Pretty great, as far as surgery goes!
Well, I’m back home today! I want to thank all of you who have been faithfully praying for me over the past few weeks. I think this whole ordeal may be close to finishing, and that’s such an encouraging thought! An update on the Czech hospital experience: I was dissapointed when I found out that I was not going to be able to have outpatient surgery and that I would have to stay in the hospital, but that turned out to be a blessing, actually.
The staff at this private hospital in Czech was wonderful! Even though we couldn’t understand each other, their care and concern crossed all language barriers. Of course, they were very pleased that I had a translator with me. So pleased, in fact, that they actually admitted her into the hospital so she would be eligible for full care! My roommate and friend, Stani, was my translator. They put her name on the patient board along with mine, they brought her food, and even gave her a hospital gown! Ha! We took pictures of everything with her phone, but we don’t have a way to get those pictures on this site (what a shame). It was pretty funny, though.
Another funny thing is that they still have the practice of wrapping a surgical patient’s legs with the stuff that we wrap twisted ankes with…so, from my toes to my mid thighs, I was wrapped tight from before the surgery until two days after the surgery! In addition to this, they wheel you to the surgical area, and then have you get off your bed, take every bit of your clothing off (except your leg wrappings, of course), and then you have to climb (butt naked) up three steps to get yourself up on the operating table! That was a lot of fun, and I’m sure a funny sight! :-) Also, they still swab the surgical area with iodine (and evidently, they weren’t really sure how much area they would need to work with, so I’m bright orange from my mid chest area to where the leg wrappings started at mid thigh! I told them it would have been great if the color was something other than bright orange…then, I wouldn’t have to worry about trying to get a tan this summer! As it is now, I look like I’ve had a horrible experience with cheap self-tanning lotion! Hee Hee! These were the only things that were a bit strange for me. Everything else about the care was perfect. The surgery itself went smoothly. My surgeon came to talk to me while I was still in the recovery room, and told me that he had removed four stones the size of cherries along with my gallbladder, and that there were no complications. When I was released from the hospital, they arranged for an ambulance to take me home (pretty cool, huh?).
So, now all I have to do is recover from the surgery, and I should be good as new. Last night, I was able to sleep through the night, and today, my pain is fairly minimal. I’m able to move around on my own, and I know it won’t be long before I’m back to life as usual! Again, thanks so much for all of you who have been faithfully praying! The interns arrive in just a little more than a week, and then, life is crazy! Please pray that I’m wise in the amount I do during this recovery stage. It will be hard to not start running quickly!
