It is Monday night, about 9pm.  The family is down for bed.  Kaisie and I fell asleep around 7:00 while watching some show on a laptop. The kids had a great dinner thanks to friends and family who brought over some delightful things (some I can eat, some I just ask for a whiff :p).  Thank goodness for kids old enough to take care of things (get the little ones teeth-brushed, put food away, etc.).

It’s amazing how much my body is letting me lay around.  Typically I can’t lay in bed for too long.  If I take a nap during the day my night is restless.  But since I got home I’ve been able to lay a lot, and still sleep well through the night.  I feel blessed that my back is okay with all this laying around.

Here are some random thoughts since we got home:

1. People are very, very kind.  I feel like my kindness towards people who go through hardships was stuck under a rock.  Watching neighbors, family and friends care and express and serve and help has been eye opening and humbling.
2. This is nothing.  I have a neighbor/friend who was on a fishing trip out of town last summer and suffered a small stroke.  How very scary for everyone involved. He immediately came home (after getting the right medical care) and is doing great, but I can’t compare what his family went through (what? You are having a stroke five hours away from home??  Are you going to be alright???) and what mine went through (Dad had surgery, but it is routine and he’ll be totally fine in a few weeks.  No thing to see here, move along :p).
3. This is, well, serious.  All surgery is serious.  And it’s no fun being the helpless observer, a role played by my wife.  Not only during the time at the hospital (where she was a champ, even journaling everything from the Doctors as she loves to stay informed of what’s going on), but at home.  Her goal is to make sure I keep breathing. I don’t have a problem breathing now but at the hospital I did, and that was her main concern after surgery.  It’s tiring to take care of someone else.  My heart goes out to people who do this regularly, long-term.
4. I love that morphine didn’t touch my pain at the hospital.  I just think that’s cool.
5. I hate percoset (sp?).  It doesn’t seem to help with the pain much, makes me feel loopy, but worst, it makes me ITCH.  Itching is such a yucky feeling.  From head to to, itch itch itch.  Hard to sleep, hard to relax.  I’ve been off percoset for a full day so far, which means the pain in my abs is tolerable.
6. The main pain I’m dealing with is getting into or out of bed, when I use my abs.  Walking is fine, I have an appetite, and feel pretty good.
7. I’m surprised that I am so tired today.  I’ve been told that there is still anesthesia in my body, and as it wears off I’ll feel various things (more pain).  But more fatigue… that’s a surprise.
8. I’m blessed to have a job where 80% of my work is letting my fingers fall on the right keys on my keyboard.  I can do this from almost anywhere.  In contrast, we’ve had a guy in our house who is fixing our kitchen floor, and if he had a problem like this I bet he would be out of revenue/income for at least a month. Scary!
9. My “right hand person” at work, Liz, is taking care of pretty much everything for me right now.  It gives me peace of mind to know she is taking care of things, and I love it when she tells me to rest.

I can’t think of anything else. I hope that after I forget how hard this recovery part is, and how real the pain is, I can come back to this post and remember, so I can be nicer and more serving to those going through it.

Thank goodness for a strong support system!