Sunday, September 14, 2014

Recovery and Happy Birthday to Me!

Disclaimer: Post surgery belly pictures are below!  And they're not at the bottom of the post like last time! 

Friday I hit the 3 weeks post surgery mark.  Friday also happened to be my birthday!  So yay for both of those things!  I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday, which was my first time to see the doctor since surgery.  He looked at my stomach, felt around, and said everything looks good.  He checked my pathology again and said pathology definitely shows I have Crohn's, and he said the pathologist was concerned about something else but Dr. Rogers said he wasn't concerned it.  So I've tried to push away the thought of maybe he didn't get all the bad out.  He's a great surgeon and knows what he's doing!  He cleared me to drive (yay!) and cleared me to go back to work, he said just to take things very easy and slow.  I still can't exercise or pick up Sara Kate for 2 more weeks but I know those weeks will fly by.  Sweet little angel face asked me if my boo boo's on my tummy were better so I can pick her up.  She'll be so excited when I finally can pick her up!
Like I said, he said everything looks good.  He assured me that 'the bulge' that is at my big incision site will go down, it'll just take about 6 months (wow!).  My skin around my incisions has been very dry and he said to get some cocoa butter or Mederma, which would help with the scarring.  I still have stitches in and he said they'll dissolve.  And now for my belly pictures...4 days, 1 week, and 1.5 weeks post surgery are on my last blog.  I would say things are looking much better.

September 5 - 2 weeks post surgery
September 9 - 2.5 weeks post surgery
 September 12 - 3 weeks post surgery
In other news from my doctors appointment, Dr. Rogers started me on a medicine called Asacol, which is an anti-inflammatory drug used to keep Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis under control.  To be honest, I've been really concerned about getting on medicine for Crohn's.  They big ones seem super scary with crazy possible side effects (like some very rare cancer, umm, no thank you!!) but in my research of Asacol it seems pretty mild.  I can handle that.  I'll have an appointment to see my GI doctor in a month so hopefully we can just rock on roll with something like this and avoid the scary stuff.  Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for my insurance to pick it up because it's not a preferred drug.  The doctor has to contact the insurance company and tell them why I need it.  It's super expensive so I really hope that gets worked out in the next couple of days, before I run out of these samples!!
As for my recovery, I'm feeling quite a bit better.  I can move around better, can sleep better, can lay on my right side normally, and can gently lay towards my left side.  I can do more things around the house, play with Sara Kate a little more, etc., but I know not to push it.  I'm still sore, it feels like really sore muscles all through my torso now, but it's so much better than it was.  Since I got the ok from the doctor, I am going back to work tomorrow.  I don't know if I'll make it a full day, as I know it'll be exhausting, but I feel like that's one more thing I need to do to 'get back to normal.'  So I'll give it a shot!
Speaking of 'normal,' Sara Kate wanted to go to the playground last week so we slowly walked to the playground, event though she knew I couldn't play with her or carry her or slide with her.  I'm looking forward to getting back to doing stuff like that with her!
Since the doctor cleared me to drive on Thursday, I was able to get out of the house for my birthday on my own!  How thrilling, haha!  I needed to get an oil change in my car and I went and wasted a good bit of time walking around Target.  It was glorious, ha!!  I got home and was folding laundry when Chris and Sara Kate got home.  They surprised me some BEAUTIFUL flowers for my birthday.  12 roses and 5 calla lilies, which are my favorite flower.  So lovely on my kitchen table.
Chris' mom and dad kept Sara Kate so we could go to dinner Friday night.  
We went to my favorite local restaurant, Noodles, and I had my favorite local dish, Jalapeno Lime Chicken, which is amazing.  Unfortunately my new 18-inch less colon didn't think so!  It was delicious, but I know now jalapeno spice is something my stomach can't handle.  We got home, got Sara Kate in bed, and waited up for my parents to get here.

It was a fun weekend with my mom and dad here.  Mom and I went shopping yesterday and I got some new pretties to wear to work since I still can't wear jeans, which makes it very difficult to dress!  I tried to put on a pair of jeans Friday night and nope, NOT ready for that!  And I'm pretty sure gym shorts, pajama pants, and sweat pants probably would be frowned upon at the office, ha!  So I got some fun things to wear with leggings and I used some other birthday money to buy a super fun pair of shoes!  I'm so excited about these!  I love leopard print! :-)
We went to dinner Saturday night, drank some wine and watched some football last night after Sara Kate went to bed, and went to church this morning before mom and dad had to head south.  I always love having my parents in town and Sara Kate loves her Ghee and Poppa.
This girl.  LOVE her!!
Overall, I think I'm doing pretty well in my recovery and I had a great birthday weekend.  Once again, I'm very thankful to my family for their love and support, my friends who continue to check on me and bring us yummy dinners, and anyone else who has prayed for me and our family during this time.  Bring on year 34!!

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