Surgery Update

I wanted to just say a few words about the surgery that I had last week...everything went very smoothly and I appreciate those of you who sent me your well-wishes. I've had problems for years now because of my deviated nasal septum (breathing problems, snoring, nasal congestion) and I finally had the surgery to correct it last week. The procedure went well and I can already feel a drastic improvement. The first 6 days were a little rough because they had to leave stints in my nose to help it heal correctly and that was extremely uncomfortable. It was like both sides of my nose were stuffed full of gunk. I couldn't breathe and I wasn't allowed to blow my nose at all (gross! sorry if this is TMI. feel free to skip to next part of post;o) It was pretty sore and because my nose was so stuffed up I had to mostly mouth breathe which caused major dry/cotton mouth whenever I tried to sleep. But, they took the stints out today and, like I said, it already feels so much better. The stints were much larger than I expected; I could hardly believe something so large was in my nose for 6 days. When he removed them, I felt like I was giving birth to something through my nasal canal. The doctor told me that my deviation was severe and I was really blocked. He said, "I did some major renovation in there." Nice. I feel like a home improvement project.

Now, onto less gross parts of this story...I guess the surgery turned out to be more difficult than I was expecting. I really thought I would be up and at 'em the next day. However, that's not the case. I pretty much spent the first 4 days in bed, taking pain meds around the clock. My husband had to work at the firehouse all weekend (48 hours straight), which meant I was home alone with the kids on my 3rd day post-op. I didn't plan very well because we basically had no groceries in the house - but, I thought I would be able to make the shopping trip myself. So, when I realized I was not up to getting out of the house, I made the decision to write up a grocery list and send my 18 year old son off to do the grocery shopping. The "big" grocery shopping, you know, where you get a whole cart full of groceries. Normally, the control freak in me would be having a fit about this. But, the pain-meds and my discomfort caused me to ever so care-freely hand over $300 cash and a grocery list to my son and send him on his way to WalMart. He did an okay job. He forgot 4 or 5 things on the list and he got a few items wrong (regular tea when I wanted decaf, full-size Bounty paper towels instead of the Select-A-Size - that kind of thing, nothing major). All in all, I was grateful that he stepped up and took care of it, otherwise, my kiddos would've gone hungry all weekend, LOL!

Sunday was my worst day. I was in a lot of pain and ended up with an excruciating headache which made me sick to my stomach. About all I remember is laying in bed, in and out of it due to my drug-induced state, and vaguely aware that my tv was on the National Geographic channel playing what seemed like an endless procession of shows about prisons. It was kinda freaky! (Note to self: don't watch prison documentaries when you're zoinked out on pain meds). Later that night, I switched the channel to QVC. I remember watching it somewhere around the 3 a.m. hour, feeling an intense desire to buy something. I even managed to place an order (which I ended up cancelling when I woke up the next day). (Another note to self: don't shop QVC when you're zoinked out on pain meds).

Tuesday I felt well enough to venture out for a little bit. I was feeling very stressed because I hadn't done any back-to-school shopping and my kids start school next week. I went out yesterday and today and got a lot accomplished. Never mind that I'm slightly perturbed about dropping $125 on school supplies (school supplies! not clothing or shoes, I'm talking paper, pencils, pens, folders, binders, etc.) Our school lists have gotten a little out of hand, with teachers requesting so many specific items. When I say specific, I mean they ask for a certain brand or size of an item and lots of extras. And, even all the special area teachers (art, music, PE, library) put out "wish lists" of items, which I feel obligated to get but I really shouldn't. It all adds up so quickly.

So, if you're still reading, thanks for listening to me ramble. I do feel much better now. I'm curious to hear about your back-to-school shopping...do you get long, detailed lists from your child's teacher? Do you feel pressure to buy extra wish-list items?