Two weeks have passed

since decompression surgery

mini orchid from Marie Leslie

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my surgery. I feel like I have lost at least a week worth of time. I did think I would be up and about much more than I am, but still spending a great deal of time on the couch. I am improving each day, but I think I did expect that I would be pretty well recovered by now. I have tried to cut back on my meds I took my Oxycotin before bed last night; it's a 12 hour timed release. It was the first night that I didn't get up to take Percocet every 4 hours. When I got up this morning and realized that I hadn't needed more meds during the night I thought I'd try to go without any today. I made it until about 10:15 before I decided that I wasn't quite ready for that and one Percocet was an improvement over two. So of course I went ahead and had one at 2:30 and now at 6:30. My head was really hurting at the incision. When the meds wear off I can feel like a burning pain in my left jaw, my arm and shoulder/neck area and then into my left leg. These are some of the same places that I had problems before, although this is a bit different. I don't feel numbness, but it's more like a feeling that the muscles have been really fatigued, over worked and burn a bit. I feel like I've already said this before so I just looked back on the blog and of course I said something very similar on the last post. It's that brain mush going on again I guess.

Ross & Manami working the sound at the teen conference

Ross was here since yesterday until this afternoon. It turns out that he ate all kinds of food in New York when he was touring some out of town guests. He brought home a leftover pork chop and chicken from a Dominican restaurant in Washington Heights that may have been the culprit. He ate the pork chop on Tuesday afternoon and seems that he now has food poisoning. Let's hope it was food poisoning, because I sure don't need to be sick like that. He was here very sick all day Wednesday and left late this afternoon feeling much better. Of course he came home where the food and comfort are, so that Manami could take care of us both. She was sure to spend some time filling out applications for nursing positions as we both slept. I'm praying that with all the applications she's putting in that she will start getting some calls to come in for personal interviews. Manami went to the store for us and bought a few supplies and much needed Ginger ale and Gatorade for Ross's tummy. I wish I had a picture of Ross lying on one end of the couch and me lying on the other end with Manami sitting in the middle between us trying to comfort us both. What a doll! We love her so much!!!

I'm definitely ready to have the staples out, they feel like they are very raised. My right side seems like it has healed very nicely, but the left side is still sore and quite sensitive and seems a bit swollen still. I also have what seems to be maybe a swollen lymph node on the back of my neck on the right side. I don't think it's anything to be alarmed about, but I'm just watching out for signs of fever that may show an sign of infection. I will only be seeing Dr. Tyagi on Tuesday since it's the only day that she has office hours. If there's any problem, I won't hesitate to call and even go to the hospital. So far I think that although it takes time I am steadily getting better.

Bree & Dean

I'm so thankful for all the help and attention that I've received from Ross, Manami and Bob. I'm also so encouraged that Bree has called me almost everyday and for the sweet note I got from my son-in-law Dean. I also got a little package from Bree that Bob brought me at the hospital; they've both been so thoughtful.

yummy Scottish treats

My good friends Kelly Shirley and Marie Leslie dropped by on Tuesday and visited for a couple of hours. I sat up at the kitchen table and had a cup of tea for the first time since surgery, but I could only last about 20 minutes before I had to lay down. Marie brought me a beautiful little orchid and some Scottish treats that I have been enjoying since. Kelly brought dinner, some yummy comfort food - Chicken Tetrazinni - delicious! It was so good to have them here.