Progress?

Obviously I am not up to par when I have to force myself to check my emails and manipulate the internet. A trip to my family physician this afternoon is both reassuring and frustrating at the same time. Blood work ups show that my white count has dropped and my hemoglobin is getting better since the last hospital labs. My incisions look well healed and I am not throwing up or feeling sick to my stomach so that is great. I have had quite intensive pain and we believe that it is all coming from adhesions. I am still swollen and without predictability, it feels like rubber bands snapping and stinging (sometime sporadic and sometimes in long spells) under the incisions and even along my old C- section scarring. I am one of those individuals who develops extensive scarring on the inside. Topping it all off is a yeast infection and inflamation along the South Pole.......(Murphy's Law?)......This was my seventh abdominal surgery and each time I have to go under the knife, the surgeon always takes longer in the OR cutting away and dissecting adhesions. My gallbladder was almost completely covered from prior adhesions and inflamation. So my insides are still inflamed, nerves cut and pulling, and my body still is totally disagreeing with my wishes and activities. Fortunately, I can rule out in entirety a pregnancy, appendicitis or gallbladder stones.....................time to get over it!!! Thanksgiving is two weeks from today and then Christmas right behind.............this is no time to be feeling so out of sorts!

I am NOT the Energizer Bunny!

Here it is Saturday, November 3, and I sure wish I could find some new batteries to place into my worn out body. (Certainly, it will take quite a few!) Post surgery, having come after feeling so terrible over the last several weeks has ransomed custody of my usual smiley and better tolerated self. I am more than anxious for the relaxed, happy Annette to return to residence in place of whoever it is I am forced to tolerate in this bloated, terribly bruised and frustrated 'alien body' that currently shelters my declining patience and worn physical state. My emotional being seems nervously thread bare during moments I just need some small measure of self cooperation, some miniscule degree of graceful execution and appropriate follow through. I was delightfully happy (and with the grace of God, I could stand tall and smile!) to attend my niece's wedding this afternoon. She took our breath away; an exquisite bride, glowing and self assured. The beautiful bouncing baby girl with dazzling dark eyes and eager yet toothless smiles, was just six months old when I walked down the aisle feeling like the princess out of a fairy tale. Suddenly she is all grown up and twenty-eight years later walking that very same church aisle. The newer, more contemporary princess bride. My how time flies; except when you feel like you just got run over by a semi-truck and the batteries onboard feel dangerously near the expiration date. Must be those rusty cables.......or maybe my dusty glass slippers placing a hex on me.........I did not stay for the throwing of her bouquet or for celebrating as I would like. Needless to say, I tuckered early into their reception, so I will wait for the photos and videos. I am sure the wedding cake must have tasted as sweet as the bride felt! God Bless Bethany and Steve............I hope they have a beautiful, productive and passionate married life for years and years to come.

Annette' Recovery

Just a note to ask that you all pray for my speedy recovery. Many of you know I have been struggling with stomach trouble, especially the last couple of months. The last two weeks I had to go to Urgent Care and get two bags of IV fluids for dehydration from vomiting. I had a CT scan the following day and was scheduled for endoscopy yesterday. Last Friday night the pain was very intense and Fred took me to the Lexington ER for an ultrasound. It showed tenderness, swelling, reflex and sludge regarding my gallbladder, but they sent me home after a bag of IV fluids because my blood work appeared too normal. I went Monday afternoon to a GI specialist who told me straight out it was not my gallbladder and that he suspected I had arthritis in my ribs.............well, the pain got so bad again and the vomiting on Wednesday that we returned to Urgent Care where the doctor arranged for me to see a surgeon. I had surgery around 6:30 or so that evening. For it 'not to be my gallbladder' the surgeon said it was one of the worst he had removed.........diseased with a lot of scarring and adhesions and evidence that I had been enduring for a long haul, possibly years on and off. He removed and clipped as much inflammation as he could. He kept me Wednesday and Thursday nights under close watch. So now it is out..........Maybe my gallbladder muffin top will soon disappear as the swelling above my waistline was awful; and after all, I worked really hard to lose and keep off 55 pounds. I am already less distended, but I will admit extremely sore which he said was to be expected after extended surgery and addressing not just the gallbladder but the scarred tissue surrounding it. My digestive system he said might take weeks to return to normal from the gastritis ~ gastroenteritis. I think I have five incisions..........it was done through a laproscope. So if you are wondering where the heck I have been, this is the latest scoop from the gal herself. Hopefully we will continue to feel better and get back to bouncing around as I would rather do.......love and hugs, Annette