Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Too Many Surgeries

Lots of pictures first. Kaylee has claimed the recliner as hers. :-)


Running around being silly.


Zach and Ashley's son, Nicholas. He is too cute.


Ashley on our last day together. She left for Wisconsin and started cosmetology school. She'll do great at it.







All together. Zach didn't just smile in any of the pics. lol

Isn't that precious. Looking up to Ben.


Ben and Zach being goofy.


We have been babysitting kittens for a few weeks. The mom left last week. Yay! She was annoying. The kittens are doing well. The white kitten is Zach and Ashley's. We were supposed to keep Mittens, but we can't afford her yet. I'm trying to find a home for her. She's a sweetie.


Working on Mom's Mother's Day present.




I sketched the cala lilies from the plant Ben bought me. I wish I had a clearer picture. This was the first time I had ever used sepia toned pencils. It was fun!



It has been a busy month and a half. First, I had my j-tube surgery. By the time I recovered from that, I had a gallbladder surgery which was horrible. I was in pain for hours and started throwing up. That was when I finally went to the ER. Right when I hit the registration desk I threw up lots of bile. The woman there was like ok.... lol Ben filled all the paperwork out for me. They put me through lots of tests. Of course, it was Sunday by the time they got around to me so they had to call in people to do tests on me. They said it looked like I had some infection around my gallbladder. They admitted me, and I had surgery first thing Monday morning. I also had an ileus which is when there is food stuck in my intestine, and it can't move b/c my intestines aren't contracting. So I had pain from that at the same time as the gallbladder. They gave me morphine. That helped!


After my surgery, I threw up all day long. I was so sick b/c I wasn't able to tube feed Saturday night, and then Sunday night I wasn't able to tube feed or do TPN b/c of the surgery. Tuesday morning they said I could go home if I wanted and since I didn't get my TPN Monday night either and they always mess up my meds I decided to go home. Bad idea. I was horribly sick. Weak and shaky. Incredibly dizzy and nausueas. Plus, my back was killing me from throwing up the day before. I could not sleep well for days. So miserable.... I was taking a lot of pain meds. Then as I was still recovering from that surgery (which took twice as long as the j-tube surgery), I yanked my j-tube out about a half an inch. Who would have thought that that little pull out would cause so much pain! I had to go to the ER again to make sure the tube was still placed right. That was so not fun. I called my surgeon and said ok, I need an appt. for a mic key! lol

Then the week after that, our friend Zach needed me to watch his son, Nicholas, b/c he was having a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic. The medicine they gave him makes you sleepy. He was so sick that he stayed at our house till the next night when he was feeling well enough to drive. So I watched Nicholas, took care of Zach, made sure Kaylee and the kittens were taken care of along with the normal household chores and feeding everybody. I was exhausted but glad to be able to help him out! I got to watch Nicholas for a couple hours Monday morning, too. Oh, yeah, all that happened last weekend.


Today I went to Dallas to get my mic key! (A mic key means no more tube hanging out of me. I just put a tube into the little device that stays flush against my skin.) It hurt when they took the tube out, but the pain got worse when the doc had to keep sticking stuff in and out of me. A lot of times. Made me feel sick. Ben looked at it and was like there's a hole in your stomach! He told me that when it was all over not right then. lol I did not want to look at it. My j-tube is a 16 french. Well, they only had an 18 french. He tried to get it in, but it just wasn't working. That hurt. He said it was going against my abdominal muscle which explained the pain and blood. They went on the hunt for a 16 french but couldn't find one. So the doc tried again. Sigh. At least I got a little break. Well, he couldn't get it to work so he just put a new j-tube in, but this one has a balloon instead of a stick with jagged edges. Oh, and I have no stitches with this one cuz the balloon holds it in! I was so glad to leave, but I have to go through this again when they get a 16 french mic key in! ACK! My poor abdomen has been through so much pain lately. I'm still hurting from this afternoon.


Well, Ben has to go to an army school June 4th to June 18th. Oh, joy. He will be on Fort Hood but has to stay there for it. The good news is that I can stay here b/c the EFMP has a respite program that can do the TPN for me, take me to my Dallas appt., take me to pick up refills, get groceries, fill the humidifier for me, tape me up for my bath, cut my bread, do my liquid medicine for me, and anything else I may need done. Isn't that too cool?! I'm so thrilled. I'll probably just read, paint, and write. I won't have anything else to do. :-) Fine with me. Pray for Ben as he does this course. We're pretty sure he can have a cell phone so that's good news.
OK, that's all my news. Leave me a note!






























5 comments:

Anonymous said...

you need to stop doing so much for every one else when you are so sick. You are too much like me!
Adam

Maria said...

but i like being like you. ;-)

Anonymous said...

hey, you two. I think is a family trait from the Roy side. Besides helping others keep us from focusing on our own problems. I hated to hear about all the pain you were in, Maris. Hope things are getting better for you.
Aunt Debbie

Anonymous said...

forgive the spelling errors. I do know your name is Maria lol.

Megan said...

I hope you are feeling a little better by now Mer! I know you will miss Ben, but maybe his time away will give you some time to rest. Adam's right...don't work so hard! We miss you and love you lots :)