Another surgery? This time I will be in a cast for 4 weeks…

Monday was a pretty busy day, and cold. I was hoping to get up a little early to cruise Robby around but things don't always work out as planned. Teresa drove me over the hill to Valley medical Center, I had 3 appointments. They wanted to get all of my preop appointments out of the way in one day so I only had to take one trip over the hill… that almost didn't happen.  We got there early because there was no traffic, I forgot it was a holiday, so we decided to go get some Pho next door to the hospital. It was awesome, we also got a spring roll with peanut sauce. My 1st appointment went great, I talked to Dr. Yim and he wanted to make sure everything was a go. Apparently my 2nd appointment was supposed to be bloodworm but they forgot to remind me to not eat anything so I have to go do that on Wednesday and fax them the information, we did get to do the EKG and my heart still pumping. After my 1st appointment they told me that I wasn't going to get to talk to the anesthesiologist and that I would have to come back on Thursday. Teresa has school on Thursday so that would mean I would have to take the 17 bus over the hill to Valley medical Center, I was really annoyed but what are you going to do? We decided that since we were there were going to talk to them and see if we could work something else out, it's a good thing we went there because I DID have a 3 o'clock appointment to talk to the nurse and anesthesiologist… I would have been furious if I had gone home and found out I missed my appointment and had to take the 17 best over the hill on Thursday. Then the nurse tells me that I also need to take a pregnancy test, I take the Depo-Provera shot every 3 months and I've pretty much been celibate for about 10 years so if I'm pregnant it's a miracle. The nurse apologized and said that I have to anyway because sometimes people lie. I am so glad that that day is over. I got back home and rose up to me to bed and I just relaxed and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Tuesday was rainy and wet outside so much to my dismay I ended up staying in bed again. I can't wait until the nicer days get here. The worst part about staying in bed is when I can't even watch any movies or any of my TiVoed programs, I keep getting an error and then the screen goes blank. I wanted to call DirecTV while Karen was here because of course you always need somebody to run around and try stuff and the 1st suggestion on the troubleshooting telephone was to reset the receiver, of course it worked right after that but when Karen left and I decided to do something else I got the same error message and my television is blank. A couple of nights ago when it did that I started watching nip and tuck on Netflix, it looks like a pretty good show so at least I have something.

Wednesday was a great day but cold. It was a great day because Robby and I got out and went for a long cruise. I needed to go get some blood work for my surgery on Friday, we got right in. On the way back the sun started to come out a little bit but it was still colder than I would have liked. I stop by the bank to see why they sent me a new card AGAIN. It was the same old reason… one of the sites that I use my card on online was compromised. I guess that's just what happens when you shop online. It just means that I have to go through and change my credit card everywhere that I use it, such a pain. I came back and luckily Karen was still here, I had to fast so I was starving and very thirsty.  I ate some lunch and then I saw somebody at the door. It was Tom in Kelly's friend Phil and his daughter Hazel, Phil is the one that built that on some sink, counter and drawers on my back porch. It was really great to see them and they brought me some really fresh baked bread from San Francisco, I think my uncle and I just about finished it off. Rosa came by and put me to bed, I was so cold that I just wrap myself up in the heated throw for a while. My uncle and aunt came over and we played a couple games of cribbage, my uncle was my partner and we won $3. He always promises that whoever is his partner is going to win big and in his mind he always does. We always have a good time. As I'm sitting here dictating there is a little mosquito flying around my screen, I have a feeling I'm going to have a few mosquito bites by the morning… little sucker. I bought an indoor bug zapper so I'm hoping maybe that will get him before he gets me.

Thursday was pretty much a prep day for my surgery tomorrow so I stayed in bed.  I got a really nice massage and we got all the personal care done and I did get a nice long hot bath. I'm ready.

Friday was the day after my surgery. They are going to tighten the tendons in my fingers so they don't stick out straight and get in the way of everything. Teresa was here at 1:30 AM so we could be at Valley medical by 6:30 AM. The surgery was supposed to take 2 hours but ended up taking 4. I guess it took them 2 hours to bring me out of the anesthesia, apparently my last surgery was the same way so I'm hoping that this is my last surgery… I can't imagine anything else done. I felt really crappy and just wanted to go home and go to bed. We picked up Karen on the way home so Teresa could just drop us off and go home and get some rest, I knew she was exhausted. Karen put me to bed and I finally got something to eat and some coffee. I went to sleep and had woke up because I heard the door. I looked at the clock and it said 8:30 so I thought it was Adriana coming to work in the morning and taking Robby out. When I heard the door open again and looked up and it was my mom, it was only 8:30 PM… I guess I was pretty out of it. I rested for a while and then went back to sleep until Adriana actually came in the morning. My arm and my neck were really sore from lugging this cast around, I would've thought that they would have lighter material by now… don't they have fiberglass casts? I asked the doctor if he could put a  divit in the cast wear my wrist would be to make it easier to drive my chair, the dude is kind of on the side of my wrist so I'm hoping that will work just as well. My brother Stanley, his wife Janet and their daughter Corrine are going to come down for the day and spend the night. They gave me Vicodin for the pain but luckily I had some Percocet from my last surgery because Vicodin upsets my stomach, usually they ask you before they prescribe something. The Percocet makes me really warm but it does help with the pain. It feels like skin on my wrist is ripping apart, probably because that's where they cut. It wasn't as hard to maneuver with my cast as I thought it was going to be so hopefully 4 weeks will go by really fast and the improvement will be incredible, I think it will definitely be worth it. Today is the clam chowder cook off over at the Boardwalk and I really wanted to go but I know it was going to be very crowded and with my driving ability being compromised is probably not a good idea to be in big crowds right now.

Saturday I just decided to stay in bed with my arm propped up on a couple of pillows, they wanted to be above my heart for a while. Adriana came in and got me something to eat, vacuumed and cleaned the floor and straightened up for company. She also took Robby for short run so he won't be going stir crazy. I just took another Percocet so I'm getting really sleepy and I think I screwed up my entry for Friday so I guess it's time to take a nap.  My aunt came by and said that she was going to go for walk so I told her she would like to have some company Robby would love to go, I always feel better when I'm stuck in bed if Robby can go out for a cruise. I knew it was going to be extremely inconvenient this is making me crazy, I still have about 3 1/2 more weeks. Stanley made a really nice dinner, raviolis and sausage with garlic bread. I'm trying not to take too many pain pills because I know I'm going to be sorry when it comes time to do personal care and I have a pretty high pain tolerance is just annoying. My aunt and uncle came over and we all played a couple games of cribbage, my uncle was my partner and I think we won a dollar or 2. I thought it was going to sleep really good because all day long the pills make me groggy but of course here it is 2:40 AM and I'm wide awake and very frustrated. I just have to keep telling myself it will be so nice in the long run.

Sunday was another miserable day I guess because of the anesthesia and the pain meds, I tried not to take too many pain meds because I know what happens. Somebody said to me “it was your choice to have surgery” and it made me start thinking… I guess I said yes to it without even a 2nd thought. If Stanford offers to give you a free surgery that will change your life and then after you do a couple studies they decide they need to tweak it to make it work better for me and our study should I really say no?? I know in the long run it's going to be better and it probably won't ask me to do any more studies if I don't want to improve and I like the idea that I'm keeping in touch with that circle.