Wells Family Fun Zone!

Well, it’s been about five days since my last update so it’s about time….

Week 3 (02/17-21/2011)

I guess the most noticeable thing to me is that I have more energy every day. I find it easier to climb the stairs and have even cooked some real soup (not just the canned stuff!) a couple of times. It is also nice that coughing and sneezing no longer hurts as much. Though I still say sneezing is the devil! Yesterday I noticed a ton of dry skin on my incision. It is right above the steri strips that have still yet to fall off. I showed it to Aaron and he said that when the skin stretches (swelling) it dies and thus creates all of the dead skin that is falling off. Weird. I mean, it is a lot of dry/dead skin.

Friday

On Friday I went for my first real trip outside of the house. Though it wasn’t for a good reason. My mom called me Friday morning saying that poppy (my grandpa) wasn’t feeling well. We ended up bringing him to the hospital around 2:30 p.m. They got us into a room pretty quickly, but then we sat… and sat… but my best friend Erin works at Lutheran Hospital and just got off work… so I had some fun chatting with her for a while. We don’t always see each other a lot so it was great to catch up. It’s the first time I’ve seen her since leaving the hospital for my own surgery.

Well, anyway, poppy finally had some tests and the doctor decided he wanted more tests before he felt safe sending poppy home. The second set of tests were cat scans that required he drink “lemonade”. 🙂 Poppy is so funny. Mom and I said we were going to go grab a quick dinner while he let the lemonade settle (hour and a half the doc said) and poppy told us not to let them put us in a room upon our return. lol

Mom and I ate at China One Buffet. I swear, I just can’t eat as much as I used to eat. A couple of things happen whenever I eat “too much”. 1) It feels as though my stomach puffs way out. 2) It feels as though it takes a greater effort to take a deep breath. 3) I get really exhausted and just want to sit. I never used to feel this way after eating too much. And quite frankly, it doesn’t take a ton for me to have had “too much”. I suppose this is a good thing. Over-eating isn’t good for me anyway! I tell ya… surgery is a good weight loss plan.

Well, after we finished we went back to the hospital. Poppy asked us about five times where he was. He gets so confused nowadays. It’s really pretty sad, but at least he remembers us and our names. 🙂 That makes me happy. They brought him to do the scan shortly after we returned and they ended up having mom and I come down with him because he kept having a panic attack of sorts. He would get a couple of minutes into the scan and wig out. Mom had to comfort him the whole time while I waited in the hall. I became pooped and ended up sitting on the tile floor “planting flowers” on my iPod Touch while listening to mom. She’s a good mom. She used that “you’re okay” voice to calm poppy.

We waited what seemed like hours later and they finally told us he was okay. It was a weird day and I was pooped. We returned poppy to the nursing home and said good-bye. Mom dropped me off home and I hit the hay asap! lol I’m sure glad poppy is okay, though.

So anyway, my first adventure out of the house lasted waaaaaaay long and totally made me tired. The bumps in the car weren’t bad, though I could feel them in my incision more than I thought.

Saturday

On Saturday I went for another small adventure. This one only lasted a little over an hour. Much more my speed! Though I should start at the beginning… dad brought Aaron and I some burgers (we’re talkin’ real burgers, not fast food) and french fries for a late lunch. I couldn’t even eat it all and was very full by the time mom came to pick me up for our run to Hobby Lobby. So…. as I said above… very full = very slow and not wanting to walk. Ha. I sat down a few times in Hobby Lobby. Once near the sale yarn while browsing and then on a chair that was for sale near the flowers. Haha. I hope they didn’t mind!

Anyway, we left after a bit and mom stopped to get us ice cream. I was still so full, but who can resist Dairy Queen???? I ate half of my strawberry sundae and brought the rest back to Aaron. It was good to hang out with mom and get out of the house. 🙂

Sunday

On Sunday we ventured to Aaron’s aunt Karen’s house. His cousin Stefanie was in town so a lot of family stopped by to see her, her husband Brian, and their kiddo Stephen. Again, I was presented with a ton of food and got a little stuffed. It was sooooo good, though! A lot of folks asked how I was doing so I was able to share that recovery was going well. Aaron’s Aunt Karen mentioned that it was difficult for her to stand up straight for a while as well. While I don’t know that difficult is the right word, I can’t think of another to use. I do find that standing up straight makes me tired more quickly and pulls a bit on the incision. I tried to do a few dishes the other day and found myself wanting to sit before I thought I would. lol Perhaps it was just the fact that it was dishes……

Anyway, it was great to see family that I don’t often see… Aaron’s Uncle Dave and Aunt Diane, for instance. I really like his Uncle Dave. Cool dude. I dunno… it’s just cool to have a big family, too. I’m so used to  me and mom or me and dad and now I have aunts and uncles and cousins and even a brother and sister-in-law.

Monday

I suppose that brings us to today. I think all the getting out this weekend was good for me. However, I do feel as though there’s a little more pain in my incision today as well. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s not even enough to take Advil, but I feel it more than I have and think perhaps it is because of all the excursions. Oh well! It was fun!

I should also note that while I don’t nap during the day, I do get approximately 10 hours of sleep every night. I go to bed between 10 and 11 p.m. and I wake up around 9 a.m. every morning. It is glorious, but I shouldn’t get used to it…

Oh, and one last thing! It is really hard to find something besides my bright green over-sized pants to wear out. I tend to wear clothes that are a little tighter fitting so it’s slim pickin when finding an outfit. On Friday I wore Aaron’s old black scrubs that are too short for him and on Saturday and Sunday I wore a pair of workout pants that are a hair too big. While I’m not as swollen as I was I am still swollen and pressure on the incision is not fun. Nor is the seat belt…!

Whew, long post… later yo!