The Week End Retreat......at the Hospital!

I am now back at home in Osage....I thought I would do more writing in the hospital...after all I felt up to it. Surprisingly they keep you very busy at the hospital! So I thought I would write some things down quick today-January 13, 2016.

Thank you so much for the prayers, love, and support over the past months and especially the past few days. It is your care that sustains me and the love of God that lifts me when I can't.

I am so grateful for the doctors, nurses, and staff at Gundersen Clinics and Lutheran Hospital in LaCrosse. They are kind hearted and trained well. I want to say Thank you to each of them. It was quite the adventure!

It started on Friday morning. We had to check in at 9:00am, Dave drove, so we were alittle early. But they had our room ready. Marion was our guide. We chatted bit about her beautiful Norwegian jewelry. I told her that if she was Norse....we were probably related. As we talked, the things we were talking about were beginning to sound familiar.....come to find out she is the sister of cousin David and JoAnne Amundson!

The nurses came and made preparations for surgery....IV's started, questions answered, a whole new wardrobe, complete with fancy socks, We met with the surgeons, anesthesiologist, and everyone else. We signed papers and they gave us informed consent....which frankly scared the bejebes out of me and I did refuse a epidural for pain because, to me, it posed more of a risk than a help.....The chaplin came and prayed with us.

We said our 'see you laters' and rolled down the hall towards the room where the show was going to happen. Everyone said, hello....like a party in my honor, but then they put me to sleep and I went to LALA Land.

I woke up in the recovery room with people saying it was time to wake up, how are you feeling....that is your oxygen, and saying that everything went very well....I thought oh, good! and then went back to sleep. I was not there long and they took me to my room. I thought it was hard to talk, probably from the intonation tubes they used.

My room was on the 6th floor-med-surg unit. Side note~it was a room with a great view. I could see all the comings and goings on South Avenue.

 My job right then was to wake up. Dave came just after I did with all our stuff. My job was to drink something, let the tubes do their work, and get out of bed. The weather was iffy so he left at 6:00pm to drive back.

After Dave left, they asked me if I wanted to sit in the chair.....yes! of course! Did I want to go for a walk....so we did, from one end of the hall to the other. The walk went very well! The nurses even said so.

I had a good night.....but the surface where I sit was tired of sitting. So I moved from bed to chair and back again.

Saturday, Sunday,  and Monday were kind of a blur..... And then it was rest, eat, walk, rest, eat, walk. The doctors were concerned about output. So they were dealing with that....my solution was to take out the catheter...I did not like that very much. When they did the problem improved. After that, progress was in stages. I started with a clear liquid diet...then graduated to full liquids (the potato soup is particularly tasty) By Sunday morning I was on a full diet. I had an omelette, it was delicious and I ate the whole thing. However...the advice to have small frequent meals was very helpful but received too late. I was not hungry for the rest of the day.....

Kris, Becky, and the Minions. stopped by for a visit on Saturday. Dave stopped by for a few minutes. was fun....the kid plan for after was to go to Pizza Doctor....never heard if they went! My Dad came to visit on Sunday. My friend Mark Anderson came to visit on Sunday and Monday (and brought communion). Roy and Faith Ott stopped by to help me put together a puzzle. And cousin Ed Overholt stopped by between patients.  The weather was iffy and flus were going around so Mom, Laurie and her family, and Kevin and Rachel were not able to come, but called or texted. Mom called everyday to find out how things were going. It was good to see people.

The retreat did include coloring.....

Finally the IV's were removed, the catheter and oxygen was removed, medication pump was removed. I figured out how to use the TV/Computer....Now all we had to do was wait for the pipes to wake up....and when they finally did on Monday night....they did. Food tasted better, Walking was like flying, and all was right with the world....and then Dr. Shapiro asked if I wanted to go home!!!!! Dah!!! Yes I want to go home. So Tuesday morning we did all the things we had to do to go home-paperwork, prescriptions, orders, follow up appointments and all that.....and then I escaped. It was like a parade going down the hall....

Needed to stop at Sam's Club on the way home. But they did say it was good to walk....must have wore me out, because I slept all the way home!

The surgery did go very well. They took my appendix, part of the colon, my lady parts, and they took what was left of the tumors. Now we wait for the final pathology reports to make sure there are no more live cancer cells....So the adventure continues.

Soli Deo Gloria!