LIFE | BACK ON MY FEET SANS GALL BLADDER
Image source: MerciMerci on Etsy
I feel like I’m coming out of a self imposed isolation today. In the lead up to having my gall bladder removed I kind of went into a bit of a shutdown and just concentrated on getting things done around the house and for our family and not much else. I let things slide and I had a little bit of a pity party for one. I think I needed it on some level – just to have a break from it all.
Then after I had my gall bladder removed (it all went really well and I don’t have to have any follow up procedures – yay!) and I came back home I spent the past week on the couch pretty much unable to do more than just watch crappy television and go to the bathroom. I didn’t realise it but I’d managed to pick up a pretty bad infection under my belly button incision that was just getting progressively worse as the week went on.
I don’t know why I didn’t realise sooner, guess I just assumed I was getting old, run down and things weren’t supposed to get magically better overnight. I just didn’t realise how sick I’d gotten until I was getting better.
I spent the week after the surgery in pretty much constant discomfort or pain. It hurt to walk and so I spent a lot of the week laying on the couch binge watching Veronica Mars. (Managed to watch season 2 and 3 and the movie!) I attempted a couple of outings but they always left me so knackered afterwards that it just wasn’t worth it. By Saturday night I was unable to move from the pain and things were turning nasty in my navel.
By 10pm on Saturday I decided to made a quick trip to the ER after hours medical service. They gave me antibiotics and a referral to pathology. I took my first antibiotic (which is big enough to give to a horse!) on Saturday night at 11pm and by 7am Sunday morning I could already tell it was working.
I’ve since done 48 hours of antibiotics and I’m like a new woman. I’m up, able to move freely and have cleaned the bathrooms. It’s like an Easter miracle!
I can’t believe I let things get so bad before heading to a doctor. I don’t know what I was thinking! I should have known when things weren’t getting better but I just kept making excuses. I really should have known something was up on Friday night when I had to take a Panadol to get some relief so I could sleep. (I rarely, if ever, take painkillers.)
I’m kicking myself that I let a whole week get wasted by spending it laying on the couch sickly when I could have been up and doing things with my boys. It’s such a luxury to have HUBBY at home for that period of time and I feel like I just wasted it. Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk.
Today I’m all about getting stuff done (while still being mindful of the fact that I’m healing). I’m going to spend some quality time out of this house with the loves of my life making some pretty cool memories. I’m also going to spend a bit of time working away on some projects I have on the go and then maybe if I feel like it I might just make something new for dinner.
It’s a good day to be alive.
Glad to hear that you are feeling better. I think sometimes we just think we are invincible and will get better on our own. Nice to know that things are getting back to normal for you.
Dude! So sorry to hear things got icky, but glad you’re on the mend!
And don’t feel like it was time wasted! It was just spent it differently to what you might have chosen! You got to give your body the break it needed (and watch some super cool tv) and your boys got to spend time bonding together in a different way to what they usually do!
I hope you had a fab Easter, and an ace long weekend on the way too, to make up for it!
Xo
Hate to tell you, but you would have been on the sofa for a week even without the infection. While gallbladder surgery seems pretty harmless, you have to consider that your body has to get used to being without a pretty important piece of the puzzle. And that takes time. There is a reason that doctors give you 2-3 weeks off work to recover.
The infection sounds nasty. Glad you’ve hit it on the head, and are continuing to improve.