Home...again!

So I finally got out of the hospital last Tuesday. I was suppose to come home Monday but when they gave me solid food it didn't settle too well. I have to admit that I might have overdone it just a smidge for having just gotten out of surgery, but I was hungry! So when the doctor told me to go ahead and eat what I wanted for lunch, that is what I did. I had a hamburger, french fries, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, chips and salsa, and a piece of brownie cake. Take my example and learn from it, when eating solids for the first time start light! So I had to stay for an extra day and wait for my small intestines to get it together. Coming home was great, I was pretty sore and tired but all and all doing well. Now for the home....again part. After getting home I started to not sleep very well, I was having stomach cramps and indigestion type problems, but it only happened at night so I didn't think much about it. However, Saturday I woke up feeling like my stomach was about to explode. I really thought I had gas and so settled in on the couch, confident that it would evetually subside. It wasn't very long however before my gas cramps turned into top notch labor pains, I was expecting to deliver a 10lb baby any minute. I just stayed in my fetal position and breathed my way through each one until Todd came home (he was helping someone move) and immediately called a personal friend of ours who also happens to be a surgeon. Thankfully our friend was generous enough to come over and check me out before advising me to get an abdominal x-ray to make sure I didn't have an obstruction in my small intestine. Well I was pretty determined that I didn't want to go back to the hospital so we went to a quick care clinic for the x-ray. After waiting a couple of hours and watching all these seemingly perfectly healthy people get called back, all the while squeezing Todd's hand and concentrating on my breathing during my "contractions" it was finally my turn. I have to say that through this whole affair the Lord did have mercy on me, as soon as they showed me back to the room I immediately started to throw up, I was so grateful that I had a trash can to throw up into in private, instead of being out in the lobby and throwing up everywhere. By this point I could hardly walk so I would never had made it to the bathroom had I been in the waiting room, it would have been super embarrassing. Anyway, I got my x-ray and did in fact have an obstruction and a white blood cell count of 23,000 (I guess normal is 5-10,000, so on to the hospital we go. By this point it was 4pm and I had been in severe pain for the past 8 hours, I didn't care what happened I just wanted to be medicated. Todd dropped my off in front of the ER, I stumbled in and practically laid myself on the counter begging for medication. I think the nurses must have thought I was nuts because I know I wasn't making sense, I could hardly think, but they were very kind trying to figure out who I was until Todd got there to explain everything. They immediately admitted me and it wasn't long before I was happily medicated and floating somewhere between la la land and reality. It was blessed. 10 hours of excruciating pain, that is a long time, at least when you are in labor you are getting something out of all that work, I only got sore muscles. The sad thing is it would have been longer had our friend not told us to go. I don't know why I am so stubborn but I just hate going to the doctor, I would rather tough it out. Stupid. Anyway, I was in the hospital for just over 24 hours, I got home about 10 o'clock last night feeling much better! Most obstructions like mine will resolve themselves with time and plenty of fluids, but sometimes the Dr. will have to go in and remove it, thankfully I didn't have that experience. You are probably all wondering why this happened, sadly enough they tell me it's due to dehydration, who would have thunk it. I had heard that dehydration can be an issue after having this surgery because I no longer have a colon to absorbe water so have to drink a lot more; but I thought I would just have the normal dehydration signs, fatigue, dizziness, headache, I didn't realize that my entire small bowel would shut down. People should be more specific when warning about dehydration and exactly what to look for. I guess my first sign came those few nights after getting home when I started having stomach cramps and indegestion. So my good husband has threatened me within an inch of my life if I don't drink so much water everyday. He does love me, that I don't doubt. Anyway, I know it has been a novel but now I am updated and will bopefully be better from here on out. Thanks to everyone for your support!