One week Post-Surgery

I would never have believed I could feel this good only a week after having my hip replaced!  Oh, there have been big ups and downs and there is, of course, still pain medication involved, but overall I thank God to be sitting up in a chair having walked downstairs with only a cane!  The human body is truly miraculous.

I have leaned so many things over this past week.  I know I dislike hospitals not only because of a complete loss of control but also because I felt as if I would never be released!  Even with that I had wonderful care and I know without that I wouldn't be sitting here.  Nurses, aides, PT, OT people all have hard jobs listening to the pain and fear of their patients over and over again.  Thank all of you who do this work!!!!!

The main area of learning is my body.  What a wondrous creation it truly is.  All of the pain and anguish I felt in the hospital has already become fuzzy in my mind as it works to protect me from myself.  And each new day brings new information about how my body deals with pain, with pain medication, with recovery.  I cannot adequately describe the process but it reminds me of the first semester of seminary when all of our preconceived ideas about faith and religion were laid waste down to the foundation then built back from there.  With the surgery that is being laid to the core and my body is rebuilding its strength and operations from that moment of time when it was under anesthesia.

For instance, my sense of smell was thrown off from the anesthesia.  When I was in the hospital, any time a new person came into the room I felt nauseous!  And food was the worst!  When the food would come up I would take a sniff and I couldn't eat things I have always enjoyed because they didn't smell the way they were supposed to.  Even now I am still finding some things hard to eat because the smell and/or taste is not the same.

And luckily for me, while my body has been busy fighting for recovery I haven't had to deal with allergies!  I have been careful about what I eat as well so I get to have my own research of what happens to my system when I eat certain things.  Very interesting.  However, I do have to report that as of this morning my allergies have arisen - my right eye is almost swollen shut!  The bad news is I have no idea why.  The good news is that Bella was not the cause!

Most importantly I have learned how important it is to have good support for these medical journeys.  I would have been even more distressed in the hospital if my sisters Robyn and Susan had not taken 6-8 hours of their days to be with me.  And I would not be having such a smooth recovery without Robyn, Tom, Will and Lauren who have all been so wonderful to me as I upset their household!  Of course it's only fair for Will since he will be living with me Sept-Dec. as he finishes up at UMD.

And the support of all of my family, friends and brothers and sisters in Christ is overwhelming!  Thanks to you all for your cards, calls and visits.  My life is so full of love and blessings.  Thank God!

Into the Unknown

As I write this I am only a few days away form having my hip replaced - a surgery many of you may have already had!  But for me it's new and it's a bit scary as I have never spent a night in a hospital and have only had anesthesia on one other occasion so I don't know what lies ahead.  People tell me the surgery is a pretty easy one in comparison to others but all I know is that I don't know much about what's going to happen.

I am blessed to have so many faith friends as well as family who are walking this journey with me.  I do know that no matter what happens prayers will be with me and with the team operating on me.  The rest is in God's hands.  I thank you all for putting up with my pain, my inability to sit through meetings, dinners, etc. and I look forward to August when I can do those things again!

We all face these times when we look forward and it's a hole where we have no knowledge and no real idea of what to expect.  So, we rely on our experiences and the people around us to help that hole seem not so big or scary.  But sometimes our experience can hold us back.  In my case, I have known literally dozens of people who have had surgery over the past four years with no problem what so ever.  But my experience in my personal life is just the opposite - the person I loved dearly, my late husband, did not have a good surgical experience and never made it out of the hospital.  So, while my head tells me everything is going to be just fine, my heart contracts in fear about what could happen.

And so I do the only thing I can or should - I turn to God.  I have spent many hours praying about whether to have surgery, about my fears and about giving up my need to control the situation.  Each day I move closer to the surgery I give more and more of my thoughts and fears to God and I thank God for giving me so many people in my life who can show me the love and grace to get me through this time.

My life is full and my joy of living continues and I look forward to living even more fully when I don't have to think about my hip every moment of the day!  But most of all I thank God for yet another experience to enrich my life, to stretch my faith and to remember I am part of something so much bigger than just myself.

Blessings to you - I will update my blog when I am out of the hospital!