Phew!

Well, I made it through the surgery, not brilliantly, but it's over thank god.

Last week things got worse by the day in the run up to the op. I nearly crashed my car twice by leaving the handbrake off, I left it unlocked all day at work one day, went to work another day and didn't turn on the burglar alarm at home.... Get the picture? One highlight was a lovely good luck card and stitched gift from Sally which I received a couple of days before which brightened my week (hugs Sally). I hope you don't mind me borrowing your pic of it Sally as I'm not up to setting up the camera and taking pics just yet.

So when Friday came I just wanted it over. I did have a few tears but when it came down to it I was pretty calm. I remember seeing 2.02pm when I first went into the anaesthetic room, and the last I remember was 2.05pm, then I was in the recovery room with people pestering me to wake up lol.

I didn't find out til later that day, but the surgery didn't go exactly to plan. The largest of the 4 incisions should have been 10mm, but ended up being over 50mm as my gallbladder was so inflamed and filled with lots of large stones that if they hadn't of done this they would have had to have opened me up fully to remove it. I was also told that if I hadn't have had the op when I did I'd have been in casualty within the next couple of months with it as an emergency because it was so bad.

My hospital experience on the whole was good though. The nurses were nice, I was in a room with 3 lovely ladies who seemed to take me under their wings as a surrogate daughter and it was made sure that I was well looked after with pain meds etc.

The worst part came when I came home and my plan of feeling great on Day 2 like lots of people I've heard about didn't happen, Day 2 was my worst day with my tummy getting really swollen and me being in floods of tears. I felt so low and regretted ever having it done as I was in so much pain.

Thankfully things seem to be improving very slowly with each day, but it's been a big shock to the system to realise my recovery is going to be a lot harder than I expected (I thought I'd be out dancing the night away on Day 2 haha!). So far all I've managed to do is do a slow waddle around the house picking up the odd thing as I go past, watch tv, surf, and finally last night I managed about half an hour stitching before I got too uncomfy.

Erin has been such a little star. She is very careful about cuddling me and has only caught me offguard once by mistake which made her cry because she was scared she'd hurt me lots. She is playing nurse and fetching and carrying for me and helping to tidy up and I'm so proud of her it brings tears to my eyes. Tomorrow however she goes on holiday with my mum for a week and although I know she will have lots of fun and it's better for her to be on holiday with them than stuck in the house with me, I'm going to miss her like mad and keep crying when I think about it. This weekend DH and I are going to have our first weekend alone since before she was born and I'm not well enough to make the most of it lol. We have said if I'm up to eating a bit more by then though we might have a nice takeaway and a DVD.

Thank you again to those who've left comments, emailed and sent texts with good wishes and asking how I am, I really appreciate them. Thanks also to Claire for her lovely get well card which came yesterday and brightened my day and also to Dawn for coming to visit me yesterday even though I'm living in my pj's right now lol.

Hopefully my next post will be more back on the topic of stitching and I might even have some update pics to show!

Photo Binge!

Well, since I found out about my upcoming operation a couple of weeks ago I've been allover the place. I am getting more nervous by the day and veer from being terrified I won't wake up afterwards to being awake all through the op and not being able to let the doctors know lol. DH has been great and answered millions of my medical questions (he's a charge nurse in operating theatres doing joint replacements) but he's getting a bit sick of me having constant hissy fits and bursting into tears now so I think we'll all be glad when it's over.

Anyway, the upshot of this has been I've really struggled to concentrate on anything for long, including my stitching and it's lead to 2 new starts as well lol. As much as I love my new starts though even these haven't been able to hold my attention so I'm just hoping that after the op things will return to normal and I'll be able to enjoy my recuperation time with loads of stitching.

So without further ado here are my update pics. First is my HAED Cabin In the Woods which now has a chimney and start of the cabin roof!
Next up is my first new start, the Papillon mystery How Does Your Garden Grow. I've loved this design since the first part was released and finally gave in and made a start a couple of weeks ago. I am using DMC Variations for the flowers and basic dmc for the greens. This caused lots of naughty words when I was working on it though I'm afraid as I had a visit from the frog three times!!! At one point I was ready for throwing it in the bin, but I persevered and hopefully the worst is over. I sent the frog packing and don't want him back!

And my most recent start is a new HAED QS, Hannah Disney's Alisha. I know I already have three HAED's on the go, but I really love stitching on them even though they are very slow growing, the detail just amazes me and I've been wanting to start one in my fav colours for ages, so this had to be it. So far I've stitched approx 1000 stitches and I love it. The colours are gorgeous to work with and her pouty little mouth makes me smile.

And my last pics are of my Quaker round robin that was returned home to me completed recently! I have still to find a way to fit all of our initials on one of the pages if it's possible and then make it up into the book, but I'm hoping I might be able to do that after the op.

This will probably be my last post before the operation on Friday and not sure when I'll be back online after that. I should only be in hospital overnight but depending on how I feel and doctors/DH's orders it maybe a few days before I'm up and about and surfing/stitching again. Thanks to those who offered advice and kind words after my last post, I appreciate them.

I'm Scared!

After a long time of getting very ill on and off I finally found out in April that I have gallstones. I've been waiting for a date for the op and today found out it will be on the 25th July. Only 3 weeks away. I've only ever been in hospital when I had Erin 5 years ago and it wasn't a good experience shall we say, and I've never had an anaesthetic or operation. I'm an absolute wreck and feel sick and shaky now, so god knows what state I'll be in by the op date.
It's also come at a very bad time work wise as my boss goes on holiday the week after and I was supposed to be running the office for 2 weeks, but obviously now that isn't going to happen and the big bosses are not at all happy. Add to that the housing market which I work in is very bad at the moment and our jobs are all at risk. I'm scared that I will have no job to go back to.....
I know I have no choice about the operation as each time I get a flare up it is worse than the last (on Sunday night and Monday I thought I was going to have to go to the emergency department), and if I refuse this date I'll have to go back on the waiting list, but it just couldn't come at a worse time and I feel really stressed.
Up til getting this date I was thinking, ooh, 2/3 weeks off work afterwards, loads of stitching time, naps and watching chick flicks. I need to start chanting that or I'm going to go mad in the next 3 weeks!