What the hell happened to the journaling from October 2007 to now, August 2008?

I met with Dr. Sonnastein and registered for all the preparations to get the lap band. Dr. Sonnastein is VERY thorough. He set me up with appointments with a nutritionist, psychologist, gynocologist, cardiologist and ultimately an oncologist.

The doctors decided that the loss of blood must be related to being female. So in November 2007 I had a simple surgical procedure to stop the bleeding.

That didn’t work. My numbers kept going lower.

Dr. Sonnastein sent me to an oncologist where for six weeks I received IV iron, sitting alongside terminal cancer patients. Talk about life review. This was an emotional experience.

On December 15, Emily and Mark graduated from Morehead. Once again, I was sick as a dog for something special for Emily. I get so tired of being sick and tired. I did make it for the ceremonies and ended up having a great time – albeit – I slept a lot of the time. I’m so proud of those two kids!

The holidays were fun as I had a new friend to date throughout. I rang the New Year in with my friend, Tina and the fellow at a Karoke bar in Kettering, Ohio.

I thought I would start the New Year off healthy and happy with a new beau.

One day, following an iron treatment, I returned to work, just in time for a staff meeting. At the end of the meeting I gave birth to a huge blood clot. It was pushed out of my underwear and rolled down my pants leg, landing on my shoe. Talk about embarrassing. I had to rush out of the office and head straight to the gynecologist. That is when I learned that I needed to have a hysterectomy to stop bleeding.

Surgery was scheduled for January 21, 2008.

It was to be done through laparoscopy.

Can anything ever be simple with me?

Due to a never diagnosed case of endometriosus, my bladder was pushed up behind my belly button. When the surgeon put the first probe in, he accidently nicked the bladder sending my body into a serious situation. They called a specialist in to repair the damage, then continued with the removal of a uterus discovered to be four times the size of a normal uterus.

Four hours later I was patched back together and put in a private room to begin recovery.

The second night following the surgery, I apparently wasn’t breathing properly and the staff came rushing into my room to make sure I was ok. They put oxygen through my c-pap. For as miserable as I was, the oxygen made me feel wonderful. Nothing like becoming addicted to air. Ha-ha.

Misery came not only from the pain of the incision, but the horror of the bed. It was the most uncomfortable piece of shit I’ve ever laid upon.

Tina came to the rescue when she went out and purchased a memory foam pad for me. The only one she could find was a King Size. We asked the nurses station if they had a pair of scissors we could use to cut it in half. They gave Tina the tiniest, dullest pair they could find. She spent a half an hour, earning blisters on her thumbs, to get the pad ready for me. God bless her. I think I would have died from that pain long before anything in my gut. Gee.

After five days, I was sent home to recuperate.

Tina organized meals for me and people came and went constantly. I was so very grateful.

Linda and her husband Mike brought the staples of life, toilet paper, grape juice, under pads, etc. They were a divine gift. Linda used her nursing skills to bathe me. Ahhh, I can’t describe how wonderful it felt.

Emily came home for the week-end to help take care of me. That was wonderful.
When she went back to school (working on her masters), Tina and I became inseparable.

I feel so blessed. One to be alive after the iron problems and surgical oops and two, that I have such wonderful family and friends who showed me how much I am loved and cared for.

Now during all this hoopla, the holiday fellow took a serious dive. He became someone that was toxic to me and I decided I didn’t need his negative energy around me.

However, in the midst of all the recovery, one of my dear friends, Fred, agreed to bring a meal to me one night. When he came through the door smiling, I felt so much better. What a great guy to bring me dinner and put up seeing me attached at the crotch to a catheter. How lovely. I tried to hide it as best as I could.

The whole experience taught me so much. I am blessed with much love. And that’s all that really matters.

I returned to work in March.