Update 6/17/09

Hi friends, it's me, Stacey and I'm home! I started feeling better about Sunday--started to shake the nausea/dizziness, and once that started to get better, I was able to progress pretty quickly. They let me out of the hospital yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon and we were home by about 6 yesterday evening. I'm pleasantly surprised (and extremely grateful) at how much better I felt by yesterday, as compared to, say, 3-4 days ago! The 4 hour car ride home (yes we had to stop a few times:) was not too bad. I actually stayed awake for much of the trip this time, compared to sleeping ALL the way home from Sac. after my last surgery in Oct.

As Trish mentioned a few days ago (thanks, Trish, so much, for keeping this thing updated all last week), the surgery was a success. Although it took several days for the internal organs to wake up after surgery, things are now functioning and the plumbing is working again--yippee! Pretty funny the things that are cause for celebration on a med/surgery floor in a hospital. The nurses all celebrated with me with congratulations and high-fives:).

My care in the hospital was awesome again. I had a lot of the same nurses who had cared for me during my last hospitalization, so it was very reassuring to be in their care again and get reaquainted. I got to meet and visit with the department's nursing manager so I got a chance to tell her what a positive experience I was having and how well her nursing staff was treating me. I also got a chance to talk to her about the cell phone theft from my last visit. She apologized about that happening, let me know that there had been other thefts reported during that time, and they had found the theives and the "matter had been resolved". Evidently there was more than one thief and there had been some staff members' wallets/purses/cell phones missing as well. I'm just glad they found the thieves.

What's next? Now, I sit at home and rest and recover. I do have a lot of abdominal pain from the incision site (60+ staples) and lots of gas pain, which is normal as things get back to working better each day. So they sent me home with some good pain medication, and as long as I keep that up without going too many hours in between doses, I'm doing okay.

Part of the surgery was also to take a second look at any tissue that looked suspicious for cancer. Dr. Skilling said he didn't see anything that looked obviously bad to him, but he did remove scar tissue formed after the last surgery, and he sent that off to the pathology lab to make sure there was no cancer in that tissue. We'll get the pathology report results when we go back to Sac. in about 10 days for my post-op/staple removing appt. He was optimistic.

Our God is so good, and I am so grateful for His continued watch care over me. I am also so thankful for each of you, who continue to pray and support us. Your posts are such a treat--thank you so much for keeping in touch. Tammy F--what a great surprise to hear from you--oh my gosh, girl, how long has it been? Give me a call anytime, so we can catch up:)!

Praising God for wonderful friends,
Stacey