Pre-op appointment...

I went to my pre-op appointment this afternoon. My nerves were going crazy! I had absolutely no idea what to expect. First thing they did was weigh me. I weigh exactly what I did 2 months ago...when I started taking a drug that Doc said would make me gain weight! Ha ha!

They then stuck me for a complete blood count. That actually didn't hurt near as bad as I was anticipating. Jeff and I were then forced to sit in a tiny waiting room with a ton of pregnant women. I handled that part ok, but I didn't understand why they did that to a woman that was fixing to have a hysterectomy. Some women don't handle that ok.

When we finally got a room, the nurse made me sign my life away. The "we're not responsible if you die on the operating table" form. I signed it. If I do die on the table, you guys take care of Jeff and the kids, ok? ;) I'm honestly not worried at all about that. I'm in God's hands.

I was then given the instructions for the day before surgery. Take 2 dulcolax at 2 p.m. (She said it may work in 30 minutes, may work in 6 hours...) and then do a fleet enema an hour before bedtime. I am not to eat or drink after midnight. What a fun day that will be. :P

I have to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. the next morning...which means waking up at 4 a.m....as we are 20-30 minutes away from said hospital. Surgery is at 8. I will leave 2 days later (so Saturday). I'm not allowed to drive for 2 weeks.

That was my appointment in a nut shell. In 8 days I'll be missing a body part, but I will gain so much in the quality of life department. What a wonderful world this will be! :)

9 days...

Thanks to the Oklahoma weather, my pre-op appointment got changed to tomorrow, instead of Thursday. I still need to cook stuff to stick in the freezer, but I'm going to wait until Monday to do that. If we loose power this week, I don't want to loose all my freezer food!

Tonight I'll get to see Avatar for free! I finally accumulated 100 points on my AMC card. So I get a free movie ticket, a free drink, and a free popcorn. :) Took me 10 years at least to get this, and I can't think of a better time to use it...considering I'm fixing to be stuck in the house for quite some time.

I can't believe it's almost time. Where did the past 2 months go?

Post-surgery reading list...

Thanks to the Half-Priced Books store's clearance section, I have quite enough reading material to get me through post-surgery. :)

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
Going Home by Wanda Brunstetter
The Nanny Diaries by Emma mcLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
White Oleander by Janet Fitch

A lot of these are movies...I love to read the book before seeing the movie. I recently did that with My Sister's Keeper, and I hated the movie.

Dinners for 1/18-1/24

Monday-Potato Soup, leftover veggie tray
Tuesday-crockpot chicken (chicken breasts, can of condensed soup), stuffing, veggies
Wednesday-Lunchables in between dance and church
Thursday-freezer meals (Kid Cuisines and Bertolli)
Friday-???
Saturday-Pizza party thanks to DiGiorno!
Sunday-dinner at church

Breakfast is cereal, fruit, pancakes, oatmeal. Lunch is sandwiches, hot dogs, chicken bites, steak bites with fruit and veggies.

I will continue making pancakes to stock the freezer.

2 weeks 4 days left...but who's counting? ME! :)

There are days where I'm not quite ready for my surgery, and then there are days like today. We went to the Home and Garden Show here in OKC, and I couldn't handle it. For the first time in my life I was claustrophobic! The only thing I can figure out is that's it's from my meds. :( Meds that I can't stop taking until H-Day.

I've done several things around here that I hope will help Jeff while I'm recovering. I made him a recipe book of all my made-from-scratch recipes. Our laundry mountain is a tiny hill now. The kids' rooms look half-decent!

A not-so-frugal aspect of pre-op has been the dog. I'm actually having to board my dog while I'm in the hospital. It sucks, but what can you do when no one wants your dog?

I got to hold a 2 day old baby tonight...and I handled the whole situation just fine. No crying from either party. :) I think it's a good sign that I'm ready for my surgery.

Changes

We're at the end of 2009. What a crazy year this has been. The craziest part was loosing an aunt before it was her time to lung cancer. I truly hate cigarettes, and if you smoke, please think about what it does to your family. She missed her daughter's wedding by 3 months. :(

Frugal-wise, we got that deep freezer for ourselves for Christmas. My parents helped us fill it for Christmas too...what a blessing!

2010 brings a lot of changes here. In exactly 5 weeks I will be having surgery. A total abdominal hysterectomy. I know what you're thinking...she's only 30?! But my body has said enough is enough. I've had two very scary months, so it's time to say goodbye to that stage of my life. I'm actually a little excited about it...no more checking the calendar before I can go swimming, no more cramps and heating pads, and there's a certain section of the store I won't have to visit! (unfortunately we've only got a few years for that one since the girls are getting older!)

So I will be spending January getting prepared for 4-6 weeks of recovery. Meals need to be made and frozen so Jeff will just have to reheat stuff, and schedules need to be figured out since the girls' dance will still go on. I've got my crafts ready, and a stack of books ready to read.

It's time for change.

We are looking at one of these as a Christmas present to ourselves. ;) It's a 9 cu. ft. deep freezer from Lowes http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=90724-2251-LFFC09M5HW&lpage=none

I can't wait to try some once-a-month cooking! Usually Angelfood fills up my little freezer above the refrigerator, and I can't put very much more in there. So stay tuned...I'm going to become a baking fool in a couple of months. ;)