How things are going after surgery

Hi everyone!  I'm in the hospital right now, writing this post through the Blogger app on my phone so we'll see how it goes.

The day of surgery on Friday, I was feeling calm as I got up at 3:15 a.m. to get ready.  It was so surreal that after months and months of preparation, the day was finally here.  My mom was asleep in my guest room, so I tried to shower quietly until I needed to wake her up to do the same. In those moments alone, it was feeling like a rebirth to me in some ways.  I scrubbed my body thoroughly, as per the surgeon's instructions, and it was like I was washing away the parts that I could let go of - the person who was a slave to food, whose body was breaking down day by day.  It actually was a very cleansing shower.

I had a great medical team working on me.  They did a great job of checking on me to see how I was doing prior to surgery and easing me into anesthesia.  The surgery took three hours, but apparently I did a really good job.  I woke up in recovery in sooo much pain though.  My back felt like it was on blazing fire.  Thank God my mother was able to do deep tissue massages on me.  In fact, if she wasn't there, I would have probably been in tears from all the pain.  She kept me very strong.  They also put a lot of gas into my body so that made things feel heavy and painful.  Despite all that, I was able to push through the pain, knowing God was watching over me and holding my hand through the entire process.

Day number two was amazing!  The pain was nowhere near as strong and it felt like a night and day difference.  I walked around the hospital floor 19 times, which is the equivalent of over a mile.  The nurses told me I was the first person ever to be excited to begin walking ... they usually have to tell people to start walking. I was allowed to walk at 4pm the day of surgery and boy was I chomping at the bit!  I am in pain right now, but I'm pushing through and happily pressing my pain pump.  Meanwhile, I am able to have an ounce of ice chips every hour.  Tomorrow I will be allowed to take a shower and have liquids.  

I have a lot of gratitude and praise God all the way through.  I know I'll feel better as the days continue to pass.