Sunday, October 17, 2010

2 Steps Forward... One Giant Leap Back...

Welllll, it's been a while, but time flies when you are laid up. I was sailing along just fine, working out 5 - 6 days a week & feeling stronger, leaner, and better about myself everyday and THEN... BAM! September 27th at 2:20 I ate Trail Mix before the end of school. That's what started the whole ordeal - a healthy snack, for goodness sake!

I guess the oils in the nuts is what started it, really. And by 2:45, I was writhing with a god-awful pain in the middle of my stomach.  I actually lay down in my classroom for a few minutes, but it didn't help. In spite of the pain & a friend, Mike, telling me "you're gonna drop a gallstone on the treadmill!", I decided I was going to go to the Y anyway, so I headed down there, dropped the kids off at the PlayCare area (also known as Kids Korner) & went to the locker room to try to change & head to the workout room upstairs.  I stood there & decided that there was no way to actually do any kind of workout if I was doubled over in pain, so I got the kids & left. 

When I called my mom to watch the kids so I could take a nap and try to feel better, she made me go to the ER. *sigh* And she was right, as usual. I was in the throes of a gallbladder attack.  Let me tell you: I have experienced NOTHING like the kind of pain I went through for that gallbladder attack. It hurt so badly - probably worse than labor, and I've done that twice. They gave me a shot of something that did not help me at all - in fact, 45 minutes later, it came back worse than it ever did. All I could do was lay there & cry. God, it was awful...

So, on Friday, Oct 1, they took out my gallbladder. My doctor did an amazing job, gave me 5 holes in my stomach, and took that sucker out.  When I went back to school, I told the kids I would shoot water out of the holes - they thought that was awesome, even though I really didn't. It WOULD have been kinda cool... The first day back, I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day, but it is amazing what the human body can do, and by the next day, I was feeling pretty alright - definitely not as tired, and I felt pretty alright as far as my "guts" went.

As of this weekend, I'm pretty much back to "normal", just have some funky scars that are still healing up. I took the last of the steri-strips off yesterday & am really impressed at how much they have healed. I'm starting back to the Y "full time" again tomorrow. I went twice last week, but pulled a hamstring muscle last Wednesday racing a 4th grader at school. (He kicked my ass in the process!) It's pretty much better, with just little twinges here & there when I'm walking.

We had the WI Dells Trade Meet yesterday, Oct 16, and it went really well - we actually had 90+ rooms booked & open in the hotel for room trading. It was so nice to have the support of the people who would normally come to the show... so many guys thanked us for just hosting the get-together! The hotel (Best Western Ambassador Inn & Suites) was so accomodating & they really went out of their way to help us out on short notice - I would recommend that place to ANYONE who needed a good hotel to stay at in the Dells. They ROCK - clean rooms, spacious, and wonderful staff. : ) Thanks so much to them & their staff, and thanks to all who helped us get the show together & those who showed up for the fun!! It was a great time...

Well, it's off to clean this disaster area - it seems like our luggage just exploded once it came back in the house after we got home. Ugh... another Sunday full of cleaning!! : P