Surgery went off without a hitch, although he did take longer with it than usual.  I spent over a week in the hospital, for various reasons.  First off, they didn't take out my NG tube the day after, as we expected.  I had it in all weekend before the doc came in on Tuesday (or maybe it was only Monday? - I have no idea) and said it was coming out - which he proceeded to do instantly.  I also got my foley catheter out that day as well as having the morphine pump taken away.  That part was fine by me as I had been in a total fog and really don't remember much of the first few days - scary huh?  I had to have clear liquids at first, but once I managed to move my bowels I was allowed solid food and started to feel human again.  The pain levels went down daily, but I was still having plenty of it by the time I went home.  I did use the percocet for a few days but because it was making me constipated and foggy I quickly weaned myself to ibuprofen. 

My first followup was a week after I was discharged, at which time the doc said I was moving pretty good considering I was only 2 weeks post-op.  I was having some problems moving my bowels and was prescribed Metamucil, which I later learned was to bulk up my stools and help keep my colon stretched out some.  Well, he told me to take a tablespoon of it in 8 oz of water twice a day, which is impossible.  You damn near have to chew it at that ratio!  At the next follow up a week later, when I brought it up and said 8 oz is not enough water and I had reduced the dosage, he said "I don't care if you mix it with a gallon of water!  You need the big doses" so I went back to mega doses.  Of course the smart doctor knows what's best and the mega doses did help.  I go back again next week, not quite 3 weeks from the last visit, and at this point he should have no objections to signing my release to go back to work.  I'm still not having what I would call "normal" bm's but at least I go every day and I'm getting there.  The pain is still there, inside, where it was stapled back together.  Also, I have some numbness near the main big incision site.  It kinda feels like your lip feels when the dentist gives you a shot of novacaine.  Both of these sensations should ease up with time, doc says, although I may not get all of the feeling back where it's numb.  I can deal with that to have a normal life again.  It was a really big deal to me to be able to wear a pair of jeans again!

I have spent the past month doing almost nothing but resting, and it gets boring.  Now that the girls are out of school I have a bit more to keep me busy finally.  They have been pestering to go swimming constantly so we've spent a lot of time across the street in the pool.  I'm running out of time now, as I'll be going back to work on June 30th.   I almost don't want to go back!  Now that I'm feeling a lot better and haven't needed anything for pain in over a week, I'm enjoying being off work.  The kids are loving it too, and will miss me and the fun we've been having.  Today we are mainly just hanging out because I had to wait for a tech to come and check my phone lines due to problems with my DSL service.  We seem to be all fixed up now after almost 2 hours of checking this and that and making repairs.  Good thing too because I was beginning to get really disgusted with Verizon and regretting ever switching providers.  I did it for the money I was saving, but it wasn't worth it considering my connection kept dropping.  Anyway, now it seems fine and I will be a happy camper again. 

We're also just hanging out because the weather has turned lousy today.  It's much cooler and very cloudy with rain on the way.  Guess we won't be doing any swimming today!  I'm thinking about taking the girls to the Carnegie Science Center tomorrow to have some fun, just because we haven't done much while I've been off and I want to just have a relaxing day with them doing something other than floating around a pool.  We haven't even been to camp on the weekends because there were too many parties and activities to attend.  This weekend the girls are singing in church and we have a bridal shower on Sunday also.  I may take them to camp on Thursday evening and come home Saturday night, just so they get the chance to go.  We plan to go up next weekend too, since we haven't been there hardly at all.

wow I'm rambling.  time to quit.....toodles