Surgery Experience

Well, I had my gallbladder taken out on March 3 which is now just a bit less than 2 weeks ago. As surgeries go I guess this was one of the easiest to have done and to recover from. But, having said that. I don't want to go through another surgery again. There's something unpleasant about having to go under the knife, isn't there?

I can see that I've got to go through a longer recovery period than I had expected given the positive comments I heard about the surgery. The truth is that I've had an organ removed from my body and at age 58 it may take more time to fully recover than I was willing to allow. I tire more easily and have a sore spot on my stomach that causes me to be careful when lifting and when I cough. Also, my right knee and hip ache terribly now and I suspect it has something to do with being lifted from the operating table. Maybe not, but I feel as if I've been jerked around somehow.

For 5 days after surgery I had terrible acid reflux! It keep me awake at night coughing and sputtering which began the sore spot on my stomach. After doubling up on my Protonix for a few days it is now under control. To make matters worse I almost had diarrhea  which kept me runnning back and forth to the loo. At my check up appointment the doctor said that will calm down and by then it had! I would hate to have acid reflux like that all the time.

This experience left me feeling a bit ignorant. When I don't know about or understand something I normally take to the internet. For some reason I didn't do that this time. It amazing now to look back to see that I allowed someone to perform surgery on me with having so little information! Perhaps I am wrong but I feel that I could have been better prepared to deal with the acid reflux and almost-diarrhea. Instead I felt a bit of panic and uncertainty about what was happening to me. So of course I ran to my computer to see what I could find out about what was happening to me. While it is rare with perhaps only 5% of all gallbladder operations, some people do develop persistent acid reflux and diarrhea. For those people it is a true misery which sends them searching for way to deal with their problem. I felt so bad for them as I read story after story.

Reading all that scared me but it is also the reason I talked to my sister who is a nurse and then asked permission from my doctor to double my Protonix. Plus I purchased a bottle of a really good probotic called Primal Defense to take to help get my gut back to normal. I used Primal Defense last winter after having to take so many antibiotics that my gut was constantly in an uproar. It's pricey so I only use it when I am having a problem. FYI: I do take another probiotic daily. So I'm doing well on the internal stuff now and just wish my knee and hip would calm down!

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Thanks for letting me vent a little. The next post will be cheerier.

Twilight Movie and Book Series

I made an effort to watch Twilight last night. So many people are absolutely nutty about the books and movie so I thought I'd give it a try.  I've read Twilight, New Moon and part of Eclipse. Well OK that's not exactly the truth. I skimmed the last half of New Moon and gave up on Eclipse after a chapter though I peeked at the last chapter to see what happened. The truth is that I really wanted to like the books because at one time I was a huge Anne Rice vampire fan. Hmmm perhaps that is exactly the reason why I couldn't get into Edward and Bella's story.  All vampires are not equal. Overall I just didn't enjoy my venture into the Twilight land of the books.
Anyway, Twilight the movie had it's interesting moments and sometimes I remember thinking that it wasn't half bad. Some scenes in the movie reminded me a bit of the way "300" looked. Perhaps I'm wrong about that and maybe it was my TV or the fact that I was watching it late at night and was tired. The scene that comes to mind is the twinkling scene or when Edward is running up a very tall tree with Bella on his back. My final opinion of the movie is that it's not so bad for a teen movie. Not something I would enjoy but OK if you're 14. Honestly, I think Robert Pattison looks pretty good as a vampire which is good for the box office and teen adoration. But Kristen Stewart doesn't look like the Bella I envisioned.

 In defense of myself, I have to say that I don't want to come across as anti-teen movie. In the past I've enjoyed teen movies" like Breakfast Club","Pretty in Pink", "Dazed and Confused" etc so I'm not really such a bah humbug. I mean who didn't like "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure", right?

Ya know, looking at the teen movies that I did like it seems to be that each of them has a lot of humor. Perhaps Twilight has too much teen angst for me. In the first book I could see right away that Bella was going to want to be with Edward forever. So at 17 she wants to die. OK. Whatevah. Edward leaves. Bella mourns. Jacob comes to the rescue. Bad vampires enter the picture. And so on  At least there is a happy ending eventually. Jacob finds the love of his life and Edward and Bella live happily undead forever and ever. Oh yeah that hasn't happen yet in the movies. But it will.

But I'm glad I tried getting into the Twilight universe. At least I have an idea of what all the hubbub is about. I think I'll go watch something really interesting like Star Trek. Live long and Prosper.