Three little birds...

Today has reassured me that it can only go up from here! I feel 100x better than I did yesterday, which is great, but I still have a long road ahead. I have no energy what so ever so I can't write much, but I figured I would write in chunks to explain everything that has gone on since Thursday! 

The question of the day comes from my little cousin, Reid: "Do they use a chainsaw to take them off?" I almost fell off my stretcher laughing when his dad, my cousin Nathan, text me that he asked that. Thank goodness little Reidy wasn't my surgeon on Thursday! haha Valid kid question for sure!

I arrived at Florida Hospitals Rapid in and out (RIO) department at 8:30 am on Thursday. I am not sure why they call it RIO because there was nothing 'rapid' about this process. 

My first nurse during my weekend stay-cation at the hospital was Amy and she was awesome! She had me change into my hospital gown, started my IV with the biggest needle in the world, and all the other general surgery nonsense.

Hair nets are obviously incredibly flattering...not. Before I could put on this fabulous outfit, I had wipe my body down with these soap wipes, which turned into a nightmare. Remember how I told you the hospital gave me soap to use up to the day of my surgery? Well these soap things were nothing like that. Before I went in for surgery, I took one more shower at my house where I decided to shave my legs. You know how there's that understood rule where you aren't supposed to shave your legs before you get a pedicure? Well, there is also an underlying rule that you're not suppose shave your legs before surgery. MY LEGS ITCHED SO BAD I COULDN'T FUNCTION. 

Nurse Amy was as helpful as she could be by giving me options as to how to make it stop itching but nothing worked. I even had this crazy blanket that this tube hooked into and blew either hot or cold air, but that didn't help either. So if you're having surgery anytime soon-- don't shave the day of, trust me. haha

I hung out for a while and then transport came to get me to take me to my sentinel node injections. They wheeled me through the hospital until we reached the 'Caution: Nuclear...' (I forget what else it said) sign, which was of course where they were taking me. I thought I was about to go into some super cool area of the hospital with scientists in lab coats with all kinds of chemicals and masks on, but it wasn't that awesome. 

Two wonderful doctors administered my sentinel node injections. What is that?! It was a series of 8 shots, 4 in each boob, of some chemical. The doctors then used some big fancy machine to take a 5 minute picture that showed where the dye went once it was inside my boobs. The goal of these shots was so that when the doctor went in to take out some my lymph nodes, they would be easy to find. This was the easiest part of the procedure for me because the injections didn't really hurt and then I just had to lay there. 

After my node injection, I went back to my room in RIO and waited patiently for them to wheel me back for surgery. Unfortunately, someone was rushed in because their appendix burst so we got bumped from our operating room. My surgery was scheduled for 12:30 pm and it actually started at 2:37 pm. The anxiety of waiting past the original operating time was awful. Eventually, I was able to speak with my anesthesiologist and he was nice enough to give me so medicine to calm me down! 

After he gave me that medicine, I started being visited by all the doctors and nurses associated with my surgery. There was literally an army of them! I eventually just politely said 'don't worry about forgetting my name because I already can't remember yours. haha They liked that, I think. 

That is basically all I remember from before my surgery. I vaguely remember giving my mom a kiss goodbye and being freezing cold, and I mean FREEZING. I also remember two of the nurses, a man and a woman, that helped calm me down as I cried from my nerves. 

Next thing I knew, I was awake! I will explained what happened once I woke up in tomorrows blog, so stay tuned...

My song of the day is Bob Marley's- Three little birds. Going through the rough aftermath of this surgery got the best of me on Saturday. I was frustrated with so many things and then for some reason I thought to myself  "don't worry, about a thing... 'cause every little thing, is gonna be alright." Make sure next time you're having a hard day, you sing these words to yourself.

I am sure most people have this song downloaded, because its Bob, duh. If you don't... go download it!

Before I close, I was hoping that everyone could send some extra prayers out for me! Kristin, Drea, Kayla, and Rachel were like sisters to me through high school and although distance and time have separated us, they will always be like sisters to me! Right now these four women and their family need all the prayers they can get! 

Kristin and Jason Lucas brought Baby Karter James into this world on June 14, 2014 at only 22 weeks old. Karter James fought as hard as he could, but in the end God decided that he wanted Karter by his side. Karter left this world on July 11, 2014. Tomorrow there is a service for him that I will unfortunately not be able to attend, so I have a special request! If everyone could wear purple tomorrow to show your support for this broken family, I would really appreciate it! Karter made such a positive impact on this world in the short time that he was here and I believe if you read his story, you'd fight just a little harder each day. 

If you happen to take a 'selfie' in your purple, please hash tag #teamkarter #fightlikeapreemie. I think it would be nice for the family to see the support of so many people, as I have learned quickly that a strong support system is all you need to make it through anything! 

Thanks again for all the love and support! See everyone tomorrow for the explanation of the  second half of my surgery adventure. Keep the good vibes coming!