Fight like a girl, fart like a man! Part two of my blog all about my sister Shea.
On the morning of Shea's surgery the waiting room was packed with families waiting on news that their individual family member had made it through a successful surgery.
If I am being honest, I was terrified about Shea having surgery, I knew how serious everything was and how long the recovery would take. I love my big sister and the thought of losing her is unbearable.
We knew the surgery could take anywhere from 5 to 13 hours, so I went to Kroger the night before and packed a bit of a picnic (Mark accused me of buying half the store). All morning, our family was eagerly watching the clock because we knew the more time that passed the further the surgery was going.
I will never forget what it felt like when we were called into a small room to speak with the surgeon. He told us regrettably there was nothing they could do at the moment and that the cancer was too advanced. I had prepared myself for so many things, but there is no way to prepare yourself for that.
Over the next 5-6 hours I proceeded to bite my lip, zone out all noise with headphones, and not let anyone touch me, including Mark. I knew if someone touched me or even talked to me about what happened in the room with the surgeon, I would start to cry uncontrollably and in my mind crying at the hospital wasn't an option.
Luckily I was able to see Shea within a few hours, which lifted my spirits. I know I have said it so many times but Shea has the best attitude of anyone I know. In the face of a huge obstacle, she never goes negative, she only asks "what's next." I LOVE that about her!!
So now for the funny stuff!! Shea is completely crazy on morphine. I am not kidding. The girl acts like a totally different person on major pain killers. She absolutely will not sleep. The medicine makes her itch like crazy - which she calls itchititus - and she turns into a bit of a bossy neat freak. It's funny in hindsight, but boy is it a lot of work in the moment.
A few weeks before Shea's surgery, Todd and I started planning our hospital schedule. He would spend the first two nights with Shea and then I would spend the next two so Todd could get some rest and Shea and I could have our usual sister slumber party.
Lucky for Todd, his first two nights with Shea, she still had her catheter so I believe he got a little more rest than me. However, I do know she had Todd cleaning her hospital room in the middle of the night. That was not a game I was willing to play. Ahhh the beautiful difference in a husband/wife relationship and that of sisters. I will happily tell Shea no if she asks me to clean at 2:00 am. (OR MARK NO IF HE ASKS ME TO CLEAN ANYTIME)
I knew I was in for an adventure when Shea would close her eyes during the day for all of 2 minutes and think she had taken a 30 minute nap. She would fall asleep doing anything...drinking water, putting on lotion, adjusting a bed sheet...and when she opened her eyes a few moments later she said she was well rested - yeah right! Narcolepsy anyone??
I spent two nights with Shea in the hospital, and they couldn't have been more different. My first night with Shea, I think we got a total of 30 minutes of consecutive sleep. Between Shea repeatedly applying lotion to soothe her itching skin, our middle of the night walks to ward off blood clots, breathing treatments and the constant flow of nurses, techs and surgeons coming in and out of her room every few minutes, we barely got any rest.
As a person that doesn't function well with a lack of sleep, you can only imagine how nice I was when a tech came in to take Shea's blood at 4:30 am. My exact words were "you CAN'T be serious!"
Around 8:00 am the doctors had already made their rounds so we could finally rest. Shea wasn't having any of that. She announced to me that she was ready to get dressed for the day. I quickly asked for 5 more minutes to close my eyes. Well Shea gave me 2 minutes and then decided to get out of bed on her own. I was up from then on. Time to clean the room and get Shea looking fabulous!
Needless to say, with a distinct lack of sleep, some funny things happened. Like when I almost choked Shea with her oxygen cord. I was looking for the TV remote, and what can I say, there were a lot of chords in that room.
And as I mentioned, Shea was like a little kid on Christmas Eve, she DID NOT want to sleep. She liked to go on walks around 2:30 am and had me turning cranberry juice into slushees for her to eat around 4:00 am. On my first night in the hospital, she looked at me around 11:30 pm and told me she wanted us to stay up all night talking. (Sounds like fun!) She then proceeded to tell me that she wanted me to do all of the talking. Let's be honest, I love to talk, but I can only carry a one-sided conversation so far.
I titled this post, fart like a man, so I should probably get to the point. As most people experience when they have surgery, you wake up thirsty and later just want to eat some food. I would imagine that's usually one of the first questions any patient asks their doctor - following the all important question of when can I get out of here.
Shea's doctors said she couldn't eat anything until she passed gas - well to be more accurate - farted. Who knew doctors didn't use a more technical term? I was with Shea a couple of times when the doctors would visit, and it always cracked me up when they would repeatedly ask if she had farted. One particular doctor said the word fart at least 4 times very loudly on a morning visit. I'm sure I blushed.
I must confess that when Shea and I were growing up, we weren't allowed to say the word fart. In the Harden household, fart was the F-word. Just in case you were wondering, shut up was the S-word and we couldn't say dang, darn, or crap. The word fart wasn't an "allowed" word in our family until Shea started dating Todd. While watching football, Todd would yell at players he didn't think were doing a good enough job and tell them to stop "fiddle farting around," which I think means stop being stupid. Mom thought it was hilarious and from then on fart has been ok in the Harden household.
Shea was finally cleared for a clear diet on Friday afternoon. Poor thing hadn't eaten real food for 5 days. I felt guilty every time I would step out for a meal. The doctors were still waiting on her to pass a little gas, but luckily coffee was on the clear food diet. I'm not sure how coffee is a clear liquid, but on Saturday morning that did the trick and Shea was back to eating regular food.
Needless to say, being in the hospital is never fun for anyone - well unless that's you're job. However, we managed to have some fun. Shea's friend Sarah sent glow bracelets. So on Friday night I decked Shea out in lots of glow bracelets. She had a bracelet, necklace and crown. When the nurses came to check on her during the night, they didn't even have to turn on the light to find her. Thank goodness for that because we slept so much better!
I am happy to say that Shea is recovering very well from her surgery. I was able to spend the first week with her at home which was exciting/exhausting.
To end this post I just want to say THANK YOU to all of my friends, family, coworkers, and everyone that sent messages, called, or inquired in person. I have been slow to respond, but please know your kind words, thoughts, and prayers have meant the world to me.
Please continue to pray for Shea!
Cancer sucks, c'est la vie y'all!
On the morning of Shea's surgery the waiting room was packed with families waiting on news that their individual family member had made it through a successful surgery.
If I am being honest, I was terrified about Shea having surgery, I knew how serious everything was and how long the recovery would take. I love my big sister and the thought of losing her is unbearable.
We knew the surgery could take anywhere from 5 to 13 hours, so I went to Kroger the night before and packed a bit of a picnic (Mark accused me of buying half the store). All morning, our family was eagerly watching the clock because we knew the more time that passed the further the surgery was going.
I will never forget what it felt like when we were called into a small room to speak with the surgeon. He told us regrettably there was nothing they could do at the moment and that the cancer was too advanced. I had prepared myself for so many things, but there is no way to prepare yourself for that.
Over the next 5-6 hours I proceeded to bite my lip, zone out all noise with headphones, and not let anyone touch me, including Mark. I knew if someone touched me or even talked to me about what happened in the room with the surgeon, I would start to cry uncontrollably and in my mind crying at the hospital wasn't an option.
Luckily I was able to see Shea within a few hours, which lifted my spirits. I know I have said it so many times but Shea has the best attitude of anyone I know. In the face of a huge obstacle, she never goes negative, she only asks "what's next." I LOVE that about her!!
So now for the funny stuff!! Shea is completely crazy on morphine. I am not kidding. The girl acts like a totally different person on major pain killers. She absolutely will not sleep. The medicine makes her itch like crazy - which she calls itchititus - and she turns into a bit of a bossy neat freak. It's funny in hindsight, but boy is it a lot of work in the moment.
A few weeks before Shea's surgery, Todd and I started planning our hospital schedule. He would spend the first two nights with Shea and then I would spend the next two so Todd could get some rest and Shea and I could have our usual sister slumber party.
Lucky for Todd, his first two nights with Shea, she still had her catheter so I believe he got a little more rest than me. However, I do know she had Todd cleaning her hospital room in the middle of the night. That was not a game I was willing to play. Ahhh the beautiful difference in a husband/wife relationship and that of sisters. I will happily tell Shea no if she asks me to clean at 2:00 am. (OR MARK NO IF HE ASKS ME TO CLEAN ANYTIME)
I knew I was in for an adventure when Shea would close her eyes during the day for all of 2 minutes and think she had taken a 30 minute nap. She would fall asleep doing anything...drinking water, putting on lotion, adjusting a bed sheet...and when she opened her eyes a few moments later she said she was well rested - yeah right! Narcolepsy anyone??
I spent two nights with Shea in the hospital, and they couldn't have been more different. My first night with Shea, I think we got a total of 30 minutes of consecutive sleep. Between Shea repeatedly applying lotion to soothe her itching skin, our middle of the night walks to ward off blood clots, breathing treatments and the constant flow of nurses, techs and surgeons coming in and out of her room every few minutes, we barely got any rest.
As a person that doesn't function well with a lack of sleep, you can only imagine how nice I was when a tech came in to take Shea's blood at 4:30 am. My exact words were "you CAN'T be serious!"
Around 8:00 am the doctors had already made their rounds so we could finally rest. Shea wasn't having any of that. She announced to me that she was ready to get dressed for the day. I quickly asked for 5 more minutes to close my eyes. Well Shea gave me 2 minutes and then decided to get out of bed on her own. I was up from then on. Time to clean the room and get Shea looking fabulous!
Needless to say, with a distinct lack of sleep, some funny things happened. Like when I almost choked Shea with her oxygen cord. I was looking for the TV remote, and what can I say, there were a lot of chords in that room.
And as I mentioned, Shea was like a little kid on Christmas Eve, she DID NOT want to sleep. She liked to go on walks around 2:30 am and had me turning cranberry juice into slushees for her to eat around 4:00 am. On my first night in the hospital, she looked at me around 11:30 pm and told me she wanted us to stay up all night talking. (Sounds like fun!) She then proceeded to tell me that she wanted me to do all of the talking. Let's be honest, I love to talk, but I can only carry a one-sided conversation so far.
I titled this post, fart like a man, so I should probably get to the point. As most people experience when they have surgery, you wake up thirsty and later just want to eat some food. I would imagine that's usually one of the first questions any patient asks their doctor - following the all important question of when can I get out of here.
Shea's doctors said she couldn't eat anything until she passed gas - well to be more accurate - farted. Who knew doctors didn't use a more technical term? I was with Shea a couple of times when the doctors would visit, and it always cracked me up when they would repeatedly ask if she had farted. One particular doctor said the word fart at least 4 times very loudly on a morning visit. I'm sure I blushed.
I must confess that when Shea and I were growing up, we weren't allowed to say the word fart. In the Harden household, fart was the F-word. Just in case you were wondering, shut up was the S-word and we couldn't say dang, darn, or crap. The word fart wasn't an "allowed" word in our family until Shea started dating Todd. While watching football, Todd would yell at players he didn't think were doing a good enough job and tell them to stop "fiddle farting around," which I think means stop being stupid. Mom thought it was hilarious and from then on fart has been ok in the Harden household.
Shea was finally cleared for a clear diet on Friday afternoon. Poor thing hadn't eaten real food for 5 days. I felt guilty every time I would step out for a meal. The doctors were still waiting on her to pass a little gas, but luckily coffee was on the clear food diet. I'm not sure how coffee is a clear liquid, but on Saturday morning that did the trick and Shea was back to eating regular food.
Needless to say, being in the hospital is never fun for anyone - well unless that's you're job. However, we managed to have some fun. Shea's friend Sarah sent glow bracelets. So on Friday night I decked Shea out in lots of glow bracelets. She had a bracelet, necklace and crown. When the nurses came to check on her during the night, they didn't even have to turn on the light to find her. Thank goodness for that because we slept so much better!
I am happy to say that Shea is recovering very well from her surgery. I was able to spend the first week with her at home which was exciting/exhausting.
To end this post I just want to say THANK YOU to all of my friends, family, coworkers, and everyone that sent messages, called, or inquired in person. I have been slow to respond, but please know your kind words, thoughts, and prayers have meant the world to me.
Please continue to pray for Shea!
Cancer sucks, c'est la vie y'all!
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ReplyDeleteHi Erin. I came across your blog (maybe from FB?)and am just in awe of how you, your sister and your entire family are dealing with the unexpected blows that cancer has been throwing. I know your parents and I'm sure we have some mutual friends since I grew up in Phenix City, too. I will be praying for Shea and all those that love her. ~Beth www.theparkmanfamily.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteOMG.....how can I love your blogs as much as Shea's...but it is true. Janice and Sid did an excellent job raising the Harden gals. I can only imagine the dinner table scattered with dictionary and calculator. I bet they had you spelling your vocabulary words backwards just to make sure you made A's on all the test through your school years. Now I am having a flashback to my homework table with Tucker and Taylor. It was not pretty. Taylor was usually raising his hand saying "I know, I know..ask me" while I was drilling Tucker on his spelling words. I love both of you and so proud of the young women you have become. Thanks for sharing your life with us....I am working on an arranged marrriage between Taylor's little girl and Ellis. So I might get one of you in the family after all.
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