Epigastrc Hernia - Part 6

Part way into Week 4 I had a dental appointment. This will be the second trip to CR since the operation and I totally understand why driving is not recommended. It is very uncomfortable to turn and cover all directions in safety because of the pulling on my tummy. This appointment was a cancellation from a couple of weeks back, me thinking I could do anything at that time! The surgeons office was in the same area and I popped in to check on one of the incisions that was really bugging me. It seemed that from the little bending and my ‘light duty’ chores I was doing, may have torn something loose, but I was reassured that some stitches take longer to dissolve than others and probably I was feeling the knot pulling. I had the neighbours come over to pick the garden for me as that type of bending really irritated me, even though I was trying not over exert myself. Thank god I have MJ who comes over and gives me a hand with jobs I can’t do.

All was going not too bad going into week 5. I was sleeping without the binder. I was able to turn in bed without having tugging sensations. By the weekend I was feeling quite comfortable without wearing it until I did some ‘light duty’ stuff. I worked in the garden on Saturday and paid for it. My right side felt like something was wrong once again. Sunday all was fine, no nagging pulling. Monday I was out picking veggies again, and once again, pain. By this time I was getting quite despondent at times, wanting to do things, but knowing that I couldn’t do a good job or finish what I was starting. Tuesday I was okay, and told myself not to do anything. I wasn’t planning groceries this week, except I needed pet food once again. Can never keep ahead of them! Friends didn’t show up for a visit on Wednesday, bringing feed, so silly me went shopping, AFTER spending the morning in the garden. I was in discomfort when I got home most of the time for the next few days. I figured I had done something when I moved 45lbs of dog food and a 25lb bin of shopping. I was starting to get concerned when it was still there on Saturday. By Sunday, after talking to other people, I figured I had better get this checked out, so off to the doctor. Seems like it was as before; a stitch not quite dissolved yet. I was told to take it easy and to wear the binder when I was doing my ‘light duty.’ Wouldn’t you know it? I got up Monday morning and felt no pulling and no discomfort. I felt like a new person after 5 ½ weeks.

Through this whole ‘sickness’ thing, everything went according to what I had been told and had read. When they say ‘light duty’, around here there isn’t much that isn’t light duty unless it is planned for. Bags of feed to move, pails of water to carry, wheelbarrows of wood to move, wood to stack, fences to mend… the list goes on. Then there is the 4000 square foot house to contend with, plus pets in and out. At the present time, there are 9, week old baby ducks partially contained in the living room. I was in too much discomfort the first 2 weeks to be bothered with things not getting done/put away/cleaned. I was the only one who had to look at it, and it would get attended to in a month or so. After the second week, I was quite despondent, definitely not the same as being depressed. I wanted to get things done, but soon learnt that I had better let things go and watch more TV, do another puzzle or cross stitch something. I wasn’t even doing anything on the computer. It seems strange that all I had were aches and discomfort, yet being in front of the computer, sitting, was something I just could not get into. I was quite amazed at which muscles across the abdomen are used for the most mundane things, so no wonder they say don’t do anything for 4 to 6 weeks. Even driving was not comfortable until the third week. Looking over one’s shoulder pulled muscles I didn’t know I had.

Epigastrc Hernia - Part 5

I decided that I could weed the garden as long as I was down on the ground in one position and wasn’t about to pick up the containers of weeds. I did have a helper in the form of MJ, but I think I did more getting up and down again than I did actually weeding, what with giving directions and making sure it was weeds only that were picked. I sure paid for that experience the next day.

The following day, I decided that taking my long pruning clippers and cutting down all the Scotch Thistles, which were up to 5 feet tall and a nice purple colour, would be fine. Not so. I came in a half hour later and didn’t realize the muscles that were used to do that. I came to the decision that ‘light duty’ ment doing nothing. The surgeons receptionist told me off for doing those things! AND when the say NO driving, they really do mean NO driving.

I am into week four now and really don’t notice my tummy, except when I cough, sneeze or have hiccups. I can’t bend comfortably and have problems picking things up off the floor. Of course, heavy things are still a no-no and I still notice that pulling sensation when I push open doors or move some things. It’s nice to take the binder off and not have stitch pulling sensations, but they start to pull when I move around.

With all the planning that I did prior to having the surgery, all should have gone smoothly, right from watering the animals, to containing them, to having a working duck pond and a relatively clean house. The only thing I didn’t plan for and wasn’t sure how to solve the problem, of the dogs and their 3 gallons of water they drink a day. It is no fun walking back and forth with juice jugs of water, filling a big tub for them. It took me a couple of weeks to get to washing the left dishes and coffee filters dumped in the sink. The floor hasn’t seen a broom or a mop in a month now and the dust bunnies are multiplying. MJ vacuumed the rugs for me as they were just about ready to walk away, and I am really not sure what got shoved under the bed. It sure would have been nice to be left with a vehicle that I could have gotten into, and driven with more comfort than the Ram, and have numerous animal problems taken care of before I was left alone.

With all that has happened as a result of me being totally laid up for this length of time, I am wondering why I have the animals and birds that I do, and why I slave away in the garden. I had assumed, wrongly it seems, that what BC and I have had, was a partnership in this ‘home.’ All of what went wrong here, both inside the house and outside, was, to me, common sense stuff. Make sure animals have food and water, make sure they are safe from predators, etc. I was also under the impression, from all that I have heard and read, is that a guy will do anything to please his woman. Is that what happened? I was supposed to be pleased to be left with masses of dishes, loose animals, unwatered animals? Ohhhh, I forgot. He is the bread winner and I am the Jackie of All Trades keeping the home together.

Epigastrc Hernia - Part 4

Besides having this ache in my belly and ‘stitch in the side’ sensations all over, I felt not too bad. I hadn’t taken any pain pills for actual pain since Saturday night. I took one last night to get to sleep and I hate sleeping on my back.

Something had to be done about the duck pond and the coop fence so MJ got a ride over. I figured I would be able to drive him 6km home with no problem. I went to put on a pot of coffee and the bar sink was full of used coffee filters. They still sit there, like the dishes in the kitchen. I wasn’t sure what other disasters I would find, but soon found out when I looked out the back window. My plastic coverings for my wood pile had been driven over repeatedly by the back hoe, plus the 12’ gate that was open 2 feet, enough so that I could close it if I had to, was now wide open.

MJ fixed the pond, or so I thought, and fixed the fence and decided to check on the garden after a week of neglect. Peas are starting and turnips needed thinned. We did that and came back to the house to trim them. I was outside for maybe 1 ½ hours, but there were chem trails pretty bad from about 9 am on. It was now 1:30 and I had classic heat attack symptoms, exactly the same as I had 3 years ago. If it were anyone else here with me other than MJ, I probably would have waited it out, but as it was, called 911 and was on the road to the hospital at 2:10. Of course, all the symptoms stopped on the way, the doctor looked at me sideways and put it down to ‘anxiety attack due to hernia surgery 4 days ago.’ I saw my regular doctor in there and totally forgot to ask about blood tests for airborne pollutants. I did ask the attending doctor who told me it takes months for them to get back. Needless to say, MJ had to find his own way home and LF drove me home from CR. I did expect her to maybe lift a finger and maybe do some dishes or vacuum a bit, but she did nothing.

I didn’t eat much at all until Wednesday, when I guess I got eyes bigger than my stomach because Thursday I was in a lot of pain with a stretched stomach pulling on stitches. That was definitely a no-no, eating large meals. There wasn’t a lot of moving around either for the next few days.

MJ was over on Monday again. He had brought up boxes of puzzles from downstairs, to keep me occupied, primarily so I can get rid of them. Ended up in the garden again, weeding for ¾ of an hour and talking to the surgeons receptionist a day later, that is a no-no too. Well, it was time to drive MJ home so, got his eggs and puzzle into the Ford, found my purse, managed to get into it with no problem and discovered it was dead. Wonderfull. So now it was the Dodge, which with a milk crate I can get into and out off. The only problem is the ‘blind spots’ and I can’t move properly to cover them all.

The duck pond finally got fixed on Tuesday, when I could actually bend down and put my socks on and touch the ground! I could not get the truck battery charged with these new fangled chargers. The large one I like is locked in the garage and I can’t open the doors. I tried for 2 days to charge it. At least MJ is good for some things. He was over once again on Wednesday and got the good charger on the truck, cleaned off the posts and away she went; or so I thought. Started just great so put my purse in to take him home and no brakes! None! The reservoir was totally empty and judging by the ground, a line has been broken off somewhere. And no brake fluid to be found in the Village, or the corner store.

To top everything off, I found two baby raccoons in my old feed shed. I am not sure if the mother forgot them there, or if they were waiting for something. They were there for 2 nights and a day and the last night I had caught and put away two young chickens into the coop as they were sleeping outside. Maybe they were waiting for dark and that was their midnight snack. I also realized that the mother hen and her 6 chicks were missing too, likely a raccoon family BBQ, plus 3 or 4 odd chickens roaming free.

Epigastric Hernia - Part 3

Maybe it was on Tuesday morning when BC asked me if the big red flowers in the garden were peas, that I began to wonder about the outcome of me being laid up for a few weeks. I was flabbergasted when he asked me that, it floored me. It is either, he is not paying attention to what goes on around here, or else there is a cognitive reason for the question and I really don’t want to explore that avenue at present.

Thursday I was up at 7:30 and made sure all chores were done, everyone watered and fed, including the dogs. Arriving at the hospital in good time, book in hand I was dropped off at Day Surgery. Changed into hospital fashion along with paper slippers, I was given a sedative and ushered into the waiting room. There was no guarantee of when I would be taken to the OR. It wasn’t long, I think I only read about 5 pages and was then walked into the OR and helped up on to the table. With arms outstretched, an IV was inserted in my left arm and the anesthesiologist said ‘and one more pinch’ and I woke up.

I don’t know what time it was, I asked for a cup of tea and the nurse said she was busy with all these people and then BC came. He had picked up meds for me so it was a matter of getting dressed and on our way.

I don’t remember too much about the rest of the evening but were home before dark. I discovered I had a Velcro binder on which was really tight and pulling my tummy, so I removed it. BC gave me the pain pills ordered along with some gross tasting laxative stuff, which made me want to throw up. He didn’t get Advil, as requested, as we had some here. Every 4 hours I needed those pills. I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would, but it felt like my tummy was being pulled in all directions when I moved from the mesh stitched in place.

Friday I didn’t move much at all but figured I had better try eating something light so was asked if I would like scrambled eggs. Sure. I didn’t expect eggs to be cracked in the fry pan and then stirred up with a fork. I ate ½ of it and a small yogurt pot. Needless to say, the day was spent in bed, trying not to make the stitches hurt.

Saturday I was awake and feeling not too bad, and as they said, get moving ASAP after an operation, I figured I would let the dogs out and do chores. Well, no one had been watered at all the day before, every water dish was dry. Took care of that and went back to bed after making a cup of tea. I made oatmeal for breakfast and went back to bed. I ate a small bowl, but didn’t feel very well. He did say he managed to boil water for IchyBan noodles and added a can of tuna. The garbage ended up on the floor later that night as a result. As I was going to be here by myself from Sunday on, I wanted to go see the local doctor, just to make him aware of what was happening. BC wanted to get rid of the beaver problem we are having in the pond. He spend a couple of hours before the doctor trip to use the back hoe to take dirt from the back of the property and dump over the bank into the pond, hopefully burying their holes. The doctor trip was uneventful with the exception of BC not having a clue about where he was going. The doctor changed dressings and said he really didn’t know what the surgeon had done to my belly, but all looked fine. I noticed that my hen and new 6 babies were not in the coop where they had been put on Wednesday. Obviously there was a hole in the fence, but I sold BC to remove the cover on the floor of the blue coop/shed so they could be safe, forgetting about our friendly raccoons.

Getting home, I found chicken in the freezer which I breaded and put in the oven for supper. I was not hungry at all and no point in eating if the desire wasn’t there. “What do I do with the chicken?” I was asked. Figure out what you are going to eat with it, I replied, and there will be some left for tomorrow and sandwiches for you when you travel. Leftovers were found to go with the chicken and I suppose he was happy.

By this time, I was feeling rather sick. BC offered to make me a fennel tea and I thought that sounded good. I hadn’t eaten anything but something wasn’t sitting right, maybe the narcotic pain pills. My nice cup of fennel tea ended up a blended concoction with candied ginger, what he figured would settle my tummy. That was enough to make me want to be sick,but there was no way I wanted to throw up because of the trauma on my tummy. BC did get me a large pail and sit with me for a bit while I was trying to get rid of whatever was there. He decided to get ready for bed around 9:30 at which time my tummy decided that it was going to get rid of whatever was there. I got rid of it alright, in the pail and all over the floor. Definitely felt better.

Sunday, once again I went and did chores and they had not been done. My duck pond was dry, therefore there was a hole in it somewhere and it should have been noticed and repaired in the last couple of days. I did what I could as far as making sure the birds had water to drink. I sure felt better today than I had done, my tummy still was pulling like crazy and I had to rest to make the ache go away. Went back to bed and BC kept me company with my tea by eating cookies for breakfast. He packed all his stuff back into the car in the afternoon and I made a stir fry supper and made chicken wraps for him to take on his travels. While packing his stuff to the car, I was given the doctors instructions from Thursday. Wear the binder of 6 weeks! Call him for an appointment in 2-4 weeks along with other instructions, and ‘Oh, here is a bandage.’ What he gave me was a 4” square gauze in a paper package to cover 6 slits and an incision. ‘I don’t know where the rest are.’ He says. We ate the stirfy in bed. He had to serve me.

BC left at 5:30pm. The kitchen was a disaster. No washing up had been done. No laundry. He made sure his was done though. A garbage bag of ‘stuff’ left over from his travels in the car was left on my steel trolley. He did fill my chicken feeders though. The floor wasn’t swept or vacuumed, or at least the large things picked up off the floor. I thought of all that I had done to make things easier for me, and what am I left with? This was nothing to what I discovered in later days.