I am Thankful

As some of you are aware, I began my Thanksgiving week with a laparascopic cholecystectomy (I got my gall bladder taken out). I guess it was to much for me when I realized that I had an entire week without being scheduled to work. I had such good plans to clean, bake, paint (my stairwell and hallway), and otherwise enjoy myself and get my life in order. Instead I headed to the ER just a couple hours after church on Sunday and found myself admitted and on the surgery docket for Monday morning.

Dr. Copelli did my surgery Monday morning and it went well. I was hoping to be home Monday night but didn't do to well with the pain and nausea post-op. Tuesday morning I was much better and ended up staying till that evening so I wouldn't be tempted to over exert at home. While I was in the hospital I was able to make it most of the way through the first Twilight book between drug-induced naps. On Wednesday when Katie got home from half-day of school we headed to the theater to see the movie. I thought it was alright. Yeah, Edward had too much lipstick. The hardest part of the trip was not laughing too hard when I realized that my chauffeur had left the headlights on and we had a dead battery.

Thursday I was feeling really good. I got the kids lined out to get the house cleaned up early. I was ever so grateful that it had already been planned to have dinner at the Rossers (thank you! Thank You! THANK YOU!). Kirsten made these adorable headbands for the younger guests.

We ate. (OK, so my assignment was pretty easy.)

We were tutored. (My mom got a ipod crash course from 2 experts.)

We puzzled -- a 1500 piece puzzle from Allyson.

We pied -- my personal favorite was the "anti-Katie" pie (coconut & pineapple cream pie).

I overdid it.

On Friday John and I did Black Friday "small town-style". Walmart was not inviting in the least. We headed out at 9:00 a.m. and hit Radio Shack, a jewelry store (luckily we didn't make the front page this year), Sears, and Ace Hardware all in 2 hours. I laid low the rest of the day since one of my surgical sites was looking "iffy".

Since I couldn't work on Saturday, John picked up a shift. I had a grand plan to sneak off to Target in the valley. Seems like everyone who could bust me did except for John. My parents stopped by on their way back home and big-mouth Braden told them our plan. Katie drove me down and wouldn't you know I ran into my boss/friend, Lura before I hardly got in the store. We made some good buys (I want to break into their commercial jingle now--but I won't).

John didn't realize I had escaped until he got home that night and Claire showed him her $1 Hello Kitty necklace. When he asked where she got it -- TARGET! Changing the subject didn't help. Katie insisted that she had been forced against her will to drive (Ha!). My rationale was that sitting (resting) in a car for an hour, ambulating for 1 1/2 hours, and then resting for an hour on the way home was probably much better than what I would have been doing at home, not to mention the psychological therapy of Target.

(I think John bought it!)

So as I sat in Sacrament meeting on Sunday I realized that I am so grateful for good health and good friends. Although there is never a good time to have this happen, this week was much better than most. I feel like my recovery is going pretty well (despite the patient) and will hopefully be back up to full steam before too much longer. I am very grateful to my sister, Kirsten, who watched my girls on the day of my surgery and sent over dinner to my family that night. I also appreciate Alicia Anderson who brought over 6 bags of groceries, the Brown family who sent pizza and pasta that disappeared quickly, Paula Vandruff who brought flowers to brighten my day, and Sister Janet Caza who wasn't sure how to cook for a family of seven and fed us for 2+ meals on her delicious spaghetti and meatballs.

UPDATE: Dr. Copelli states I am healing well, other than that I can add stainless steel staples and Vicryl suture to my list of allergies/sensitivities.