No Pain, No Gain?

This past week has definitely been a painful one, even in the literal sense. I don't think I was quite prepared, information-wise, for the aftermath of this MINOR wrist surgery and what exactly the recovery would entail. Or maybe I'm just being a wimp.

I had the surgery early on Tuesday morning and was home by early afternoon. During that time, the surgery only took 15 minutes or so, but I was knocked out for almost two hours. At no point did the doctor come to see me or Brian, and the discharge instructions were handed to us on a printout by a medical assistant. Needless to say, the service at the Army hospital wasn't exactly stellar.

When I got home, I took the pain meds as instructed. Since I don't have a lot of experience with pain medication, I was surprised by severity of the side effects of the Oxycodone that they gave me . . . loopy, tired, and just plain out of it. They gave me several days worth, but after only two days of that stuff, I could no longer handle being so dopey. Ibuprofen just didn't do much for the pain, so for the past few days I've just been powering through it. I also didn't realize ahead of time the extent to which I would be gimpy . . . I mean, I knew I couldn't go swimming for a couple weeks until the stitches came out, but I also can't bathe the kids, do dishes, push or lift anything heavy (including my kids), and I can barely write or use my utensils to eat (since I'm right-handed and of course it's my right hand). I mentioned to two different doctors at my initial appointments that I had two small children and inquired about the recovery process, but neither of them mentioned that it would be this debilitating and painful. In fact, they didn't even think it was necessary for Brian to take the day after my surgery off of work. Thank goodness he did.

And thankfully, I have my Dr. Heather (as always) to help me limp along, watch my kids, drive me around, bring me supplies, and use her magical powers to get the doctors to actually CALL ME BACK when I have questions (because otherwise it's impossible). And thankfully my husband is also very helpful and understanding . . . otherwise my kids would be really dirty and hungry by now. ;)

So, it's been a long week, but the kids have been great and hung in there, despite my lameness. Yesterday we hung out with some new friends that I met at Charley's preschool, and tonight we are heading over to Heather's for a Father's Day BBQ . . . again, thankfully Heather is such a great friend, because initially I had offered to do Father's Day at my house with all her family invited, but thanks to my gimpyness, I wasn't able to follow through on that plan and she offered to host instead. What a good friend.

As you can see, my kids found some time to keep me entertained. . . Charley in her "Rock Star" diva pose and Zander doing his best Elton John impression (that's what Brian says anyway). I'm so lucky to be surrounded by so many fabulous people. :)