Post Surgery Day #39 10:30pm

So, I was planning on going to work today but I woke up this morning sick and in a lot of pain. James got up at 6am and went and got me some pain meds and some other meds to help. This would be the 3rd time since surgery that I've had to take my pain medicine, dilaudid, and I hate that. I have the choice to take 4mg or 8mg, so I haven't had to take more than 4mg, but I still absolutely hate taking pills, especially pain pills. Yesterday, my blood sugar for dinner was super high and today it was the same thing and then I finally remembered that each time I ate about an hour before dinner and if you don't wait 2-3 hours, then your sugar is peaking high because it's digesting food, so it's not an accurate reading. Yesterday I had to take 1 unit of corrective insulin, but I didn't do it today since before I ate i was still in the 80s, so I was pretty sure I was okay. That is one thing that you have to try to remember when you're taking your blood sugar. Also, wash your hands! One time I had eaten a cookie a few hours before taking my blood sugar and i took it and it was like 160! I took it four times in a row and it dropped to 150, 130, 110, and finally 75 after I washed my hands a few times on a paper towel. If I would have taken corrective insulin at the 160 mark, my blood sugar would have plummeted really low from the accurate result of 75 and it can make you become hypoglycemic and you can pass out or even go into a coma if it gets really low, so be careful to any future patients! If your reading seems abnormal, wash your hands and re-take as many times as you think needed. Well, Tomorrow will be the first day back to work and I am going to take it easy! A lot of you have expressed your concerns and I appreciate it! I will take it very easy and ease back into work and all the lovely stress that comes with it! Sorry I haven't posted in a while! Not much goes on during my days of recovery besides resting, eating, and watching TV! :) I will let you know how tomorrow goes! Love, Nicole

PS-I have a special favor from all of you that read this blog. Please pray for the Greene Family. They are going through something right now that is very tough and sad for everyone involved and I want to respect their privacy but also give them the prayer support they need. Please keep them in your prayers and pray that they get through this tough time and that God watches over them.

Post Surgery Day #29 7:30p

We went to see the endocrinologist yesterday. He was really nice and very helpful. He informed me that right now, I'm not considered type 1 diabetic because of the surgery, but we'll have to keep an eye on it to see if I can be off of the insulin on my own or have to continue with it, which I will then be diagnosed type 1 diabetic. The good news is that I had blood work done and when I left the hospital, my AIC Levels (not sure what that means, but it shows how much insulin my body is making on its own) was 1.8. Today they called and said the AIC level is now 4.6. She said it's still a bit low, but I might be able to be okay without the insulin. We are going to take it slow though. Today we dropped my daily insulin from 10 units to 6 units and my levels are still in normal range. The doctor said my levels looked great, so I'm doing really well. Unfortunately, he told me something that was a bit worrisome. He said that he has seen that people's islet cells die after a year or two of working and then I would become type 1 diabetic. That wasn't that bad of news until he started talking about the fact that with all of that my hormones would get out of whack and I would have a very hard time conceiving or carrying a child to term. He recommended that if we are planning to have a family, the sooner the better, he said. Obviously, this is something we already planned on doing anyways now that the pain is gone and I am off the suckers, but it is definitely good to know that there could be problems later, since we never heard that the cells could die after a few years. So we plan on seeing how my glucose levels are in the next few weeks and as long as they are okay, we will drop the insulin to 4 units and then get off them all together and see how it goes. Other than this, things have been the same. The incision is healing really well. The upset stomachs and tiredness are still there and still aggravating. I really would feel better if I knew that these upset stomachs will be going away in the near future. I know they told me before the surgery that the exhaustion would be the hardest thing and that it would take 8 months to a year to feel better and over this, but jeesh! I didn't really believe it! I figured a week or two and I would be back to normal. Guess I was wrong! So, I am planning on starting back to work on the 17th if all is going okay. I think I'll start working half days. If things haven't improved much in the meantime, I may push it back a week, but that is my plan right now! One of the good things is that I am actually doing homework while I am home! I will let you know if anything else changes! Love, Nicole

Post Surgery Day #25 8:15p

Everything has been going well. Rita, Bruce, Brandi, Ben, and the girls were over here on saturday and we had dinner and hung out. I was able to chase the girls around that night, but slept quite a bit on sunday to make up for it. That's ok, it was well worth it. We also went to Megan and Brian's friday night and it was great to see friends. I went to the office on friday for a baby shower and stayed for a few hours to do some work too, so I did have quite a busy weekend. I was pretty tired today too, so I didn't do much. I think mom and I are going to get out of the house tomorrow. we got all the glue off my incision and it looks great. It's already starting to heal really well. We keep putting the vaseline on it and it does seem to help a lot. there are places where you can't even really see the scar already! So, after a few weeks, the only things going on are the upset stomachs, tiredness, and back spasms from walking hunched over. The back spasms are becoming farther apart now that it's a bit easier to walk upright. It's weird because I don't even notice sometimes that I'm walking hunched over. I still haven't had to take the corrective insulin either. It's really weird because last night my insulin was 49 before dinner, which is really low. Normal is 70-120. They said that when you're low, you're really be able to feel it and I didn't feel any different. I know friends that have passed out and become disoriented being low like that, but I felt completely fine. It's kind of frustrating since I don't feel any of the differences and have to rely completely on the meter when they told me in the hospital I'll be able to tell where I am on the scale. Although, I'm usually always on the low end, so maybe my normal is lower than others. I don't know. Anyways, that's about my only excitement. I am hoping to go back to work in a couple of weeks. I promise I'll start out slow! maybe ;) alright, that's all I have for now. I'll write again in a few days, but not much is going on right now other than mom and I just hanging out and her taking care of everything around here! Love, Nicole