First day after surgery

Captain's log, Stardate 11.24.2005

Mucho thanks to the terrific prayer warriors lifting me up. Surgery was supposed to be at 3 p.m., but for some reason I didn't get into the surgery suite until closer to 4.

I had minimal nausea coming out of anesthesia, but I felt like I could have slept for a week. The mean recovery room nurses (probably anxious to actually leave work the day before Thanksgiving, the buggers) seemed extraordinarily brutal in the way they sat me up in an attempt to get me mobile and out of their clinic.

I slept on the drive home and arrived wide awake a little after 8 p.m. I guess that's not so unusual since I had slept most of that day away under the influence of drugs.

You have not known real fear until you have an aching leg suspended before you, two crutches biting into your armpits, a sloping driveway under you, and a sudden realization you are tipping backward.

With a blood-curdling scream worthy of Halloween H2O, I alerted half the neighborhood of my imminent demise. However, my husband whipped out a hand and caught me before I flailed to the ground.

Our dog Snickers, so vicious at warning the postman that this house is her kingdom, retreated with her tail down at the sight of my clunking crutches. Useless guard dog. I want my money back.

The painkillers wore off today, so I took ibuprofen and Tylenol. The ibu is making my stomach ache a bit, but the combo is working fantastically to reduce the pain.

However, there's great news--Robin told me about something Colleen Coble told her: 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar (plus honey to make it palatable) in one cup of warm water morning and evening. I just took a cup and my stomach feels wonderfully better! Thanks, Robin and Colleen!

Please pray the ibu doesn't make my stomach too upset. At this point, it's the strongest painkiller I can take.

There's no blistering so far! Yay! I've been doing massage and "pumping" my foot to increase circulation in my leg and hopefully move the fluid out of the joint so the blistering doesn't happen this time. Please continue to pray.

During the time I'm not sleeping like a lazy cat in the sun (I swear, I've never spent so many hours of the day comatose), I've gotten writing-related things done. I listened to several recorded writing workshops on MP3. Looooooove my iPod.

I am also doing research for my next book, which involves a massage therapist. It's interesting, although a little hippie-ish in their claims of spiritual communion between therapist and client. It's helping me to better understand my heroine's character, since she has her own backstory but also the right personality to be a massage therapist. I think she will be very intriguing and complex.

Well, that's my update. The real test will be tomorrow when the drugs from the surgery completely wear off and I'm on just the ibu and Tylenol.

Thanks for praying!