I don’t remember much of Tuesday, and yesterday is kind of blurry as well, but today the clearness is beginning to come back. Still really sore, maybe even more so today now that all the anesthesia and numbness are gone, but Vicodin has become my new best friend! Apparently I slept on my right side last night, because I woke up today looking like a raccoon – two black eyes instead of one, and swelling in my whole face instead of just the left side. Gravity must have pulled it over while I was sleeping. It still hurts to move my eye, so I am trying to keep my focus pretty straight and level. Looking down hurts the worst, and turning my head comes shortly after that. So if you come visit me, don’t be offended if I don’t make much eye contact. 😉
Goals for today:
1. Take a bath
2. Be awake more hours than I sleep during the day (this one may have to move to tomorrow….haha)
3. Eat real food and keep it down (I haven’t thrown up again since Tuesday night, so this shouldn’t be too hard!)
If one or two of those happen, it will be a good and successful day. I think my expectations for the recovery period on this surgery were a little too high, as I fully expected to be on the road to normal by now, HA! I keep having to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and it is fine to be a tortoise as long as I get to the finish eventually, rather than trying to sprint and mess something up.
Couple facts/funny stories from the surgery:
*My anesthesiologist while waiting to go in to surgery: “I’m Dr Kurtz, your anesthesiologist. I’ll be putting you to sleep when I want you to sleep, and I will wake you back up when I want you to wake up. Also, I don’t get paid to put you to sleep, I get paid to wake you up!!” He was so funny.
*Eyes are supposed to be porous and kind of like a jelly-bean consistency on the inside (I hope that doesn’t ruin jelly beans for any of you 😉 ). After the surgery Dr. Lee came out to talk to my parents and told them that when he took my small eye out, it was as hard as a rock! He was amazed and doesn’t know how I was handling the pain, as it should have been much worse! This was also another confirmation that this surgery was the right choice and done at the right time.
*In recovery: Nurse – “Emily, how is your pain level?” Me – “Uhhhh about an 8 or 9.” Nurse – starting at me expectantly. Me – “What? Did you not hear me?” Nurse – “Emily, you didn’t say anything!!” Me – “Oops. I must have just answered in my head and thought I was speaking.” Hahaha. This happened at least three times during my 2 hours in recovery. Those are always my favorite stories. Do you have any funny ones from your times in the hospital?
*Towards the end of my time in recovery, I said I felt like getting dressed and going to the bathroom, and by the time I got back from the restroom, they had already put someone else in my bed, and were escorting me out to my car! They were not kidding about this being outpatient!!!!
A Mosaic 
The mailman asked about you today! Not sure how he knew. We are all thinking of you, especially when we walk by your desk and you are markedly absent. No sunshine in that corner when you are gone.