Bah Humbug!

So I've been home recouperating for five days now and I'm already sick of politics and the news. It's only January and I don't want to hear another word about the run for the White House. Get it over already! I can't beleive all the money and time they spend on the election, it's such a waste. They should run for two months tops and stop with all the bickering and finger pointing. The one that cracks me up is the proposition for the Indian gaming. They've spent millions on ads on TV rebutting each other. Then I hear on the news that the bill has already been passed by the state and federal governments so it's a done deal. If we vote no then all we're doing is allowing the opponents to go to court and waste more money! But do they say that in the ads? No it sounds like we get to make the decision. It's all so fake and surreal. And if I hear one more thing about Brittany Spears on the news I'll scream. When did this become a news item?

Out of the Hospital

l really hate hospitals which is a terrible thing for a nurse's daughter to admit. What kind of place wakes you up at 3 a.m. to give you a shot in your arm for pain? I wasn't in pain, I was sleeping! I didn't get any rest while I was in there, especially at night because our room was near the nurse's station so it got noisy. I thought it was humorous that they had signs posted all over the floor that said "Quiet Zone 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Guess it didn't count for staff. I had a spinal and happy juice instead of general anesthesia. First time for me and I was nervous. I thought that I was going to be awake for the surgery but the happy juice was very happy indeed. I didn't even feel the spinal, so that was nice. When I first got up to the ward I heard them play lullaby over the PA system. The nurse told me that they do that each time a baby is born in the hospital. I thought, "how sweet." Not so sweet that night when six babies were born between midnight and 4 a.m. I woke for each and every one of those lullaby announcements!

I think the worst part of getting any type of adominal surgery is the gas they pump into your abdomin to give them room to work. To put it bluntly, the only way to get rid of it is to fart. And the only way you can pass gas is to get up and walk around the floor. The nurses are fanatics about walking and farting. Every time they came into the room they'd smile sweetly and asked if you walked recently and passed gas. Well, I couldn't pass gas, proably because 1) I'm too English to do such things in public and 2) my roommate was Iranian and had a huge family that was constantly in the room which lead back to problem #1. Thank God my nurses weren't nuns (it was a Catholic hospital) or my svinkter would have been permanently shut! By day two I was in so much pain that they had to give me morphine. Naturally I threw up after that had to be put back on IV and stayed in an extra day. I was never so glad when I finally let go of a long, loud fart that a beer guzzling football fan would be proud of! Good time was had by all.

But all in all, the staff and my doctor were very nice and took good care of me. I've always admired nurses, they take a lot of crap from patients and doctors and are terribly understaffed, but I sure am glad to be home and in my own bed.

Three More Days

I'm trying not to be nervous about the operation, but it's hard not to. I have the day off work tomorrow because it's a holiday and then I go to work on Tuesday to tidy things up. Wednesday, I have to report to the hospital at 8 a.m. and the surgery is at 10 a.m. I wish I hadn't decided to go to work on Tuesday. Some people are good at letting work help them forget about situations. I'm the opposite. I'd rather be home in a comfortable environment instead of dealing with work. I've always been one of those people that thinks work is just that, work. It doesn't define who I am, family does that. I probably thought different when I was younger, but I think when you hit a certain age...ahem...middle age...your priorities change. Chasing the almighty buck isn't as important as working on your relationships.

Long Time No Blog

It's January and I promise that I will blog more often. I didn't realize that I hadn't posted anything since May of last year . Well I'm going to be home for the next six weeks convalescing from a hysterectomy so perhaps I'll blog more, at least in between the bouts of pain. I'm really not looking forward to having a part of my body removed, even if it's been quite a pain the last few years. Boy, I am not going to miss my uterus one minute. I have my pre-op meeting with the doctor on Monday and they told me to write down any questions I may have. I really couldn't think of any at the time, but in the middle of the night I woke up with a couple of stupid ones. So, if they take out the uterus, what happens to the ovaries? Do they just hang there? Is there a chance of them shifting around now that there's a hole? And, what do they do with the hole in your cervix, stitch it up? You can't have a hole that goes nowhere right? So if there's nothing there when you have sex, all the sperm is going to come right out because it has no place to go. Yuck. I don't think I'll ask those questions to the doctor, they sound a bit odd if you ask me. But those are the type of things that I think of in the middle of the night. I've never quite gotten over asking 3-year old type questions even as an adult—why is the sky blue? I used to drive my mom nuts, but to her credit, she used to get the encyclopedia out right then and there and get an answer to my questions. That was until she figured out I was asking them during washing up time so I could get out of doing dishes (it never worked). That God when we got a dishwasher. Anyway, I digress. I did ask a girlfriend who is going through nursing school and she set me straight. I'm still a little grossed out thinking that all that gunk comes right back now now because the hole has been sewn up LOL!