Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Survived Surgery!! :)

Sorry for being so late in this update..I really hoped someone else would have felt ambitious enough to put an update in the past two weeks for you guys, in hopes that it would be something a bit more interesting than my usual blog posts for y'all! haha Anyway, as you can tell, I survived surgery #2 just fine. After LOTS of anticipation, it went much better than I, and I think the rest of my family as well, expected. Surgery took place as planned on March 7th, for once I didn't decide to take longer in the OR than anticipated, and I made it out on time! I was fortunate enough to have Matt, my mom, Jim, my dad, and Mike and Brian that all made the trip to be there for support. Thank you all! I love you guys. :) Thanks to the advice I had received from some friends that had gone through this surgery, I was up out of the bed and walking LOTS of laps as soon as the nurses would let me.. I wasn't quite as stubborn this time around and nobody had to force me..lol.. the walking seemed to help tremendously.Luckily I only had to stay in the hospital for 3 days and was discharged on Sunday- I'm pretty sure Matt and my mom would have killed me if either had to sleep in the hospital another night. lol. I also had lots of visitors to keep me company/distract me again while I was in the hospital this time around, thank-you!! In addition to all the visitors, I also had pretty much the same team of nurses I had last time.. they are awesome! If you ever have to be in the hospital, the people in 6 South at Passavant have to be some of the most caring, warm hearted people. We even managed to get our Team Meghan T-shirts signed by just about everyone, and snapped a picture on the day of my discharge.

After being discharged Sunday, we made the trip to Waynesburg to attend my grandfather's viewing. He had passed while I was in the hospital..it is such an unfortunate event and a huge loss to all of us, but I was glad to be able to make it and see him one last time, and also see some family members I haven't seen in way too long- although it would be much nicer to see them all under better circumstances next time! Tom Dulaney, you were such a fighter, and will be missed and carried in our hearts forever.

Since then I have been home, between Brockport and Ridgway, recovering. I am so happy to say that this recovery has NOTHING on the last one! Thanks to all of your prayers I am sure, this recovery has been pretty uneventful for the most part. The pain has been manageable, I have mainly been doing a whole lot of sleeping to catch up, and my appetite is even starting to come back..which for anybody that knows me, knows that surely this is no concern, everyone has no doubt the fat kid in me will be back in no time. lol I love food way too much to expect anything besides that. This time around we have had no issues with dehydration, no admissions to the hospital, and even the ugly incision they left me after the surgery is starting to heal up! *I will do you all a favor and NOT post a picture of that..lol* Mom and I made the trip to Dr. Medich's office yesterday for my follow up appointment and so far they are pleased and everything looks great! So that means Friday I will be heading back to MD.. I am very excited to see my wonderful husband again finally, not so excited about returning to those wifely duties. haha..

Even better news about this smooth recovery? I will be seeing you all at the Team Meghan Benefit coming up in a few weeks! I am really looking forward to seeing you all, and being able to thank you all in person for your love, support, and prayers! :) You have been absolutely amazing. Keep them coming--This is no doubt another step in the right direction on the road to recovery, but I know well enough we still have quite a long road ahead. Thank you! Hope you all are staying warm- I know if nothing else, I will be glad to be back in MD for the weather..lol The first day of Spring, and up here in PA it just seems that we keep getting more and MORE snow!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Well..Here goes nothing!

First of all- thank you to everyone who attended my "birthday party" on facebook, and anyone that popped in to read my mom's last blog entry, and for the comments. :) Also, thank you to my momma for taking the time to be so thoughtful and putting a smile on my face by doing those things. Although I was away from everyone on my birthday, I really didn't feel alone at all. I felt so much love from you all and my "team" everywhere!

So the big day is almost here- I will be honest, I am a big ball of nervous and anxious today..but I am trying with all I've got to be productive. lol . Matt and I will leave tomorrow to head to Pittsburgh..that is, if Mother Nature cooperates. Of course Maryland would decide to get it's snow storm now, when we have to travel. ha! So some prayers for safe travels would be greatly appreciated. :) Then the real fun begins. The hospital will call sometime Wednesday to let me know what time surgery is on Thursday. Yikes. I know the end result will completely be worth it, but I DREAD the idea of being back in the hospital. Something about shots, the oh-so-comfortable hospital beds, and the 2am wake ups from nurses needing your vitals just doesn't really do it for me. However, I am looking forward to the fact that I should have about the same group of nurses as I did last time, which is a huge relief- they were nothing short of amazing. :)

According to Dr. Medich, this surgery should not be nearly as intense as the first surgery. His words exactly were, last time I felt like I was hit by a train, this time I should only feel like I got hit by a truck. Agh- we're supposed to find comfort in that?? haha. But it gets better- then he goes on to tell me I will feel like someone is stabbing me in the stomach with a knife- but that will be controlled with pain meds. Now I could be wrong here, as I have never been stabbed before, but I can't imagine that is a pleasant feeling either?? The good news is that, if all goes as planned and my body cooperates, I should only be in the hospital for about 3 days. Yay!! From what I can understand, there will be about 2 weeks following the surgery that things will be really rough, but after that things should start to improve. So going with that frame of mind, I should be doing okay by the time the Team Meghan fundraiser rolls around at the end of this month..at the very least I want to attend for whatever time I can handle to see all of you that have been supporting us every step of this journey!

I am sure one of the family members will be keeping tabs on this place after surgery to give y'all some updates...they are better at coming up with interesting updates anyway! haha. Hope everybody is having a great week..thank you in advance for all the prayers this week/weekend..and here's to kicking butt and closing this chapter. Love you all!

~God Bless