Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2003. Mattie was one year old and was beginning to hold onto furniture and take a few steps that way. I just loved Mattie's facial expression in this photo. In fact, I had framed this photo and it was attached to our refrigerator. When Mattie was a preschooler, he was intrigued at looking at photos of himself as a baby or toddler.
Quote of the day: Here's to a speedy recovery after your surgery, and in the meantime, enjoy being waited on by your family. ~ Unknown
It is 5pm on Friday, and I would say, I am beginning to rejoin the land of the living. Not necessarily by choice, but upon request from my doctor's office. Who says they want me walking around today! Yesterday was a full day, it started with getting up at 4:45am. We reported to the surgery center 6am and the registration process began. The ironic part about yesterday, is I really tried not to focus on the surgery or the fact that I never had general anesthesia before.
I have been living with a month of pain, so the notion of someone knocking me out for a bit without pain sounded good. Of course that delightful out of it feeling only lasts for as long as the anesthesia is in your body. Everything about yesterday went smoothly at the Hospital. A real night and day from when Mattie was in the Hospital. In which it seemed like I was fighting every aspect of the system, in order to get Mattie's need met.
My day started off with a wonderful Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) nurse. His name was Greg and he escorted Peter and me to a bed in the PACU. Literally there was little activity at 6:45am, however, as soon as 7am came around, the place began to bustle. 
Peter and I then were greeted by my doctor, who answered more questions and reassured us. I observed many surgeons buzzing about yesterday and to me they all have the same personality profile...... calm and confident.
Then came the anesthesia team. The resident actually, who introduced himself to me and then told me he would be working with the attending, Dr. DeJesus. The resident started to examine my veins and then slapped my left hand HARD several times. I said.... you aren't going to but an IV in my hand are you? Of course the answer was yes and I was told this is the best place for an IV during surgery as they like to keep the arms feel. I wasn't going to fight that logic, and I was happy he at least injected me with some sort of numbing agent before continuing the process.
After the IV insertion, I met a charming anesthesiologist named, Dr. Matt DeJesus. I focused on his name, Matt! What are the chances that I would be in Mattie's PACU bay and be treated with a physician whose first name is Matthew? I took it as signs. Dr. Matt was charming, personable and reassuring. In fact, I have yet to meet an anesthesiologist I haven't liked! Well strike that, the pediatric anesthesiologist when Mattie was undergoing his surgeries was a nightmare. We never saw eye to eye on pain management. But every other anesthesiologist who has worked personally on me, was a God sent.
When I got home yesterday, I was in bad shape. I literally felt like I was hit by a baseball bat in the kidneys and urinating felt like passing razor blades. Then last night kidney spasms set in and when it was all said and done, I could not fall asleep until after 2am. I never slept yesterday either right after surgery. In fact, I found that the anesthesia left me feeling agitated. So agitated, I couldn't sleep and forget about getting comfortable.
I am on so many different medications now, that Peter is recording when I need to take certain meds and at what time. Overall, this afternoon is much better than yesterday or this morning. I can't say having this stent in me that runs from my kidney down to my bladder is comfortable. I keep reminding myself that it is coming out on Monday and to hang in there. It truly was a conscious effort today to prod myself to get out of bed and try to rejoin the living.
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