Archive of Marcia's Musings January 12-18, 2004Checking In
Hiya!! Surgery went well yesterday. I was awake, sitting up and talking to the nurses in the recovery room at 11:30 with my surgery having started less than an hour earlier. I looked around at the other patients and all of them were very UNalert and UN reactive. Frankly, I thought that was silly-- People, you could end up staying over night with that kind of INaction!! I wanted to go home with my hubbins and to my doggies!!! The nurse told me that a lot of people are like that though-- they'd rather stay in the hospital!! Not me!!
I was chomping at the bit at 2pm and found out that I was required to stay another 1-1/2 hours-- a total of 4 hours is required in the "short stay unit" after you wake up in recovery. (In the outpatient surgery unit, you're out of the hospital an hour after waking up in recovery!) They had to make sure that I could take and tolerate liquids. Then a little walk around the floor (but that was my idea) and, I got my real walking papers!
We were home by 4:15!! Yeah!!! Of course, we were greeted with some particularly naughty things that Lucy did but I'll let Brian tell you about that since he had to deal with her.
After a few phone calls to friends and family, I settled down to read for a bit but by 6pm, all of the local anesthesia wore off so I took some pain pills. I'm kinda opposed to "pain pills" so I try to minimize my in-take. Example: Last year when I had my knee surgery in March, the doctor prescribed a quantity of 35 Vicodin 500mgs. I used 7 at the time of that knee surgery and 10 or so with my surgery last summer. When they handed me the prescription yesterday for Percocet, I told Brian to put it in his wallet so we could shred it when we got home.
This pain is more of a muscular pain and that is emphasized when trying to sit up (Brian had to help me sit up in bed this morning). Once I'm upright, things are okay except when I go to stand-- I have to use my legs, not my back and my stomach muscles since that's the part that hurts.
This is, I'm sure, way more detail than you wanted to know so I will stop here.
Thanks for the emails of concern and good wishes. I do appreciate them!
I have a few friends dropping by today and Brian is staying home with me, too. Sally and Lucy are trying to take care of me as well so I'm definitely in good hands (and paws)!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Wednesday, January 14, 2004Observations on This Side of Surgery
Man, do I ever need Vioxx!! My knees are killing me!! I've not been taking it for a week now because of its blood-thinning effects before surgery. Everytime I go down the steps, I can feel it in my knees! For more than one reason, I cannot wait for Friday!!
What is Our Government Doing??
Today I heard an advertisement for jobs on the radio; not all that unusual in the DC area. The jobs were for heating and air conditioning folks who wanted to go to Kabul, Afghanistan to help rebuild the city. Okay, I know-- it all sounds terribly normal, doesn't it?
The Weird Part: The Job Requirements consisted of one (1) thing: a Top Secret security clearance!! Excuse me?? How secret is HVAC??? Oh, PUULLLEEEZZE!!!!
How "secret" can HVAC be??? Am I missing something there?
I need to get a security clearance for dealing with the government for contracts, etc. My clearance for negotiating with some of the Top Dogs in the Army, Air Force, etc. would only be "Secret". Why does an HVAC guy need TOP SECRET??????????
Oh, man-- George, what are you doing now?
(There goes my bid for a security clearance-- at any level!)
Surgery Time
The surgery time has been moved up an hour-- Ihave to be at the hospital at 8:50am which means that surgery will start by 10am and probably earlier. Happy thoughts, prayers and good wishes generously accepted.
Thanks for stopping by and take care of yourselves-- see you when I see you. Have a good evening!
Tuesday, January 13, 2004Apologies
I guess I'm deep in thought this week . . . I have another surgery scheduled for Thursday and, frankly, I'm not as focused as I should be to put up a decent post here. I've got some pictures of my wall-hanging and of the girls but, I haven't felt like formatting and publishing them.
Bear with me-- this too shall pass. Just deep in thought and contemplating my navel I guess.
Thanks for coming by and hopefully, I'll be able to get something up for you tomorrow or by the weekend.
Have a good Wednesday . . . and Thursday?
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