Recovery Day #20 5pm

I am sorry I haven't been on in a few days!! Things have been pretty good. Today, mom took me to get some lunch, get some pants hemmed, and then picked up some chinese food for dinner in brownsburg! China's best!! yum! So that was about all I could do today. Still no pain, which is amazing! The biggest complaint I have is that I get an upset stomach often. I take zantac in the morning and evenings,which help, but it wears off after a few hours and I have a sour feeling in my stomach. It's just very uneasy. Mom took me to target on monday and I got some tums, which really help, especially when I eat. I think with how many pills I have to take with each meal, they really upset my stomach. Today we got all the glue off my incision and it looks really good! I am amazed how thin it is and it's already a light pink color, so I'm really hopeful that it will be a very thin scar. We keep putting vaseline on it which really helps it heal. Just FYI- mom works for a plastic surgeon and he says the best thing you can do for a scar is put plain vaseline on it and it really does work!! We got some scar guard stuff for later when it's a bit more healed, but I am just amazed at how quickly the incision is healing. There is just one little part that has a scab on it, but that's it. You can put the vaseline on it right after you leave the hospital and it helps get the glue off and help it heal. So, we're recovering quite well. Besides the sour stomach, the other big thing is the lack of energy. I will tell you now I am amazed at how little energy you have after this surgery. I know being in the hospital takes a lot out of you, but also your body has a lot of recovering to do internally. I went to target for maybe an hour and then went to lunch at olive garden and I was wiped and it's been 20 days since surgery. I think that it will come back soon, but I will tell you right now to the future patients- get lots of rest!! You will feel so much better. I pushed myself pretty hard one day and it took 2 days to recover and I almost slept 2 days straight! Sleep when you need to and you'll recover much better. That is one thing the doctor was adamant about! REST!!! So, other than that, I don't really have any more incision pain or anything. I will tell you that when you walk hunched over, your back will start killing you! I get these back spasms and wow! they hurt a lot! don't put heat on it either during a spasm! it makes it worse! So, that's about it. no pain is amazing!! so, so amazing!!!! Lori, duncan, Megan, and Brian stopped by last friday and Lori said that she could already see a difference in my eyes! She said they have a brightness to them now! that almost made me cry! I really feel that my life has started over since Feb. 8th! 10 years is a long time to have pain and you forget what it felt like before then! let me tell you... it's great! I am so thrilled to not be on suckers anymore and am weaning off the methadone, so soon there will be no more pain meds! I will have to take digestive enzymes for the rest of my life, but hopefully the majority of the pills will die down after a while. Oh, I forgot one thing... The doctor said my islet cells are in the 4000 range. between 3-5000 is the range where your islet cells can begin to work on their own and you can get off the insulin. I am very hopeful I will not be diabetic once they start working after 6-8 weeks! Anyways, that's about it for now! I will definitely keep this updated more! Thanks for thinking of me and the sweet thoughts and prayers are so greatly appreciated! Love, Nicole

Post Surgery Day #14 10am

So, nothing really went on yesterday. My back is really starting to hurt with all the coughing and not being able to walk upright, so I had to put a heating pad on it last night, although it didn't do much. So, I was pretty inactive yesterday. This morning I got up and Mowery Heating is here! As another surprise from my parents (like they haven't done enough for us), dad was going to try to complete the whole fireplace and surprise me when I got home from MN. Well, since I recovered so quickly, he didn't have time to do it, so they just told us about it. So, the gas guy is here and is running a gas line so we can have a gas fireplace! I can't say it enough how much my parents do for us! We are super lucky and I feel bad that they have done so much during this surgery!! So, other than that, I'm just sitting and recovering. My glucose levels are still in good levels with just the long acting insulin, so I still don't have to do the corrective insulin! My pills have decreased a little now that I'm done with the big antibiotics, so that is nice! Well, other than that, I'm feeling pretty good and getting up and moving around as much as possible! I will keep you posted! Love, Nicole

Post Surgery Day # 12 11:30p

Today was my first day home! We got home last night at 10pm. It was such a long day and I was so exhausted by the time I got home that I was on the verge of tears! It's amazing how weak and tired you are from surgery! I slept on the couch for the elevation and James slept on the other side of it. I woke up this morning at 8am to begin my days worth of pills and James went to mcdonalds to get me some breakfast. Well, he came back and took his temperature and it was 102.5! He ended up staying home today and he looked awful. He was all pale and was coughing and sneezing like crazy. Mom came by late morning and sent james upstairs with some medicine. I slept on the couch until about 2pm and james woke up shortly after completely soaked but without a fever. Thank God for mom because she helped me shower and did my hair and also did all of our laundry and helped around the house! She's just absolutely amazing and I am so lucky to have her! I can't say it enough! She decided to make me some dinners for the week so she made a list and I was getting stir crazy, so she let me tag along to the store. I got to ride in the motorized wheelchair! we couldn't stop laughing!! The first one I got in had a flat tire and it was super bumpy and hurt so bad! We switched out and it was much better! It's so hard to see things at that level!! So, we finally left there and that little bit made me exhausted. We came home and she began making chicken enchilada casserole and chicken and broccoli casserole. I sat in a chair by her and helped cut an onion and some chicken, but she basically did all the work! We had part of one for dinner and then froze the rest for later. She's coming back over tomm. to help clean the house and help me until I can get on my feet a bit better. I can get around and walk, but my legs are pretty shaky on the stairs and the energy level just isn't there yet. My insulin levels are still doing great just on the 24hr insulin, so I haven't had to take any before meals. So, not any big news today. We're just taking it easy and settling in and slowly getting back to normal! Talk to you tomorrow! Love, Nicole

Out of Hospital Day #5

So, we're having a bit of deja vu.... we're sitting at the airport and our 2:30 flight has been delayed due to late arrival of our plane. the current departure time is 3:20, but still no sight of the plane yet and it's almost 2:30. We had our appt this morning with dr. sutherland and everything went great. My hemoglobins are back up and are at 10.3! We discussed the flu and he was quite surprised that they would even give me the flu vaccine with my current condition, so did agree that it was the flu. So, we also found out that nicole can never pursue a life as an alcoholic. I can still have liquor but have to be careful getting drunk because of the diabetes. He did say that my islets are at 4000 and between 3-5000, 40% of the people get off the insulin completely! I haven't had to do any of the corrective insulin when I eat, so I'm hopeful that I can eventually be off it completely! I also got a bit of joy because mom brought up the fact that I wasn't eating much and james and mom have been on me a lot about that and he actually said to not push it whatsoever since there are new "hookups" we need to give them time to heal and start working, so he said it was absolutely fine that I'm not eating much now and definitely wouldn't eat until I'm full and stuff! i looked at mom and we both started laughing! ha! :) so, a bit of relief for me! I am ready to be home! we have a few hour layover in chicago, but it'll be fine. We got to the airport and the wheelchair came and got me and we got checked in and everything, but when we got to the security, we ran into a mean guy! I said i could walk through it instead of waiting on someone to come down with a special wand and we got up to the thing and he made me stand to the side forever and made all these people go by me! well, this security lady said something to him and said "she needs to get back in her wheelchair." well, he kept doing it so she finally stuck her hand out and let me through. of course, then he made us "randomly" get padded down and everthing, but it was fine. So, we're sitting at our gate, bored, and ready to start home. James last night had a 103.3 fever as well and definitely got the flu. I had to persuade him to do all the things that he was making me to do for my fever and he felt much better! he woke up at about 6am sweating, but his fever was gone and he's feeling much better. I am relieved. I was worried about him being home alone with that! So, we will be home tonight and can begin the recovery at home! I can't thank all of you enough for the sweet texts, emails, cards, flowers, and everything that I received. It was so amazing to have the support I did during this! It helped tremendously! I can't wait to see all of you and I hope everyone is doing super well!! Love, Nicole

Hotel Recovery Day #4-6:30pm

Tonight should be my last night in this hotel, if all goes well!! We got up this morning and went to the hospital at 7:30 for bloodwork to find out that no orders were put in. So, we had to wait for the secretary to call people and check on things so we sat there for over 2 hours for a 2 second blood draw! woohoo! We also found out when we got there that my appt tomorrow is now at 10am for some reason instead of 8:30am. So, we went ahead and scheduled our flight tomorrow for 2:30 and we will be home in indy at 10pm! we have quite a long layover in chicago but it will probably be good to rest in between the two flights, especially if they are as rough as the flights here! James got home last night but unfortunately has developed a fever today! He's not feeling too hot at home, so it looks like mom, james, and I have all gotten the flu bug. I still have the cough, but I believe it's from the small amount of fluid in my lungs from the x ray, so hopefully that will pass in the next few days. I think mom was pretty sick of me last night! I was coughing like crazy and she gave me some cough medicine and it didn't help at all! I think I finally fell asleep mid-cough from exhaustion! So, since I am doing this for family and friends, but also future patients, I have to add about my incision. it definitely starts itching when it heals. We put some vaseline on it last night because it is scabbing over and with everything, it cracks in some places and can bleed and we really just want to make sure we have the most minimal scar as possible. It is still numb, so I can rub my hand gently over the incision to try to scratch the itch, but the vaseline does help that to go away, so I recommend it, especially at night. So, I started to get things cleaned up tonight and as long as everything goes as planned tomorrow, I will be home in my own bed tomorrow night. The plan is that mom will come stay with me during the day until I can get around by myself. It's amazing how weak a surgery can make you. I have been trying to do stretches and walk as much as possible, but it's amazing how tired out you can get in a short amount of time! and I was in only a week. I am sure the surgery though is what is doing it. I just have to be careful to not overdo it because you can make it worse by overdoing it and set yourself back. Anyways, Not much really going on right now, but just anxious to get home! Love to all! Nicole

Hotel Recovery Day #3- 8:30pm

So, Today was a bit better than before. My fever finally went away and I got to eat three meals today. Still not able to eat a whole lot, but I am sure that will come with time and when you have the flu, you really just don't have the appetite at all. It started to come back today around lunch, so I got to eat some spinach/artichoke dip from applebees. Still had the terrible cough, which actually made me sick after lunch, so that was upsetting (and I am sure too much info), but I felt much better afterwards and got to walk a lot more today with mom. We just had some chinese food, but my fever is 99.9 right now, so I am hoping it's not on its way back up too much. We did take tylenol a few minutes ago, so that will hopefully help. Surprisingly, i've not had to take any of my insulin before the meals since my levels have been in the normal range, so that is prety good so far! I know when I start to eat more it might fluctuate, or my islet cells may start working and I won't have to worry about it at all! James made it home tonight. His original flight was cancelled due to chicago weather, but it worked out that he got a direct flight home instead. He sat at the airport for a few extra hours, but he got to watch the daytona 500, so he was pretty happy. My incision is starting to itch!! it's driving me nuts. we are going to ask the doctor if we can put vaseline and stuff on it because it is starting to scab over and we want to make sure it does the best it can when it heals. So, we'll keep an eye on my fever again and then have to head to the doctor tomorrow morning at 7:30am for labs and stuff. We'll let you know when we find out more! Love, Nicole

Hotel Recovery Day #3, 10:30 am

So the fever broke last night and her temperature is now back down to 98.1. This makes me feel much more comfortable since I am supposed to leave in about an hour to head to the airport. It is amazing how hot Nicole's arm is at the sight where she got the flu shot, but we hope that will go away some now since the fever has gone away. She was able to have a pop tart for breakfast with no nausea, so we're hopeful the worst is over. We'll keep you updated on the progress.

James