One Surgery Down, One More to Go: Infertility Journey
You ever just needed to unplug? I surely unplugged a bit after my first surgery. In August, I shared what I had ahead of me. So I had to take out time to heal and I started a new job just a week before surgery. Yes, episodes of “Team Too Much” were commencing. The first surgery was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. The surgery itself went fine with no complications. They removed six small to large fibroids, flushed my tubes and removed my scarring from Endometriosis (I did have it all along!). I woke up in pain, expected. What I didn't expect to notice was that the pain from my fibroids to be gone.I always had this dull annoying ache in my back that amplified on my cycle. It was gone! So that was positive. However, once I was home that night and resting, we noticed I was having a complication and I had to go to the ER. Thank goodness I did, or it could have been pretty life threatening. So the first day, was a long day.
The days that followed were blurs of my husband lifting me from the couch, feeding me and laying me down again. I was in a lot of pain. A friend of mine, who had the same surgery, wrote me prior warning me that the gas from the surgery was the worse. I had no clue what she meant. Well, the gas they use during surgery can actually impact you after. So it literally hurt to move everything. My arms, back, rib cage—everything was soar. I literally felt like my ribs had cramps—yikes! That lasted about three days and I was finally walking on my own—about 5 miles per hour—but still walking.
I know my family wanted to be there so badly, I’d never had surgery before. However, I understood that they couldn’t. I was grateful to have my mother-in-love over to help me, even as she goes through her own health trials. My husband was also a real champ. I gained another level of appreciation for him and I think through this he did for me as well. I also had floods of texts, calls, messages, and visits from friends which I appreciated a lot.
On day seven, I returned to work. Too soon? Possibly. I wish I had more time, but I really didn’t. I just took it as easy as I could. I didn’t realize how much energy your body needs to heal from surgery. I was literally exhausted for two weeks straight. I would fall asleep without even knowing it. So are there things I’ve neglected? Yes. Are there projects I delayed? Yes. Were my clients probably unhappy? Yes, but my body needed every ounce of energy and I was already burning both ends of the candle.
This surgery taught me a lot about self-care and how at times, I still don’t put myself first when I have obligations. It taught me to be humble, because at any second you can be completely dependent on someone to do everything you needed—even help you to the bathroom. As a strong, black woman this could be difficult for a lot of us. It was for me—but I got myself together quickly.
Now about a month and two weeks later, I’m headed into surgery number two to remove one additional internal fibroid. It will be less extensive and invasive. I’m supposed to bounce back in two days and that’s what I plan to do. I learned that you can’t pacifier your body through the healing process. Moving, walking and doing things for yourself help it get back to routine. The findings and conclusion we came to from the first surgery was definitely enlightening and I plan on sharing more in depth soon to help other women who have, are or will go through this. Stay tuned!
