Let me go ahead and spill the news about Mercer: he cut his first tooth today! I have no idea how we will snap a picture of it to post on the blog (will his blogging public be sitting on the edges of their seats to see the tiny little sliver of a tooth popping up out of his gum?) It's hard to even catch a glimpse of it here in person. We'll try to post a picture as soon as we can capture it.
Other good news: my surgery went well on Tuesday. The cyst was larger than the oncologist thought initially. I've described it before as a skinny cantaloupe. 6 or 7" long and about 3 1/2" or 4" in diameter. But - as it turns out it really was the size of a cantaloupe: about 6 - 7" long and about 5" in diameter. I felt fine in the hospital on Tuesday (thanks to the morphine drip I had) - but on Wednesday, at my request, I asked for a non-narcotic drug (so I wouldn't be so out of it) and - admittedly - was in more pain. Plus I was required to get out of bed on Wednesday / walk around / etc so I started to feel pulling and tightness in a few places.
I have 5 cuts. 4 of them are small - laproscopic cuts where they did things like put air into my abdomen to blow it up and make room to operate, drain the fluid (eww) from the cyst, or to lower a camera in so they could see what they were doing. The other cut is larger (almost 2" long) where they stuck in the robotic arm to do everything. That cut is the one that hurts the most and is on my right side although the "work" was done in my lower left abdomen. This combination of laproscopy and robotics is much less invasive than a traditional surgery -- where they make a 5 - 6" incision and cut through muscle / tissue.
Even though less invasive, I felt pretty bad on Wednesday when I got home. I know I talked to a number of people and I probably griped and complained a bit. (Understandable, I suppose - but I apologize if I was grumpy to anyone who I talked to!) This morning, I felt a bit better and have been able to cut back on my pain meds today. I know I'm making progress because I can actually get out of bed on my own now. Yesterday and even this morning, I could not.
I'm sure each day will get better. One thing I'm bummed about, however, is the amount of recovery time that the post-op documents say. We were "sold" on 2 week recovery with this fancy robotic surgery... but my documents tell me that I can't pick up anything more than 10 lbs for 6 weeks (ie: bag of groceries, laundry basket, baby). Hmmm... I'll have to figure out that last one. No picking up of Mercer for 6 weeks?! Seems impossible. It's been really hard these past 3 - 4 weeks not doing it... not to mention what a toll it's taking on Todd. He's worn out!
My mom is here taking care of Mercer and me this week. So, hopefully, he'll get a bit of a break and get somewhat rested up before mom leaves. She's been enjoying all of the 1-on-1 time with Mercer and has almost taught him how to wave. He sticks up his arm and moves his hand a little bit. 
He's clicking a lot with his tongue on the roof of his mouth (we posted that on YouTube several weeks ago when he started, but now he's prolific at it). He's also started "singing." Sounds sort of like gargling -- but is really cute. I think we were able to get that on video, so we'll try to post that to YouTube soon. Also of note, since he's rolled over onto his belly in the night / is able to prop up on his arms, Todd lowered the crib a bit so that he can't pull up on the rail / fall out. (This was a great suggestion from a blog reader -- "Aunt" Shelli - thanks!)I just wanted to thank everyone for their encouragement, support, prayers, well-wishes, and good vibes. I must admit that before the surgery, I was pretty nervous. Obviously I hadn't been feeling good because this thing was moving around pushing on all sorts of organs inside; I was "over" it after a few weeks of waking up every couple of days with a different symptom. But the few days before the surgery, I got pretty down. Mainly because of the thought of something going wrong. (How can you not wonder this when they ask you to bring your living will to the hospital with you?!) There were so many things I was trying to take care of before I went in on Tuesday and so many things on my mind. Again - I don't know that I was in the best of moods this past month (even with all we had to celebrate at the beginning of September) so thanks for those of you who stuck with me!
I'm going to run. Just popped half of a pill and - yes - I'm a cheap date. Just half makes me a little loopy. I'm going to try to catch some zzzz's for a long-overdue afternoon nap.
Candice
1 comment:
So thankful for your post and to hear that things went well with the surgery. I've been thinking about you! Wish we lived closer to one another so that I could do more for you.
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