A Couple of Rough Days

Just when you think everything is going so well...

I attempted to venture out of the house for the first time on Thursday. It had been exactly one week since I was discharged from the hospital and two weeks from the surgery. I thought I would head out with my mother to do a bit of Christmas shopping, but after about 15 minutes in the store, I started to swoon. And not because I saw some wildly attractive Christmas ornaments. My mom and I left the store and went immediately home, where I ended up spending the rest of the day lying on the couch, nursing a nagging headache.

The next day was worse. I have a bit of a history of migraine headaches and yesterday's headache was one of the worst ever. There were a bunch of other symptoms too (nausea, extreme chills, back pain, etc.) and I started to feel worried that maybe something had gone wrong with the surgery or maybe I had an infection of some sort. My husband called the Home Care nurse, who told us that it was probably nothing to worry about, but that maybe we should go to a Medicentre to have a doctor check it out just to be safe. So off we go to the Medicentre - my husband, my mother-in-law and me, with the wind whipping outside and the streets slippery from ice rain.

Luckily, the doctor was able to rule out any problems stemming from the surgery and ruled that the primary diagnosis was just a migraine. I walk out with some delightful anti-nauseaunts, anti-inflammatories and pain killers. My mother, meanwhile, who is not very good in a crisis, had tracked us down at the Medicentre and my husband managed to calm her down. She still drove to our home in the freezing rain to reassure herself that everything was in fact fine, and that I wasn't lying to her again (back story: when I got really sick with the colitis in January, my mother could sense that something was wrong but everytime she asked me, I told her that I was fine and there was nothing to worry about. So imagine her surprise when in early February, my husband told her that I had been admitted to the hospital. Moral of the story: never lie to your mother, because when she discovers the truth, she will never let you forget it.)

So I spent most of today in a bit of a drug-induced haze - it is possible that I might have overdone it a bit last night. It looks like I will still be stuck in the house for the foreseeable future. As the doctor said last night, I have to remember that I had major surgery and some days will be better than others; the main thing is to take it easy. A difficult thing to do, given that the holiday season is almost upon us. But luckily, most people seem to understand - unfortunately, not everyone, but that's a different story.