Hello?

Is anyone out there?

Whew! Yes, I'm still alive! And I'm finally starting to feel halfway human. It's been a difficult past week and a half and I'm so glad to be past it.

So, the drama over robots or not was still going on when I arrived at the hospital early that Friday morning. In fact, the nurses weren't even sure how to prepare me for surgery. The confusion scared the you-know-what out of me. I was left laying on a bed, anxiety levels high (not even a Xanax!) for almost 2 hours. Finally, my doctor showed up, obviously quite frustrated, and told me the insurance company had changed its mind again and were refusing robotic. This fight was going on between the hospital and the insurance company. Not him and the insurance. Something about a charge the hospital wanted to add on for using their facilities or something stupid like that. In the interest of getting things done, he was chucking the whole robot idea and doing a regular laparoscopic hysterectomy. He assured me he'd done lots and lots of them and I'd be fine. I put my trust in him. 30 minutes later I was all hooked up and on my way to the operating room.

I'm told the surgery took quite a bit longer than expected, but all went very well. I was also told, many times, as the night in the hospital progressed, that I had the biggest uterus they'd ever seen. It was epic! Doctors and nurses were all coming to my room to tell me how they'd never seen such a big one and....... all very enthusiastic and excited to say the least. One doctor-with his hands demonstrating "It was THIS big!". Clearly, these folks enjoy their work. They offered to show me a pic. I declined. All I wanted was more morphine, thank you very much.

My ovaries and tubes are gone too. I will never have problems with the baby making equipment again. Yay!

Now, I'm cold all the time. I used to be cold all the time. Then one day a few years ago, I remember feeling like a switch had been turned on and I was hot all the time. That was when the perimenopause got started, along with lots of hot flashes. Things must be reverting back to normal. I welcome being able to wear long sleeves again in winter time.

I am not taking hormones. I assume I don't need them. I'll ask about that next week when I see my surgeon for a follow up appointment.

I have not done much of anything. It hit me harder than I was expecting. My brain has been in a perpetual fog. I'm wondering how many times I've called my surgeons office to schedule my follow up appointment. I know at least twice, cuz they told me so. I hate what happens to me when knocked out with drugs.

I've watched a lot of dvd's, and some really bad television, (Who decided weddings are supposed to be so painfully theatrical?), but mostly I've been sleeping, walking, sleeping, trying to eat, and sleeping some more. I'm finally totally off the painkillers, and my appetite is coming back.

Now, to get back to doing fun things, like knitting, and beading.

The weather is beautiful today. The sun is shining and the sky is bright blue. The leaves look so beautiful in their oranges, yellows, and browns. But, it's frigidly cold out there, and snow is predicted for the coming weekend. Winter will soon be here.