Hi there!

Topsy-turvy Cinderella

Right, two weeks later and the pain (as it was) has gone, the swimmers have stopped and I am doing great. On Monday I will go back to work and I am looking forward to that. Being off sick is quite a small world I have found. 

Other than that I am doing fine. Another day spent on my own as the parentals are elsewhere. I have finished another nativity and I must admit they look great. I thought the next thing might be fairy tales like Cinderella and such. Small and dinky and cute. I will see. 

Topsy-turvy Cinderella

Today I did the laundry. Goodness me, those hankies were never-ending (and yes, we iron them in this household). I still have my own work shirts to do, but lunch is beckoning and I want to get out and get something nice for tonight and tomorrow.

So, signing off for now...

Alone

My parents had booked a trip to see my sister quite a while ago and me having surgery a week before they were due to leave was definitely not planned! Fortunately though, it was a week before and yesterday my parents left. Which means I am now alone! 

I can do what I want. Of course there is a bit of caution with that. After all, this surgery was only little over a week ago and I am still feeling some effects. 

The pain has gone. Well, I call it pain, but it never was much more than sensitivity really. Definitely not on a par with the pain I had after my operation in Norway, which was way more invasive. And not a look in on the pain I had prior to being admitted to hospital two weeks ago. That felt like a knife being twisted in my body. All. Night. Long.

No pain then. But the swimmers did come and go and are still there a bit. Especially if I move too sudden. Some of you will then say of course 'don't move too sudden'. Ah, yes. Clever clogs!

Not moving too sudden does not mean I can't go out. So today I will have a little outing. To the shops which are all of 500 meters from home, but still. My mum and I went yesterday to get some food for me, but just before she left, she told me to walk around the block every day to get my strength up again. Same difference really (ahem). 

So, that's it for me. Doing fine and dandy. The expectation right now is to be home for another week and then go back to work. Start with half days (as my schedule says) and a week and a half in, another week off to go to Rome...

I am still here!

Just to say I am still here. Mending well, although jeans and anything else with buttons is not yet appreciated by my body. I am not in pain as such, it's more like the areas are a bit more sensitive than normal. 

Yesterday was the first time 'out' again. It was nice to see something else again. There is such a big difference in staying at home because you want to or because you need to. And in my case it is definitely the latter. 

I feel fine though. Probably more so than I actually am and my mother keeps telling me not to do this or that. Today I helped with cleaning vegetables/potatoes. Then after dinner, I helped dry the dishes, although I was not allowed to put them in their place: too much turning and such. 

In other things: I have finished one nativity set and am now working on a mouse. The kings and sheep are so small and fiddly, I just wanted something else to make for a day. When the mouse is finished, I will continue with 6 kings and 2 sheep. I also have to think about some special Christmas and possibly Halloween mice. 

That's it from me for now. Just a tiny update...

Home sweet home

The hour of the operation was upon me and lo and behold: I didn't notice a thing! They put this little thing on my mouth and nose and told me to just breathe. Not even 'count down' or anything. The next thing I knew I was waking up again. I remember I asked the time at least twice, but could have been three times. That way I knew how long I had been in surgery for and what type of surgery it had ended up being.

I was due to spend about an hour in post-op, but I think it was closer to two before I was finally wheeled to my room. I was okay, the pain was there but bearable and I got my ice-cream as well. Once in the room I asked for my glasses and then the 'great search for the glasses' started. They had been taken off in the operating room, but after that?

In the end I stuck my sunglasses on, phoned my parents to bring the spare pair (they couldn't, they were already in the hospital) and waited. And then another nurse realised she had brought a pair of glasses over with another patient and they might be mine. Fortunately they were and I was reunited with them. I should have left them with Brom!

I was feeling okay, but when the nurse started to do her intake with me, I wanted to sit up straighter. Immediately the nausea hit me and the nurse got me a sick bag and a cold wash cloth. I didn't need the former (pfew) and was glad with the latter. And after only a few minutes the nausea had subsided. 

My parents arrived then and they saw an improvement in the 90 minutes they were there. I really perked up and was even able to eat something before they left again. I was still in my operation gear though and with a bag attached to my arm to give me fluids. I needed the toilet though, so the nurse helped me to get dressed (pj's) and to the toilet. By then I was doing fine and allowed to return under my own steam. 

After a rotten night (warm, pain, not being able to sleep on my stomach, not a nice bed), I saw a doctor. The gall bladder had been stuck a bit, but not enough to warrant cutting and slicing, so peephole it was and that meant a more minor operation than the other one would have been. Another pfew! I was then discharged.

The doctor recommended a recovery period of two weeks and see how I was doing after that to see whether I could return to work. I would like to return as soon as possible, but I remember from my other (bigger) operation, that I basically went back too soon and could have done with a week or two of part time work before going back full time. We'll see what happens. For now I am definitely not capable of driving a car, let alone a bus!

So, I am back home and on the road to recovery. 

Going back

As I am writing this I am only 15 hours away from having to be in hospital again. Not the same hospital, but another one a bit further away. Apparently the doctors thought it wise to get this gall bladder removed asap, since there are still stones in there that could decide to take the same journey as the ones now removed. I am soon going on a trip to Rome and I don't really want to end up in hospital while on holiday! So different town (half an hour's drive) is much better!

This time it will be more of an operation than last time though. No tube down the throat while under slight sedation (can't remember a thing). This time I will be put under properly and they will make four incisions through which things will be used to remove the gall bladder. That is, if there aren't any problems*.

Once the surgery is over, I will be wheeled to the recovery room, from where I will make my way to the regular room for a one night stay, before I am going home again on Friday. And then I have to get well again to go back to work. Last time it took several days before the 'swimming in front of my eyes' feeling left me and that was only after a slight sedation!

Brom will be coming with me again of course, although I don't think he will be allowed in the operating room. But even at a distance he can provide me with lots of comfort, I know that. 

*Due to the endometriosis, some things might be 'sticking' together and then they would have to properly cut and slice, causing more pain, discomfort and healing time. And yes, that was said by the surgeon I spoke to last week, not of my own invention.

Mice for Mama teaser

As you know I knit mice. My grandmother made them (around 2,500 of them) and I have been at it for a couple of years now (not even 10% of 2,500 yet). There are however so many other nice things to make as well. Not just knitting, but crocheting or sewing. I am not the best at the latter two, but the knitting is okay. I can do that. 

Back in the winter I was a bit bored with the mice and wanted to make something else. As I was making a few small Christmas tree ornaments, I thought I could adapt one of them into making a nativity scene. 

So I got going. The first I thought of making was Mary, baby Jesus and Joseph. And they looked alright. Next were a king, then an angel. Then I made the rest. A shepherd, more kings. I made several sets in the end. And yes, they will come up for sale on Mice for Mama. In November! Just so you know. 

Photo on Sunday 2019-28

Brom goes to Isala

Coocoo

It's me!! It's been a long time since I wrote, but Mara 'forgot' to take me to all the fun things. But on Monday she didn't forget to bring me and I was very happy she didn't. A lot of new things for both of us.

Let's start at the beginning though. You remember that Mara wrote that post on Sunday about how she went to the emergency doctor and such? Well, the next morning after a very very bad night (she said it felt like somebody had put a knife in her abdomen and kept twisting it. All night long! Ouch!!!), she had to have her blood checked. So, she made an appointment with her gp and she got to see him that afternoon, also to get the result of her blood test. 

This was our bed

Only a couple of minutes in, he picked up the phone to contact the emergency room! Could she come? Well, it was busy, so she might have to wait a while, but she could come. Oma was very clever and told Mara to get a few toiletries and stuff and we were taken by Opa to the hospital. Opa couldn't stay, but Oma could, so the three of us waited. I didn't think we waited that long, but other people had been and then there was an accident as well. Some got a bit grumpy, but Mara was okay-ish by then. 

Yep, breakfast

Once she got seen however, it became clear that she was not going home that night, because the blood work she had done that morning was very much not good. In the end we got shown to a lovely room with only one other lady in it who had the same trouble as Mara. We all went to bed early, and in the night two more ladies arrived, but that didn't bother us that much. 

Now, you know me, I can go without food for a while, but Mara does like to have some breakfast, lunch and dinner in a day. But she wasn't getting any. There could be a procedure for which she had to be sober, so no food or drink all day! And the other ladies suffered the same: nothing to eat or drink. 

This intravenous contrapthingy took four people to finally have one in!
She has a few bruises left from where it wouldn't go in.

In the afternoon it became clear that Mara was not going to be seen to that day, so she finally could eat and drink again. But she didn't eat that much, she didn't feel that good. That evening she was moved to another room and there were no ladies there, just two gentlemen. They were nice though. 

Before the procedure

The next day, she could have a small breakfast and after that: nothing. But this time she was seen to and in the afternoon she was wheeled in to the room where they would do the procedure to remove any stones present (via a tube down her throat). I was there the whole time as well, keeping my eye on the doctors and making sure they were being nice to Mara (they were).

In the evening she was allowed to eat, albeit only fluid stuff (custard), but this morning she was allowed to have proper food again. And this afternoon we all came home again. All healthy and pain free. 

Next week, there is another outing for me: we go back to hospital again. This time another branch of the Isala hospital in another town. She will have to have surgery to remove the gall bladder. That is a bit scarier, but I will be there as well and I will keep you posted! For now, we're fine.

To have or not to have

The fire dept cleaning the road after putting out the fire

It's been quiet lately. Not in my life however, plenty has happened since I last wrote. I had a burning bus, my mother celebrated her 70th birthday, there was a choir concert I was attending, but never attended and last but not least, another visit to the emergency doctor.

First the bus. Some oil started burning, I was warned by other road users, I told the passengers to get out and then we waited for the fire department. And that is basically what happened. No panic, nobody got hurt. The passengers got away with a bit of a delay and another bus was found to continue with.

My mother was born a few years ago and celebrated her birthday. They had a company put up a big party tent, they had food delivered and it was a good day. She enjoyed herself, which of course was the most important thing of the day.

My father is a member of a male choir and they were having a concert with two other choirs. I had been roped in to help, but the food I had had, didn't agree with me and I was taken home before the concert even started! I did recover quite quickly, but did not feel on top of my game. This was last Friday.

Yesterday I noticed some blood in my urine and thought: well, the gall stones are coming out and are bothering the urinary tract. I also had a very sensitive area in my stomach that did not seem to get better at all. In fact, that problem had been there since my time in A&E. I did work normally though, working from pain killer to pain killer. 

Today I started again, but as I was completely off my food, I was starting to get quite dizzy. Dizziness and driving a bus don't go together, so I decided the best thing for me was to go home and seek medical attention. Which I did.

The result? No clue as to where the blood in my urine comes from (blood test will be done tomorrow, to hopefully tell more). The stomach area however is another matter. I had done some throwing up when I had those gall stone attacks and I had taken some heavy duty medication as well. Plus the fact that I already ruined my stomach entrance years ago...

The first thing to do now is get my stomach entrance to not be so painful anymore. I have gotten over the counter medication for it (from the emergency gp), but as I probably have to see my regular gp soon anyway, I might have to get a different diet or even medication for it. One way of getting my weight down...