Am I Alive?

It's taken two weeks, but I can finally say I feel like myself again. Like bad seafood, surgery doesn't agree with me. Friday, May 4th, I had surgery in Little Rock to remove my uterine septum and also some endometriosis. We, my mom, Jeremy and I, went down to Little Rock Thursdsay afternoon to meet the surgeon, Dr. Moutos, for my pre-op appointment. He did a full on exam-which I could have done without-with Jeremy sitting right beside me. I'm not sure which of us was more uncomfortable! Before we left, Dr. Moutos had one last parting gift-a pill to soften my cervix...not a pill that you swallow...Jeremy was all to happy to help out with that Thursday night.

Friday we were up at 'em early. I had to check in at 5:30 for the 7:30 surgery. I was a nervous wreck. Having never had surgery before, I didn't really know what to expect and had this fear-when I found out they'd be putting a tube down my throat because I wouldn't be breathing on my own-that I wouldn't wake up. The nurse that took me back was really sweet and funny. Fortunately she laughed when I informed her that I'd dropped the cup in the toilet that she had given me to pee in. Jokingly, she said "I can see you're going to give me trouble." Which I guess I did, she couldn't find a good vein to put in the IV, which definitely didn't help my mood. Lucky for me, she took pity and used something to numb the area before she went on poking and prodding me. I started hyperventilating when they took me back to the operating room, so before I knew what was happening, they had me breathing in some "sleeping gas," and I was out. It seemed like only a split second before I was coming to in recovery.

Recovery-no good! I physically couldn't open my eyes. I could hear voices and was able to mumble a weak "So, am I alive?" to the nurse, and then the pain and vomitting took over. The surgery only took about 45 minutes but they kept me in recovery until after 1:00. They wanted to admit me and keep me overnight, but they finally got the pain and vomiting under control and I convinced them to let us leave, which I'm glad we did because I don't remember most of the car trip home. What I do remember though is that I couldn't swallow anything but water and the inch wide tube coming out of my nether regions and taped to my thigh, was really uncomfortable. The first time I remember being able to open my eyes was when I was being wheeled outside to get into the car to go home. I remember thinking that the sun was really bright and squinting my eyes. I slept most of the way home, only waking up to stop to pee at a McDonalds. I would soon get a taste of what pregnant women go through with having the constant urge to pee. I guess the balloon they had inserted in my uterus to hold it's shape and keep scar tissue at bay, caused extra pressure on my bladder and until they removed the balloon and tube on Tuesday, I felt like I had to pee every 30 minutes. So, I have a new found understanding for what pregnant women deal with, when it comes to the constant urge to pee. I also didn't realize that having surgery was a form of dieting. LOL I lost 9 pounds in less than a week because I had trouble swallowing, nothing tasted good and once I realized I couldn't go to the bathroom (not peeing, that wasn't a problem), I was a little afraid to eat.

Thankfully I had some great family and friends around to help me for the first few days after surgery. I couldn't have done it without them and I am also incredibly thankful for a medicine called magnesium citrate. If you don't know what it's for-good for you and be thankful! I learned the hard way-anesthesia and pain pills both cause some not-so-nice side effects. All in all, I feel incredibly blessed that my uterine septum was discovered and Dr. Moutos was able to remove it. He said that he couldn't have asked for things to go any better. So I'm continuing to look forward, not backward and Jeremy and I are both extremely hopeful for what lies ahead! I need to recover for 4 to 6 weeks and then we'll be ready to start on our IVF journey. Until next time...All my love, Melissa