Irina’s Surgery – March 5/7, 2013

[Irina]

I am 3.25 inches taller - a whopping 5.95 and when my friends and family see me for the first time since
surgery, they all say: "OMG", "It's a miracle" etc ant it's a music to my ears.

[golfnut]

That's wonderful. The new physical appearance is such an ego booster, which may sound vain, but I loved it and you will, too.

[JenniferG]

Wow! 3.25 inches. Just goes to show how scrunched up we get. No wonder it hurts!

[Confusedmom]

Irina,

In the early weeks I took everything they let me take right before bed: Valium, oxi, Norco. Then I kept a full water bottle and night pain pulls next to the bed, along with my iPhone. I set the alarm schedule on my iPhone to go off with the pain pill reminders. Example , 2 a.m. Alarm: "1 pill Norco" would show up on screen. I would take it, drink the water and go back to sleep without getting up. I kept only those pills I would be taking in a small cup by my bed, to make it less confusing. It's a little difficult to keep everything straight when you're half asleep and on pain meds, but it worked for me with the iPhone. My hubby never had to get up. (He did have to hear the alarm, though. But I kept the volumn reasonable.) It won't be long before you can go 6-8 hours without pills and sleep through the night. Congrats on the new-found height!

Evelyn

[Confusedmom]

Ed,

I'm so sorry to read of your loss. I know you are a very strong person, so for you to say this is the biggest challenge, I know it must be. Hang in there and remember that she is still living--in you!

Best,
Evelyn

[Irina]

Ed, I am very sorry about the loss of your mother too.

[jrnyc]

Irina...hope you feel better every day

Ed...deepest condolences...only thing i know that helps is time...
after the years pass, it hurts a little less...
i hope your mother did not suffer...
i am so sorry for your loss.

jess

[jackieg412]

Irina,
You will get better and better. Isn't the change in height something. I only gained an inch but I felt different. I felt taller!Keep doing great!
Ed, so sorry about your mother. I could not message you.
Take care all,
Jackie

[JuliaAnn]

Irina, you are getting through the hardest days now. Soon you'll start to notice small but very good changes. As for those difficult nights, I found they were more manageable when I didn't think of "night = sleep", but rather "In bed = holding still and healing". So sometimes I would have the light on and for the first time in my life, I would fall asleep with the light on. Waking, sleeping, I allowed sleep time to be any time I needed it, whether it was day or night. And wake time was anytime too, whether day or night. It was just a little psychological thing but I found it helped me. It helped me feel less frustrated when nights didn't turn out the way I hoped.

Hang in there. We're thinking of you!

[Irina]

Complications

I am at a local hospital with a few complications - huge hematoma and blood / urine infection. I developed severe abdominal pain the day of discharge from UCSF. They did x-rays that only showed gas. They told me it's a bad constipation and sent me home next day. At home, my abdominal pain was getting worse to the point that I simply screamed.

We called 911and were taken to the nearest ER. The docs there did x-rays and ct-scans of my belly and found an enormous hematoma. On Tuesday I had another surgery, where they removed FOUR liters of blood from my belly. If that's not enough, I developed an infection in my blood and urine. Infectious disease doctor told me they will put me on antibiotics thru IV for several weeks and then I'd have to take antibiotics orally for months and possibly years. I am worried about hardware infection, but doctors here tell me that there is no real way of knowing if hardware was infected.

Any experience with infections? No need to say that I'm worried.

[JenniferG]

Oh no...I'm so sorry to hear that Irina. Sorry, I don't know much about infections but I just wanted to wish you well for total recovery, smoothly and quickly.

[Susie*Bee]

How frightening for you. I'll be praying that the problem will be solved with the strong course of antibiotics. Hugs, Susie

[tae_tap]

Irina,

Praying for you and that the infection goes away quickly.
Tamena

[Wish2bstraight]

Irina and Ed

Irina,
so sorry to hear about your complications. I am hoping and praying that you feel better soon.

Ed,
sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. My mother is presently on her death bed. Just a little more than three years since my dad pasted away. Even though we all know that time does help with the pain, it doesn't always help in the present.

My best to both of you.

Libby

[mabeckoff]

Irina,

I am so sorry to hear about your problems
Praying