Recovery Update

Today marks the 3 week "anniversary" of my surgery. I have been on my own for a week, and I am feeling great! I am still having some problems with the infection in my neck (I started a second dose of antibiotics on Wednesday), but my incisions are healing great. I have one area that didn't close up after the surgery, but it is not much to worry about. I have been working most of the last week, and although I am a bit tired, I really feel wonderful! I felt so good that I decided to do a little bit of shopping this week. It was so much fun! I tried on a few bra's and I think the doctor successfully got me down to a "C" cup! I just can't believe it. I only bought one new item of clothing, but it was another milestone in this process.

Before the surgery, I could only dream of wearing anything like this! It was very emotional to finally fit into this style of clothing. I can't wait to shop some more!

Now, I am looking forward to going to the gym and getting healthy again! I can't wait to get back into shape and run for the first time in a while! I am leaving in about 3 weeks to go to Disney World with Kevin and I can't wait to show off my new body!

Whirlwind of a week

Overall, the week has been great. My recovery has been much easier than I anticipated, with one small set back. On Sunday night I woke up with a horrible pain in the right side of my neck. I brushed it off as nothing, took another percoset and fell back asleep. On Monday night the pain returned. This time it was even more obnoxious and I had a really hard time getting back into a comfortable spot. My post-op appointment with the Doctor was on Tuesday, so I talked to her about it then. She asked if I was sleeping funny, to which I replied "yes," and she said that was most likely the problem. So again we brushed it off as nothing really and went on our way. The Doctor said I could sleep however I was most comfortable, so on Tuesday night I slept flat on my back and didn't have too many problems. Wednesday and Thursday nights the pain returned again with the onset of some tingling and numbness. I knew this was not right, so I called the Doctor again. I explained my symptoms and she basically said I threw her for a loop, she has never had a patient with the same complaints as I, and she couldn't think of an explanation. She recommended going to an Emergicare facility to get a second opinion. So Kevin and I went on our way. Long story short - the Doctor felt around, took some x-rays, and determined that I had an infection in my Lymp Node. He sent me home with 4 new medications - antibiotic, muscle relaxer, anti inflammatory, and cream - plus two injections of antibiotics at the office.

I feel like a walking pharmacy!

I am so happy to know that something is actually wrong and can be easily treated. I was so worried that the doctors were not going to be able to find anything and I was just going to have to deal with the pain and wait it out. This minor complication has set me back a few days, but as far as the surgery goes I feel great! The most pain I have experienced all week has been from the infection in my neck. I never really felt much pain directly related to the surgery itself. This has been one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life and I look forward to seeing the final results (and shopping for new clothes)!

All of the beautiful flowers I received this week! Thanks to everyone who visited this week! I truly appreciate your friendships!

Happy Anniversary!

On Wednesday night, May 13, Kevin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary! He took me to dinner at Paravicini's in Old Colorado City. It was such a nice change of scenery to get out of the house for a while. We had such a great time, although I was slightly out of it with all the meds.

I can't believe we have been together for 5 years already! He has been such a big help this past week and I really can't imagine my life without him in it! He is amazing!

Before dinner

Being sappy. Look how small my boobs are!!

Day after Surgery

I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am on Friday morning. The IV was in place, the doctor came in, followed shortly by the anesthesiologist and I was prepped and ready to go by 7:30 (right on time). They rolled me into the operating room and away we went. The surgery lasted about 3 hours and everything went smoothly. The doctor removed a total of 3.9 lbs - 850 cc's from my left side and 900 cc's from my right. This was more than double what she predicted she would take, so needless to say I was more than happy! I was in recovery for a total of 5 hours, and then was released home! The anesthesia slowly wore off and pain began, but I feel 100% better than I could have ever expected. I felt immediate results in my breathing and back pain and can't wait to see the final results. Here are a few photos from the day!

Before surgery

After surgery

Before...

After!

Surgery

The prescription is filled.
The last supper has been eaten.
The last shower has been taken.
The markings have been made.
I am ready for my big day!

Surgery is in 9.5 hours. There has been so much preparation for this, and now it is out of my hands. I have done all I can do to prepare, and now I just have to wait. I am still so excited to have the surgery, but my nerves have finally set in. In less than 12 hours I will have a new body. Lets hope the night flys by!

Last day in Shanghai

Once again, we had problems sleeping last night. We fell asleep around 8, woke up at midnight, and finally feel back asleep around 4am. We woke up around 8am (unwillingly might I add) and went to breakfast. We loaded up on caffeine, went back to the room for an hour or so and then went out on the town.

Our plan for the day was to go to an area called Yuyuan Gardens. This is one of the only areas left in Shanghai that maintains the "old" Chinese look. Much of Shanghai is filled with new age sky scrapers so we were excited to see a different part of the city.

We left the hotel around 11 and went straight to the Metro. We were shocked by how many people we saw on the way to the Metro and at the Metro station! It was easily double (if not more) the amount of people we saw on Thursday. Let me just say, if I can make it through the subways in China, I can do anything! It was quite the experience.

This is just outside our hotel. Starting to see some conjestion.

This is inside the Metro station. You can see there are a lot of people. Unfortunately I don't think the picture really does the experience justice!

And this is Nanjing Road...a little different scene than 2 days ago, huh?

We started our walk to the gardens, by way of Nanjing Road and The Bund. Here are a couple of things we saw on our way:

Lots of people (I don't think I have ever seen so many scooters and bikes in my life)! You gotta be careful of them too....they don't often slow down for peds.

This is a bronze lion (actually a replica of the "real" bronze lion) that sits in front of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Apparently it brings good luck if you rub the lion - so of course I made sure to do so!

I thought this was an awesome picuture of the Pearl Tower and the Chinese flag!

And this was a very cool boat we saw along the Huangpu River. We knew we were getting close to "old town" when we saw this.

We had a few minor problems finding "old town" but we eventually got there. As soon as we rounded the corner we saw the buldings change. My body went into sensory overload with all the people, sounds, food smells, and shopping. It was incredible!

This is what all of the buildings looked like in this area.

And again, you can see there were lots of people!

We shopped and wandered for a while and then went into the gardens, that were right in the middle of all of the shopping. The gardens were a nice get away from all the noise and people - don't get me wrong the gardens were still crowded, but it was a much different scene.

In front of one of the 30 different pavilions in the garden area.

Just beautiful! Although I think it is rather amusing that you can see sky scrapers in the background.

So many Koi fish in one of the ponds.

I thought this tree was awesome....Kevin is OK too! :)

One of the very few pictures we took together this trip.

Kevin in front of a few pavilions.

I couldn't help myself....the hole in the rock was so inviting.

The whole garden was surrounded by these dragons.

I thought this was pretty cute!

This bridge was pretty cool.

Although we didn't get to see much, we had an awesome trip! We were very intimidated at first, but everything turned out great. We are looking forward to the possibility of going back next year, and maybe actually getting to see Hong Kong too.

We are finally home now - after 24 hours of traveling - and it feels great! At this point, I do not have any more trips planned with Kevin, but I will continue to update with happenings in our life. My surgery is scheduled for May 8, so that is definitely the next big step for me! I can't wait to travel again as a new, healthier person. Thanks again for your interest in our travels! Stay posted!

What a Great day

This blog is going to be a bit different today (because there is another person writing it.)  Last night I told Jessie that it was interesting how our writing styles differed (I would do it differently), and this evening, there were a few great things to write about, so Jessie said "hey, do you want to Blog-it-up this time?" (Translation - You try and do it better)!  Here we go.

After a long night of not sleeping (I was awake for just a bit over 24 hours), we drug our bodies out of the bed and went to the breakfast lounge only to find out that we were not the early birds today.  There were very slim pickings for breakfast and so being that we were very hungry, and that we are americans, we weren't shy about cleaning them out.  There was a steady flow of people into the lounge, so finally they brought more food in and so back we went to get more.  Breakfast food in most foreign countries is nothing like it is in the US.  The food here is probably the best (go figure) Chinese food I have ever had.  There is a small selection of "normal" food there, but there is no sense in wasting time eating that when there are such wonderful fried rices, noodles and a small selection of dim sum (chinese dumplings).  

With breakfast out of the way, we returned to the room and went back to bed in hopes that we could get a bit more rest before we traveled to the ship for work.  Well, that didn't happen.  No rest was to be had.  We met our driver at about 11:00 am. and he took us to the ship.  I was a bit worried about what it would take to get us on the ship (all ports are different, and being that we don't speak or read Chinese, I thought it may be a bit difficult).  I could not have been more wrong.  We were met by not one but two English speaking port agents.  We had to wait for about an hour before we got on the ship, but all went well (except for the constant rain). We left the ship and a different driver brought us back to the hotel.  

Being that we had not eaten since 8:30 am, we were both hungry, so we had a quick dinner in the lobby restaurant, and decided to just take it easy for the rest of the day (since it was already 5:30 in the evening).  We watched a bit of TV, and then I decided that it was time for a nap (hopefully until tomorrow morning).  WRONG!!!!!!!  A nap was all this turned out to be;  A 4 hour nap, but a nap none the less.  Jessie seemed to be tossing and turning as well, and we decided that we wanted some water, so we went to the market next door to get some refreshments and snacks (here comes the exciting part)!!!  When I went to the cooler to get the water, I saw a bottle of PBR beer peeking out at me from the bottom rack of drinks.  Clearly this is not an asian beer, so it was a bit obscurely placed, but I saw it and had to have one.  

So, our day has culminated (after a 4 hour nap) with snack time...4 bottles of water, 2 bags of lays chips, a PBR and a noodle bowl (not pictured).  On another note, take notice of the plastic bag in the foreground.  There is a barcode on it!  When the checker asked us if we wanted a bag, we naturally said yes, and so he gave us one, after scanning the barcode.  It's not that big of a deal, but I just thought it was sort of funny.  More to come after the shopping day tomorrow.  Jessie is dreaming of Bags, Bags, Bags!!!