Recap of the past few weeks

This post will be a little (well, maybe not so little, but rather long… ) recap of what has been happening with us in the last few weeks. I haven't been the best at keeping in touch with family and friends lately, since I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed by all the events and I am trying not to let the stress of it all get to me. I already have a “short fused” temperament, so I have to remind myself at times to take it easy.

About a month ago (already! ) I was asking you what your thoughts were on me having surgery… Thank you all so much for all your comments. It did help to bounce ideas around and to think of other options. I did look into it a little bit further, and decided to go ahead with the surgery.
Wednesday was my “pre-op” day. I made my way to the hospital to the admission office, and started what would be my morning of waiting. I waited a bit at the admission office, then made my way, through was seemed like a labyrinth to meet a nurse who explained a few things like having to give myself an enema the night before surgery, shaving completely, etc., etc. So much fun, I can barely wait! After blood tests, peeing in a tube, cardiogram, etc. I was sent home with one final test to do 48 hrs before surgery: a pregnancy test. They want to make sure I’m not pregnant before removing my “equipment” for good… Funny! I just realised that I’ve never taken a pregnancy test before in my life! Wow!

While I was sitting in one of the many crowded hospital waiting areas, this crazy kid was shooting students at Dawson, and I had no idea what was going on… weird…

On October 12th they will be removing my cyst, my left ovary, my uterus and if need be, my right ovary. I want to keep that ovary if only to reduce the menopausal symptoms. That would be good the best scenario. I just hope it’s not messed up too much so that I can keep it…

I’m thinking about getting waxed completely, instead of shaving. I see this truly nice woman for my bikini wax and we talked about it, and I do think that despite the pain of having it done, it would be better to wax rather than shave. Any comment?

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The last three weeks have been a bit hectic over here. As you may have guessed (even if I’ve always been quite open & frank about it) my relationship with my MIL hasn’t been a loving one. We would see each other when we had to, like at family dinner (Easter, Christmas, etc.) or events, but not on a social base. She didn’t like me, made it obvious, so after many attempts I decided to let it be. She didn’t have to like me (I'm ok with that), I just wanted her to respect the fact that I was with her son and that we loved each other. After 14 years one would think that she’d realise I was there to stay…

On Sept. 1st, she called Hubby at work and asked that we (not just him) go visit her in the hospital. She was being operated the next morning. Hubby didn’t have any details besides where she was. That evening we made our way to the Lakeshore Hospital (where I will be operated as well). She had already been there for five days and hadn’t told anybody, but her husband. She went in because she couldn’t drink a liquid that she had been prescribed for some tests (she had been feeling sickly for a while, and was having bowel problems, so she decided to go for some tests), she couldn’t keep it down. She thought the emergency room might give her some “trick” or maybe offer her something else. They kept her. They ran a battery of tests of found a big lump on her intestine.

She was operated on Saturday morning (Sept. 02). A part of her intestine was removed as well as the lump. Then she got an infection where her IV was, and then she started having diarrhea, which turned out to be C. Difficile. She’s very weak and her moral isn’t that great. Plus they haven’t got the pathology results yet, but it doesn’t look good from the preliminaries.

They never really had to deal with sickness. My FIL is shaken up and totally overwhelmed by it all. We’ve been seeing more of him (and her) in the last three weeks, than in our 14 years together. We’ve been feeding and “entertaining” him most evenings. Hubby and him have a lot of catching up to do…

Isn’t funny (well, not really, “funny” ) what fear can make us do? How, when we realise our mortality, are willing to change? It’s almost scary how my MIL attitude’s towards me changed! 180° turn! Now we hear from relatives how nice and helpful we are, even me, which NEVER happened before (on the contrary), but the thing is, I haven’t changed at all… (at least I don’t think so…) She’s been more civilised to me in the past three weeks than ever before, and I’ll take it! I’m hoping it will remain even when she feels better… but like Hubby said, I shouldn’t be holding my breath! ...and I'm not! But one can only hope.

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Pooch-a-fication: 3 months!

Three months! And she’s still going strong! While we went away for a week, she stayed with one of Hubby’s cousin, and they had a blast from what I hear, they enjoyed each other and the pooch came home even more spoiled then when we brought her to cousin’s cottage. Who would have thought that she could get even more spoiled, but cousin managed to do it! We were happy to see her so well and happy.

What we thought was going to be a short-term thing might turn out to be a longer run thing! She doesn’t look like she’s ready to kick the bucket just yet, now, does she?

That shot was taken during her stay with cousin, and she had emailed it to us to "show" us that pooch was enjoying her stay and doing well. Couldn't help to say "aww" when I saw it.

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Besides all that, I've been seeing a personal trainer to build stronger core muscles, in preparation for the surgery, but mostly to shorten the post-op recuperation. The better prepare my belly muscles will be, the faster I will be back on my feet. I have to be up and about for my party, which I'm also getting organised. The invitations have been made and sent, as of last week. I'm trying to get as much done as possible before October 12th, since after that I want my attention to be on healing.

That's what has been going on with us lately, in case you were wondering...
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Photos: Surgery , MIL and Pooch: personal collection