Staples and Stars

12/24/10 – Merry Christmas Eve all! 

This having surgery is for the birds.  I am tired of not being able to sleep properly.  My pillow mountain is not working as well as it did earlier.  Last night I actually woke up at 5:00 and couldn’t go back to sleep.  I decided that I would sleep better on the couch than in the bed.  I fell asleep praying on the couch.  I guess God heard my prayer because I got a good 4 hours of sleep, but when I woke up my back still hurt - sigh.  Maybe I’m overcompensating for my stomach muscles with my back?  I decided that taking a Percocet for my back wouldn’t be right – check back in a few hours to see if I still feel that way.  As of 1:30 today I will have gone 24 hours without any pain meds.  Yay me!

I took my last Percocet before I went to have my staples removed.  I was scared but ready to have the staples taken out.  They were pinching me.  I kept envisioning my doctor coming at me with a staple remover from work.  When I got there the wire snippers that he used did NOT make me feel calm.  They totally freaked me out!  Everyone says that having staples removed doesn’t really hurt – “some of them may pinch more than others.”  Holy cow!  I did not like it one bit.  Yes, I’m glad the staples came out and my doctor was very fast, but it was not comfortable.  They all pinched to me! Once the staples were removed they put some strips on the incision that will stay on 7 – 10 days.  For some reason the strips kinda burned when he put them on.  After that I was allowed to sit in a chair until the doctor came back to talk to me.  The more I sat in that chair the funnier I felt. – “They took my staples out.  My incision hurt.  It pinched.  Those strips burned.  My incision hurts.  Why are things getting fuzzy?  Why does Todd look like ants on a TV screen are on him?” – “Todd, I think I’m going to pass out?”  Todd went and found the nurse and my doctor and they brought me a bottle of water.  I sat a while longer and read a People magazine.  I eventually start to feel like myself.  The doctor came back in and asked if I felt ok or if I needed to sit a little longer.  I told him that I felt much better.  He smiled and we kind of laughed that people normally don’t almost pass out when they have staples removed.  So, I almost passed out when I had my staples removed! Yup! I’m not proud, but I’m not surprised either.  My name is Shea and I almost passed out when I had my staples removed.  (Am I the only one who thinks I have a lot of things that I have to admit in this way?)

I know what you’re thinking… No, I have not looked at the incision still.  I am considering it in the near future now that I don’t look like a robot.  Right now I look like a mummy with those strips on me.  I did get Todd to take a picture of me before they were removed just in case I want to see what I looked like in the future.  (Don’t worry.  I won’t post the picture on my blog – at least not yet.)

We had our first Christmas lunch/dinner last night.  It was awesome.  I’m now able to eat “real” food.  We had ham (remember the 20lb ham I mentioned before), shoe string casserole (YUM!), squash dressing, green beans, deviled eggs, sweet tea (well, splenda sweet).  It was all wonderful.  The only sad part is that I can’t eat as much as I used to.  Maybe I’ll actually lose some weight this year?

The Bambergs headed home around 6:00 yesterday and left me all alone with Todd.  We wound up having a good night.  We watched The Santa Claus and Home Alone 2 (Why? Why do they not show Home Alone 1? It’s a Christmas movie too.), had a nice fire, and just relaxed.  It was a really nice night.  I am contemplating whether I feel up for going out in public today.  I might be able to walk a little and then sit, walk a little and then sit.  I just don’t know.  Todd said that we could go to the Super Kroger near the house and get stuff to make chocolate covered peanut butter Ritz – Wow! My excitement of the day is going to the Super Kroger.  I lead a sad, sad life.  What’s really sad is that I think going to Kroger sounds like fun – LOL!  The Hardens are coming into town tomorrow so I have to get ready for that.

I’m not really hungry today.  I ate a lot yesterday.  I think I would like something light, like maybe my Peach Slice Plus smoothie from Smoothie King.  My song of the day is “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”.  Todd says that is appropriate since I almost passed out.  I think I’m a walking comedy show for him. 

Stella decided to help me with my writing today.  She was attacking me as I wrote.  She goes kind of crazy at Christmas time.  I think she thinks the tree and all the boxes and paper are her personal jungle and reverts back to her inner wild animal.  Here’s a pic of her while I was typing. 

I hope everyone has a great Christmas Eve!