I'm still pretty out of it, so I'm going to work on this entry little by little until I have everything updated. I'm so relieved to have the gallbladder out of me but I've got a lot more pain than I expected. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it an 8. Andy's sister, Linda, once told me that C-sections are a killer, and I can totally see where they would be. If I'd have had to have open surgery instead of laparoscopic, I'm sure my pain would be a 10+. Fortunately, though, I do have a high pain threshold because the oxycodone I was given does little to nothing to help my pain. I don't understand why so many people get addicted to this stuff. If I sit still for a while or lie down or I'm standing, it's not that bad. It's when I get up and down. The worst is getting out of bed. I kind of have to roll out of it and even that hurts. Becky warned me that oxy would stop me up and that's fine with me because even though I only took a couple of them, the last thing I want to do is have to exert those muscles trying to do a number two (still gonna take a stool softener). It hurts enough if I laugh or breathe in deeply. I can't bend over far either.

I got the results of the pre-op testing. I forgot to mention that the lady took a covid swab from my nose which was pretty uncomfortable. It was negative, as expected. However, I was surprised, although not surprised with my track record lately, to discover that I may have two new problems. First, my kidney function is down a bit. Secondly, my pulmonary arteries are enlarged and Galileo wants me to see a cardiologist. I tell you, it's just one thing after another! So frustrating too. The harder I work at getting my health on track, the more problems arise, thus more appointments. I swear the appointments multiply like cockroaches. Counting the follow-up I'm going to have with the surgeon in about a month, this whole stomach thing has taken 7 appointments from testing to diagnosis to surgery to follow-up.

Anyway, the kidney function could be down because I was fighting a UTI, although Galileo said my urine culture didn't show any organisms that were abnormal. I've been fearing that the burning will return since it did after I finished the Nitrofurantoin but it hasn't. At least not yet. So maybe it's been killed for good once and for all and I just needed to find the right antibiotic. Bactrim definitely did the trick.

Not sure what to think as far as the pulmonary hypertension goes. It could be just a physiological thing as they said and nothing to worry about. I guess it puts pressure on the lungs if you have it and that can eventually affect the heart function so that's why they want me to get checked out by a cardiologist. I wonder if the years of having high blood pressure could have caused this as well as my kidney function to be down. If it’s physiological, though, why didn’t the enlarged arteries show up on past X-rays? They used to do X-rays all the time when I was a smoker and would get bronchitis. Not sure what to think, but I'm not gonna worry about it at the moment. Whatever will be is going to be. I've pretty much given up on getting healthier. Meaning I don't think I'm ever going to be as healthy as I used to be. I don't think this is the beginning of the end so much as the beginning of a long string of problems that I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life. I don't think the golden years are going to be so golden. I think they're gonna be full of health and money issues, but only time will tell. Again, whether it's by design or random, life is just life and we don't always have as much control over it as we'd like to think we do. All we can do is do our best and hope for the best.

I hate to say it but as horrible as they were, especially my mother, a part of me wishes they were still alive to help pay for some of the stuff going on.

Back to pulmonary hypertension. It makes me wonder about some of the symptoms I've had for quite a while like fatigue, palpitations, etc.

They say bad things happen in threes, including death. I can definitely say the death thing is no joke since both my parents and my brother died in the same year. My thyroid crapped out on me, then my gallbladder, and I wonder what's next. I just hope it's not a vital part that can't be treated!

Time for a break. I gotta go lay down.

Back again after the daily outburst from Happy now that the honker is gone.

It still hasn't rained here. We've definitely got a drought going on. Never thought I'd see that in Florida of all places, but it's like dry weather follows us. We move to Cali, and it gets drier and drier. We move here, and we get the same thing. Fort Lauderdale seems to be the opposite. They got slammed with record rain that they had to close the airport. Why can’t that happen here?! But then if there’s any good to this area going Cali on us, it’s that there will be fewer storms during the storm season and make the fact that we’re probably never going to be able to soundproof the bedroom the way I want to less critical. At least until they build something in the vacant lot behind us.

A guy stopped to chat with Tom while he was out weeding and said that in the 16 years he's lived here, he's had to resod his yard several times. We wouldn't do that, though, if our grass died. We would give up and switch to gravel. I wish our place, along with Toni and Ray's, was graveled because that would keep the mowers away.

The Brooksville hospital was way better than Tampa. Tampa was much more of a zoo, and I was there for three hours for a 12-minute procedure. I was at this place for five hours for a one-hour procedure. It could have been longer, though. I was number 3 in line and I guess the first procedure was canceled. The second was just a simple little cyst removal.

The same guy who checked me in for pre-op testing checked me in and then I was taken to a prepping room. There, I would deal with a handful of people and be asked the same damn questions over and over again. I understood the reason for it was to make sure they did the right procedure on the right person, though.

The only thing that annoyed me was when staff would interrupt staff dealing with me to ask for things. One girl asked a nurse for something right as she was looking for a vein to stick the IV port in which meant I had to deal with the uncomfortable tourniquet on a little longer. Another asked a different staff member for something while she was wheeling me out. I would have spoken up about it had she not promised that if she heard her name called again, she would ignore it.

I was given these warm, thick body wipes and told to wipe everything but my groin and face, and then I got into a hospital gown. I was given a bag for my clothes and Tom hung onto that as well as my purse.

Once on the bed, I was hooked up to several things. They stuck leads on me to monitor my heart. They put an oxygen reader on my finger. Plus, these leg cuffs to help circulate the blood. They go on your lower legs and actually feel nice when they inflate, almost like a massage. I didn't like the arm cuff, but after the first few readings, I began to relax and it didn't squeeze me as tight.

Not surprisingly, they had problems getting one of the IVs in. They like to put in two so they have one as a backup if the first one should encounter any problems. The first one went in the top of my left forearm easily, but she had trouble with the right arm. She first put one in my hand and it hurt a bit because it's a sensitive area. Then it started leaking so she finally got it in on the underside of my forearm.

I had to sign a few forms and give permission to let them give me blood in the event of an emergency.

So after meeting with three nurses, the doctor, the anesthesiologist, and the breather, it was time to go. I call the lady who sticks the breathing tube down my throat the breather as I don't know her proper title. Maybe some kind of respiratory therapist. Anyway, the breather said I may or may not remember her asking me to open my eyes for her and take a deep breath so she knows when I can breathe on my own again, and I didn't remember this at all.

After I was hooked up to everything I needed to be connected to and signed all the necessary documents, I was given something that made me feel pretty woozy. I wasn't knocked out suddenly like I was for the endoscopy. I don't even remember being knocked out actually. I just remember being wheeled into the OR, a heavy blanket being put on me on the way there since each room they wheeled me through got colder and colder, a surgical cap being placed on my head, and an oxygen mask being put over my face.

Back again the next day. Maybe today is the day I'll actually finish this entry.

OMG, I've totally come to regret having this surgery! If you don't absolutely need your gallbladder removed, don't do it! The cramping I had before was nothing compared to this pain. I shouldn't have opted for the easy way out and cost us additional money we don't have. There were no stones, so it wasn't an emergency. Just on and off discomfort. Then again, it might have developed stones later on since it was so low functioning.

My breathing has finally improved, but I'm still in quite a bit of pain. The pain isn't quite as bad as it was but it's still bad enough. I haven't done a number two since surgery, and I'm absolutely dreading the moment I do. Luckily, I didn't puke because that would hurt way worse. After all, I was literally stabbed in the stomach four times. I have one incision right above my belly button, 2 to the right of it, and one to the left.

Picking up where I left off yesterday... Once again, there was no time gap. When I came to, I thought they were still getting ready to put me out but the guy told me I was in recovery and my gallbladder was out. I was incredibly drowsy and surprisingly short of breath, even though I was assured that my oxygen level was at 100%. Even so, I felt like I could only breathe in a quarter of the way. Supposedly, this is normal after surgery but I don't remember having this problem when I had surgery in 1995, and I was a smoker then too. They gave me a tube to inhale through and to help exercise my lungs. Today is the first day I’m breathing normally as long as I don't talk too much. And I talk-type my journal entries, LOL.

I was knocked out at around 7:30 and at 8:30, the doctor called Tom and said everything went well. It was something like 9:20 when I woke up. We left the hospital at noon.

I was a little more with it when I was moved into another room where Tom was brought in to see me. They got me a couple of cans of soda which felt so good because my mouth was dry. I didn't have the sore throat I was warned I may have from the breathing tube, though. No shoulder pain either. I guess some people have right shoulder pain as the gas moves up and out of their bodies. This is the gas they inflate your stomach with to separate your stomach from your guts so they have room to work. I had mild acid reflux and now even milder nausea but that's it so far. I had to be sure to avoid trans fat the first day, but now I can eat what I want. Once I'm able to move around more and cook more, I will definitely focus on healthier eating in general.

I have 4 square dressings covering each incision. The outer ones I was able to peel off after 24 hours. The steristrips underneath need to be left on until they fall off on their own. Still have to sleep on my back or sides too. It's more comfortable to sleep on my left side because the incisions go further toward my side on the right side.

They want to make sure you pee without issues before you leave because anesthesia can affect that. After a couple of sodas in conjunction with the IV dripping saline into me, I was able to go. Then they removed my IV ports and wheeled me out. Tom helped me into the house, of course, when we got back. Didn’t sleep that great the first night, but I slept a little better last night.

Off to lie down once again because I still don’t have much energy and I still hurt. It took me nearly half a dozen tries and two days to get this entry done!