasound yearly or whenever needed.
Lastly, I am also on pause when it comes to my weight loss. When I went back to Weight Watchers, I had lost 3.6 pounds, the following week I gained two, and this past week I gained one more, so I am essentially right where I was three weeks ago. I’m not sure if it is my body readjusting after the surgery, my lack of exercise, sheer laziness or a combination of all three. What I do know is that I am not/have not/will not give up! I am still more than halfway to my goal and I am confident that it is going to “click” for me again real soon. I am currently studying the principles of the South Beach Diet as it is a low carbohydrate plan that incorporates lots of healthy foods including dairy and fruit. I really cannot imagine living on dehydrated food for much longer. I don’t even think I can bring myself to eat any more of the Medifast food in the cabinet. I tried to start over a couple weeks ago, and I just can’t do it. I was hungry, grouchy and not satisfied. Until then I have been logging my food intake into a journal, eating something healthy every three hours, weighing in at Weight Watchers weekly and maintaining my weight. When I figure it all out, I’ll be sure and let you all now.
I want to also mention that this past Friday was my 22nd wedding anniversary to Glenn. I planned on writing a blog entitled “The Story of Glenn and Lisa,” but I have been tired upon my return from work each day and never made the time to get it done. I am thinking I still will get that written up, as I am now feeling better. I even turned down a dinner date out on our anniversary, because I wasn’t feeling my best. I’ll tell you, once I feel better; I will have plenty of fun time to make up.
Until next time, here is an oldie picture of Glenn and I on our wedding day, 10/7/89
