Goodbye, Mr. Appendix- Part 2

WARNING- Below contains pictures of my insides.....Just thought I'd spoil the ending for you- in case you wanted to be prepared.....

Now let's move on to the story, shall we?

And if you didn't get to read part 1 of this saga- here is the link http://jaredandtabitha.blogspot.com/2012/06/goodbye-mr-appendix-part-1_24.html

Post Surgery Tabitha

Coming out of anesthesia was probably the worst part of the whole let's-remove-your appendix ordeal.

I felt like a big mama bear being awaken from a long winters nap, only to find out the squirrels had eaten my insides and implanted some sort of sickness in my brain and body! In other words- it was like coming back from the dead!

First thing I remember was the nurse removing the tube that went down my throat ouch! As my consciousness drifted into wakefulness I became aware very quickly that I was in pain....and a lot of it. I could hardly speak from that monstrous tube being yanked out of my throat, and when I did speak- well, that hurt too.

And that's when the tears began to fall....and I whimpered like a half ran over puppy...

Needless to say I was a pathetic sight to look upon, I'm sure...

"Are you in pain, honey?" - said the Nurse

I nod my head

"On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you say your pain is?"

"Nine" - I whispered

I looked to my right and there was my handsome Jared holding my hand. He tried to smile the best he could, but he couldn't hide the question mark on his face that seemed to say- "You don't look so good, honey, are you alright?"

No, I wasn't alright- my body had been violated by these a so called Surgeon, who I've never even seen before! (they made me remove my contacts- so technically I had been in the same room with and met him, but I hadn't seen him!)

I was in pain and felt beaten to a pulp- and I realized quickly how stupid I was to think I could recover from this in a day or two.

I was grateful to my family that stopped in to say hi- including my sister Janel and her husband, as well as my cousins Henry, Kate, and Levi. I'm sorry you all had to see me in such a state.....And I'm sorry for ruining the night (they were all suppose to go to a party that night).

Luckily though, I don't think I threw-up until after they left.....I think the morphine made me sick or something...but I threw up alot over the next couple hours. I stayed in the hospital that night and most of the next day and Jared was with me the whole time too (they even wheeled in a cot for him to sleep on- fancy, right?)

After family left, I tried to fall asleep- but every time I would start to drift off I would suddenly gasp for air- according to the nurses I was having a panic attack- and this continued over the next 10 mins or so. I literally thought that if I fell asleep I would stop breathing and die- so I just kept gasping for air! It was terrifying to say the least- the nurse kept telling me that I had 100% oxygen and had nothing to worry about, but I didn't believe her- I honestly thought she was lying to me (I was still kind of loopy from the anesthesia at this point).

I would have to say that after this little episode abated things started to get a little better- at least mentally.

...During the night the nurses would come in and take my vitals and such every so often, but many times I also pressed the button to call the nurse for more morphine- it seemed like they only gave me more if I asked for it, so when I hurt, I asked! And they would ask me the "on a scale of 1 to 10" question every time. I still kept throwing up too, which was so uncool because every time I would purge my stomach fluids- my stomach also felt like it had just ripped in two! Around 1 or 2am my regular nurse and also a male nurse came in to help me use the bathroom- they said if I didn't go pee in the next 1/2 hour they would need to put a catheter in.

I felt so helpless needing help getting up, standing, walking, sitting.....darn it- I even needed help to get myself to pee! The nurse ran the water, and even poured warm water on me in hope that it would help- it took probably 20 minutes until I finally went ( No catheter was going up my urethra!) It continued to be this difficult for another 3 days....yeah, I'm serious- this is a true story, remember?

And I can't tell you how grateful I am to the nurses who took care of me- especially my night nurse. They were so kind and I was so happy they were there and taking care of me, especially since I felt so helpless.

Later the next day they had me get up and walk around the hall.....really it was mostly me holding on to Jared  for dear life- after standing up for about a minute- all of the sudden my right shoulder was in a tremendous amount of pain- why in the heck would my shoulder be hurting so bad?! Did I fall to the floor during the surgery or something??! Turns out they filled my insides up with carbon dioxide during the surgery- and it takes a couple days for this to go away, but it tends to not feel so nice inside....during the next week, this was probably the most uncomfortable part to deal with.

They sent me home around 3:00 the next day- it seemed so cruel too, after all- I wasn't even close to feeling better yet!

I felt like such a baby over the next week- Jared literally had to help me do everything. He stayed home all day Friday to take care of me, then Saturday Janel came down to help me so that Jared could help Henry and Kate move.

Over the next week I couldn't help but feel so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends, who made us meals, sent cards and flowers, who sent kind text messages and facebook messages too.

I am one lucky girl to have such great people in my life. Thanks everybody.

Well now, lucky for you- I have pictures!

Top left is a picture of my colon- which the doctor says looks awesome bytheway- which may not seem that exciting to you- but to me and my ulcerative colitis past- this is great news.

Top right is a picture of my appendix- the purple gross infected thing they are about to saw off.

Bottom picture is the cyst they also removed that was on my left Fallopian tube- looks like of like a balloon if you ask me...tomato, toe-mah-toe......cyst, balloon....whatever you want to call it.

 But they removed it......who needs a balloon on their fallopian tube anyway?

On a side note- want to know how much it would cost to have you appendix removed without insurance? Our bill came in the mail this week...grand total?  $15,951.91..... Lucky for us we have insurance so it was more like $900.

Sorry if you think this is gross....I don't mean to gross you out- I just thought it was cool because they are my insides! And if you had a picture of your insides, you'd probably want to share it too. Or not...


Here are 3 pretty pictures to put in your mind instead

 Thanks for the flowers, Stephanie!

 And Carolyn and Lon!

And thanks Janel for the beautiful polish pottery bowl- And the Madeline book about when she had her appendix out.

For your musical entertainment I present Madeline's "Ouila, my scar!". This is the song Madeline sings after she gets her appendix out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2dRS-fSCYs


Welp- until next time.

Tabitha out!