The Excitement That Lays Ahead

 

With less than 3 weeks until surgery, to say I am excited would be an understatement.

To hear someone openly say they are excited for surgery is beyond odd, trust me I know.
But if you felt the way that I do each and everyday and surgery could give you 60-80% relief for anywhere from 1-7 years, I think you would be excited to!

I am not one who gets scared, anxious, worried or upset going into surgery.
Sure there are the normal jitters of having to wake up at 4am to drive an hour to be there on time. There is the sterile hospital smell that we all have come into contact with at some point and time and usually relate it to a past experience. Then there is the whole IV situation, and if you enjoy IV’s, your strange!! haha!

I don’t have to go through the IV process, my veins in my hands are to small for IV’s to work, so I have always gotten one in my arm in the OR after I lay on the table.
I think the one thing I do have to say I enjoy most is being put to sleep.
Someone is forcing me to have a nap, and I am totally okay with that!

I am a very literal person, so as scary as it all might be, I am in great hands with great surgeons in an amazing hospital and hoping to get the best relief possible.
I am receiving the gold standard of care for endometriosis treatment and that is priceless!

I am not filling my head with so much false hope that it is an unrealistic expectation.
I am not going to sit here and tell you that I will never feel this way every again.
If I did, it would be lies.

This is for relief. This is to gain my daily life back. This is to give me the relief I need to gain the energy to pursue my passion stronger, harder and louder.

I will have flare days after surgery.
I will have hard days after surgery.
I will have symptoms after surgery.

They will be far from the severity of what I deal with now.
They won’t happen each and every day.
They will appear 1-2 times a month.

That I can handle! That I can manage! That I can navigate.
Not having it take over my daily life. Not having it impede each and everything I choose to do. Not to have it dictate to me what is going to get done in a day and what isn’t!

I am scheduled for a combative surgery in less than 3 weeks.
I am going to have 2 surgeries with 2 surgeons in one operation.
It will be 6-8 hour surgery.
It will start off with pelvic excision of endometriosis. He will go into my pelvic cavity and remove any and all endo that is found in my pelvic, abdomen and diaphragm.
after my thoracic surgeon will perform VATS (video assisted thoracic surgery) he will go in through 3-4 small holes between my ribs to access my thoracic cavity and remove all endo from my chest wall, lungs and diaphragm (depending where it is found). He will start on the right side as thoracic endo is predominately right sided, however he will scope my left side just to do a check while I am there and on the table.

I am excited for the recovery, I am excited for the time off, I am excited to heal.
I have a lot to heal from.
Not just surgery!
I have 18 years of this disease coursing through my body.
18 years of medications, 1 after the other after the other trying anything to take some symptoms away.
I have the past 2.5 years of thoracic endo raging on my body, pushing my mental capacity to its limits while challenging my physical abilities.
It’s been a lot of damage both mentally and physically.

Hopefully after it’s all said and done I come out a stronger warrior than I was going in.

♥