Sunday update....

I haven’t blogged for a couple days because there wasn’t all that much to talk about. Friday, I woke up in a crabby mood.  My newest incision HURT, and I was TIRED of this whole mess!!  I ate breakfast and had a pity party for about 15 minutes, and then I went into the kitchen and ate a piece of fudge.  Chocolate takes care of lots of things!

Isn’t it strange how we wake up?  What makes us wake up on “the wrong side of the bed”?  Is it a dream we’ve had and can’t remember?  Is it an awkward position we’ve slept in and don’t even realize?  I doubt that, because I’ve slept in an awkward position ever since this surgery mess started.  I wasn’t supposed to sleep flat after the 1^st 2 surgeries, and I’ve not been able to sleep on the back of my head or any of the left side.  So I’ve slept on 4-5 pillows and used a neck pillow to prop up my right cheek to keep my head from flopping to the right when I fall asleep.  I use a pillow on my right side to prop up the neck pillow.  Occasionally, I just throw all the pillows but one off the side of the bed and lay flat!  Then my right shoulder and right ear go to sleep.  Last night, I couldn’t take it any longer – I turned over to my left side and slept for a bit on the left side of my FACE.  It feels really weird to lie on the left side of my head, because that part of my scalp and my ear are numb.  It is just hard to describe what that actually feels like.  Once I get the OK to sleep on my left side, I won’t know when to turn over.  You usually turn over after your ear goes to sleep.  That’s what wakes you and signals it’s time to move.  You know that feeling – your ear hurts like crazy when the blood flow returns? ARGH!  So you can see that sleeping well is a bit of a challenge……

The day Friday improved as time went along, and I actually only took 2 Tylenol.  The nurse came by to change the arm and leg dressings, and said they were still healing well.  There is just about a 2 ½” square area near my wrist that is still a bit moist. 

Later in the day I had Guy try to clean up my head a bit.  With sterile water and a 4x4 he got some of the dried blood that was away from the incision and in my hair.  I’ve still not been able to wash my hair.  I just think it is a bit too early to get the actual incision wet.

About noon Guy came downstairs after taking a shower, and asked, “Do you want to ride along?”  “Where are you going?  To the grocery store?” “No, to the doc-in-a-box.”  What????  I had been trying to get him to go to the doctor with that awful cold and cough of his for 3 days!!!!  Now all of a sudden he decided to go.  I couldn’t go with him, because the nurse was due to come by.  It is too bad I didn’t go with him!!  All the doctor did was look in his nose and said, “Yep, you’ve got a sinus infection.  Everybody’s got one.  Here is a prescription for amoxicillin.”  HE DID NOT EVEN LAY A STETHESCOPE ON HIS CHEST!!!!!  Oh, my goodness, I was so furious!!!  And do you think Guy said, “Oh, uh, wait a minute, you might want to listen to see if I have pneumonia”?????  NO!!!  MEN!!!!   They go to the doctor and play this guessing game.  I’m here, and I’m the patient.  You’re the doctor; now you guess what’s wrong with me.  They don’t offer any information; and they don’t ask any questions.  ARGH!!!!!!!  What a waste of time and money that was!!  He’s still coughing and wheezing to beat the band – just like he was.  I guess when he passes out on the floor, I’ll call an ambulance, and they can take him to the ER. *sigh*

Saturday morning, I seemed to get up on the right side of the bed!  Woohoo!  Guy (still coughing) took me to The Egg and I for breakfast.  It was nice to get out, but it was cold, cloudy, and windy.  I couldn’t find the scarf I usually put over my head, so I used one of the hats I had – the one that looks like a surgical hat with the wide brim.  That stuck up enough that it didn’t touch the incision.  Better than the scarf anyway.

In the afternoon, we watched Alabama clobber Florida during the SEC Championship game.  It was a frustrating start – which it seems, for Alabama, to be the norm, but once they got in gear, it actually ended up being kind of boring with us being so far ahead.  I don’t know what we are going to do when the college football season ends.  Neither of us cares all that much for basketball.  We used to love to go to the junior college basketball tournament games when we lived in Hutch.  I guess it is a lot more fun in person.  To get to a college football game is a major effort – AND EXPENSIVE – the crowds are enormous and parking and walking are a real hassle.  You have to go and just make an entire day of it.  The last Alabama game we went to was great fun, though, and I’ll never forget it.

Today is Sunday, and another day inside.  It has been so long since I’ve been to church.  I didn’t get up early enough to watch any TV preachers.  I couldn’t believe the clock when I finally woke up – 9:39!  Don’t know when I’ve slept that late!  So I made some pancakes for breakfast.  Sula handed me a box that was already open that she had bought.  It was gluten free.  I didn’t want to turn her down, so I went ahead and used that mix to make them.  We kind of choked them down.  😀  Hard to beat the good ole Bisquick for pancakes.

I sat in my favorite spot in the dining room (no sun this morning), read my Bible and a devotional book and listened to the Collingsworth Family on my iPhone.  Then I listened to Rick Swing’s podcast from Westwood Baptist in Alabama (where we attended).  That was as close to church as I could come today.

This is the very appropriate devotion I read:

The Self-fulfilling Prophecy

But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more. Ps. 71:14

The self-fulfilling prophecy is alive, and well, and living at your house.  If you trust God and have faith for the future, your optimistic beliefs will give your direction and motivation.  That’s one reason that you should never lose hope, but certainly not the only reason.  The primary reason that you, as a believer, should never lose hope is because of God’s unfailing promises.

Your thoughts have the power to lift you up or to hold you down.  When you acquire the habit of hopeful thinking, you will have acquired a powerful tool for improving your life.  So if you find yourself falling into the spiritual traps of worry and discouragement, seek the healing touch of Jesus and the encouraging words of fellow Christians.  And if you fall into the terrible habit of negative thinking, think again.  After all, God’s Word teaches us that Christ can overcome every difficulty (John 16:33).  And when God makes a promise, He keeps it. - From New Every Morning

It would be very easy to get discouraged on this new journey I’m on, but I just can’t allow myself to take that road.  I know I can’t be “up” every minute of every day, but I do try to surround myself with God’s Word, good reading, uplifting music, my family and my many, many supportive online friends.  Together, I can make this.

As always, I’m in His hands….