As of this writing, the time is accelerating. In 3 days, 17 hours, on Tuesday, June 11th, at 6 am, I will be going into the hospital for one of the most important life changing surgeries in my life. I have gone through all the preliminaries and now just waiting and waiting. Knowing I have a tendency to wig out over things,  Cindy suggested we get a hotel room in Boston for the night. This will allow me to settle in and do the whole bowel prep thing and take the antibiotics. We will be a half hour away from the surgical center. We were going to go to a closer hotel, but they wanted almost $300 a night!

The nurse had sent me a list of items that I should have on hand for my return. I have collected all but the stool softer and will get that this weekend. The surgery is expected to take five to six hours. I will stay in the hospital until Friday and then they will send me home for the weekend with the catheter, packing, and drains still in. I will spend the weekend at home and then back Monday to have everything removed and go over dilation. They will do a spinal prior to surgery and that will stay in for a few days.

Once I am home for good, it will be all about rest and recovery. I have a friend that will be with me during the day to assist. I will move to the spare bedroom as that bed is a bit lower and easier to get in and out of. There is also a TV in that room, though I want to focus on the stack of books I have. There is also a nice comfy chair next to the bed. Recovery is said to be about six weeks, though, I only have a month of Short Term Disability.

I know I will have to push myself through the pain. I am not one to stay on narcotics. I ween myself off of them as the pain becomes more tolerable.  We did cancel our Open House at the end of July to allow me more time to heal before I have to stand out there educating people on alpacas. Cindy’s knee is getting worse, so once I am healed, she might have to go in.

So that is the update. I am just biding my time until Tuesday.  I think this is the toughest time, the waiting.

See you on the other side!

My heart to your heart, one heart, one spirit..

Emma