I didn't think surgery would be the easy part..

Last Wednesday morning, I was up bright and early and ready to get the devil aka Crohn's cut out of my intestines. The wait was finally over. Surprisingly, I wasn't really nervous, I think I was more excited. I mean could it get any worse? Probably not. When I saw my surgeon before the operation he was happy and peppy, all ready to go for his first surgery of the day. As he left he told my parents, "I'll see ya outside in a couple of hours." He then looked at me and said, "I'll see you inside." My response as I burst out into laughter, "literally." I thought it was a pretty funny joke...he just awkwardly laughed and walked away.

Looking damn fine before surgery

When he got out of surgery, my parents described him looking as if he had just fought in a war. When they got into my intestines, the docs realized my Crohn's was not just in my small intestine but it had spread through most of the right side of my colon, so they took that out too. The operation took a little over 4 hours and from what I hear was pretty difficult, but everything went great. I don't even really remember being in the operating room at all. I woke up and was a little out of it but not what I expected. The hospital did not have a room for me so I waited in post-op for almost 6 hours..so annoying. After I was put into a room, I was greeted by family and friends. The nurses did not wait any time to get me up and into a chair. The next day, I was eating a full liquid diet, walking around, and climbing stairs. I also FINALLY got to eat...MASHED POTATOES. They were the best damn thing I've ever tasted. I couldn't believe it!

Let's keep our fingers crossed that my belly button looks normal when it heals and that my hair stops falling out..or I may have a panic attack. 

By Friday afternoon, I was on my way home. WHAT?! I thought I would be in the hospital all weekend. This was awesome! Being at home has had its ups and downs..
Positives: Food, food, pain meds, food, sleep, relaxation, showers without wrapping tubes in garbage bags, not changing your iv every 12 hours, not cleaning your drain twice a day, netflix, Live with Kelly, and food.
Negatives: pain, being stuck in my bed and not being able to get out of it without help, pain, and yep thats about it.

It's crazy how taking a shower or walking up and down the stairs makes me so tired but I am embracing this recovery journey and taking life a day at a time. I don't know what I would do without my family and friends for their support and ability to make me laugh during such a "crappy" situation. I cannot wait to really celebrate with them!

I'm going to end this post with a quote that I read while in the hospital. It really resonated with me and my journey. Every day is a gift, whether it's a good day, bad day, hard day, or easy day, you just have to keep fighting. As days go by, my pain gets a little less and my mobility and energy gets a little more. Cheers to the days ahead!