A Week of Recovery

So... recovery has been a roller coaster ride, but MUCH MUCH MUCH less exciting than an actual roller coaster ride.  I guess I should just say that there have definitely been good days and bad days.  The morning after surgery was one of my better good days, so I'm glad I was able to update you all so quickly afterward.

Tuesday was basically a blur.  I mostly remember writing my blog post and then posting it on Facebook.  Then, I remember sleeping A LOT. And that is really all. :)

Yummy home-cooked meal

On Wednesday, my good friend Caitlin picked me up and let me join her for her errands of the day so I wouldn't be stuck at home.  She even brought me chocolate milk in the morning!  She made me feel like I was helping her move into her new house when in reality, I was probably sitting on her couch drooling while she moved and packed boxes.  Well, maybe not that bad, but I was pretty out of it.  My BRAND NEW visiting teaching companion from church who JUST moved into the ward made me the dinner to the right on Wednesday.  It was beautiful!  I seriously started crying in the middle of the prayer while blessing the food.  I can't believe that she barely knows me and was willing to cook up quite the meal for Doug and I! 

Yay for color-coded schedules!

On Thursday, I got to go to a meeting at work to help with making the master schedule for all of the teachers in the building.  I woke up feeling pretty awful that morning, but I was determined to go.  I had been wanting to help with the scheduling since I started working there, so I was going drugged or not.  My friend Caitlin was my designated driver once again.  Surprisingly, I was able to help, not by actually creating the schedule, but by putting it into an organized, clear, and easy-to-read format that was colored-coded.  I was worried for a while that everyone there was just trying to make me FEEL like I was being helpful when I was really just sitting there playing and color-coding things on the computer in la-la land.  Haha!  :)  My little chart ACTUALLY did end up helping and was able to keep teachers from getting doubled booked or having weird 15 minute breaks in between specialty classes.  I LOVE using Microsoft Word to create tables and organize information.  I know that this is probably a weird talent, but it really does come in handy.  I think I only slightly offended one person by my drugged behavior, but I'm pretty sure others at the meeting found it rather entertaining.  It turns out I'm still an anal perfectionist on drugs. :)

On Friday, Doug and I went to the new Cobb movie theater nearby and watched the movie, Captain America.  We both really enjoyed it.  As we were leaving the theater, there was this group of boys that were horsing around right in front of us on the sidewalk.  I smiled a little and the dad that was supervising the group of boys started to turn around and apologize, but then said, "Hey, I thought you looked familiar!  It's Mrs. S-!  THIS is how they act when you're NOT around.  I'm sure you had to have had one of these troublemakers in your class this last school year."  One of the boys turned around and smiled and ran up to me giving me a big hug.  I hugged him back and (hopefully) smiled, but to my horror I had NO CLUE what the kid's name was... only that he looked vaguely familiar.  He ran back to his friends to continue horsing around and we waved goodbye to the group and continued on our way.

I then had a FREAK OUT moment.  One thing you need to know about me as a teacher is that I love my students as if they were my own children.  I DO NOT FORGET NAMES!!!  I stood there and dug through my brain trying to remember his name... even one name.  I couldn't remember a single name of a single student that I had taught EVER.  In fact I couldn't remember a single thing from teaching except that I knew I was a teacher.  I took out my iPad and started searching my address book that had my parent list from this past year.  Luckily I found it quickly and it all started to come back.  I had been feeling okay at the theater, but I really hadn't realized what an impact the Percocet had been having on me.

Even as I write this blog post about my last week it's weird to think that it hasn't been that long since I last posted.  The thing that I noticed the most about being on the Percocet is that it really messed with my sense of time.  It seriously feels like I had surgery FOREVER ago.  When I was with my friend on Wednesday, only two days after my surgery I remember telling her to let me do stuff because I needed to heal SOMETIME.  She kept on reminding me, "Jen, you JUST had surgery!"  I still feel really frustrated that I'm not better yet because it feels like so much time has passed.

One thing I've learned from this whole experience is that I HATE narcotic painkillers.  I took what I hope was my last dose Saturday evening.  I still have more than half the prescription left, but I seriously don't want to take even one more pill.  The last pill I took on Saturday made me really nauseous.  It's a good thing I still had a plastic baggy in my purse from the hospital or I would have been cleaning puke out of my car.

I told Doug last night that I was feeling 65% of the way there.  By teacher standards, that's still a D, but it's more than halfway to the 100% mark.   I can't wait to feel good again!

Illness and injury sure do make you feel grateful for the times when you're healthy.