My Surgery Update and This Week's Happenings

Last Tuesday I had surgery to have my gallbladder removed. I thought I would share a bit abut how that went, and how I'm recovering, as well as all that has been going on this week.

My surgery went very well, I was quite nervous the night before and the morning of, since I had never had surgery, other than to remove my wisdom teeth, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. When I arrived at the hospital all of the staff was very friendly, and it set my mind at ease. My nurse was very wonderful, she kept the conversation light and made sure I was doing well both before and after the surgery. Of course once the anesthetist arrived all was definitely well after he gave me something fairly powerful for my nerves, then sent me off to surgery slumber land. :) The surgery went quickly, and I remember nothing but waking up in recovery, then being brought back to my room where my husband was waiting. The surgeon came in and said it was good I had my gallbladder removed, there was a stone the diameter of a nickle and signs that the gallbladder had been in distress for some time. After I woke up a bit more, I was able to get up and get dressed and was released to head home. I arrived home just slightly five hours after arriving at the hospital, so the whole procedure was pretty quick. A big thank you to my surgery team, nurses, staff, and volunteers at Silverton Hospital!! :)

I was quite happy when they removed my IV and had some really fun dinosaur wrap to keep the gauze on, I am a big fan of dinosaurs and this really made me happy, when my hubby saw I was getting dinosaur wrap he knew I would be pleased. :) If you are going in for gallbladder removal I would highly suggest bringing in a comfy outfit with soft stretchy waistband pants and a tank top and cotton T, I have been quite happy this whole week to wear my stretchy yoga capris, and I wore my bright walking sneakers for a happy pop of color. I was quite sore for the first few days and could barely get up and down. Laproscopic Gallbladder surgery requires four cuts in your abdominal area, so the muscles are very sore, you can't lift anything and can't twist around much. The pain medicine did the trick, although after day two I realized the pain medicine was making me jittery and anxious, so I opted to switch to just over the counter pain medicine, which was fine.

I spent the whole week taking it very easy, watching lots of television, and reading magazines and my Kindle. I also had lots of flowers to brighten my days. My husband brought me a bright bouquet of Gerber daisies as well as mini roses for my bedroom, my bible study group sent over the most perfect rose I have seen in some time, such a pretty color and fragrance! My son's girlfriend brought me pretty pink lilies from her cheer team, and my mother in law stopped by with a very pretty soft colored bouquet with hydrangeas and daisies. I was so thankful for all of my beautiful flowers, I think flowers really help people keep cheerful while healing. Thanks for all the flowers everyone!! :)

The night before the surgery I spent some time getting things ready around the house, and prepared some lime Jello (my favorite flavor) since my diet after the surgery had to be pretty simple the first few days. I found these absolutely fun Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle mini gladwares at Target last week and knew they would be perfect for single serve portions of Jello. These little Jello cups have been very nice to have all week, and having them in TMNT cups is super fun. This would be a fun thing to have made up in the fridge for summer snacking as well.

Since I was unable to attend the Senior parents locker decorating evening, where parents of graduating seniors decorate their students' lockers, I decided I would make some in advance and have my daughter deliver them to my son and his girlfriend's lockers. I had to keep it fairly simple because I was very busy getting things ready for my surgery, but I really liked how they turned out. I printed out a Congratulations message on bright orange paper, and made fringe from strips of black cardstock, which I glued around the back edges of the paper, then added some grad cap stickers, and some black and orange glitter. They knew I wouldn't be able to attend the decorating event because it was the day of my surgery, but I wanted to surprise them with a little decoration, which they were happy with. :) This weekend is their graduation, and we are all excited for the event!

The weather most of last week was beautifully sunny, I could not resist sitting out in my garden and watching my birds, as well as watching them from my window. The goldfinch and sparrows where very entertaining with their singing and flying about.

The Kestrel was flying over head one day and I caught one picture of him, a little sparrow was working on nest building, and at first I thought some of these new visitors with speckles where just some variation of the goldfinch, now I suspect they may be Pine Siskins, it was fun to see some new visitors to the bird feeders.

I took a few short strolls around my garden last week as well, to check on things and see what was blooming. The little white flowers have popped up on the moss, I love the little yellow flowers on these clovery weeds in the gravel, and a new variety of lavender is blooming.

The succulents in my new dry river garden are doing great, the hens and chicks are making chicks nicely, and some look like they are about to blossom, and one of my new succulents put out the most beautiful hot pink flowers, I was surprised by them, I had no idea they would be so vibrant. I am hoping they still have some at the garden center, because I would love to add more to my garden! It was nice getting out in my garden, and getting some fresh air.

All week I had been hoping I would be well enough to attend my son's last high school play. Luckily I was well enough to attend on Saturday night, his last performance. The play was Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, which is one of my favorites, it was set in the 1940's. They all did a wonderful job, memorizing all of those Shakespeare lines was difficult, but they did great!

My son played Don Pedro, and I was so glad I got to see him perform. His girlfriend was also in the play, as well as many of his friends who have been in plays together for all of high school. The whole night was a real treat!

It has been one week today since my surgery, and I am feeling much better. I am still on light duty for another week, but I get to get out and about now, so that's nice. I am still on a restricted low fat diet, but little by little I will see how I tolerate some fats, the plus side is that I have lost about 15 pounds since beginning my lower fat diet. So overall pretty positive results from my Gallbladder surgery. :)

I'm looking forward to the rest of our week and getting ready to watch my son graduate this weekend! :) Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Linking to:

Be Inspired

Tuesday's With A Twist

Titus 2sDays

Inspire me Tuesaday

Tuesdays at our Home