On the flip side

I am supposed to spend 30 minutes twice per day on my stomach to counteract the effect of laying on my back for so long. Yesterday I flipped over with just a bit of trouble; it felt great to be off my back. I thought it would be impossible to flip back over, but it wasn't hard. I have repeated the flip today and almost fell asleep on my stomach, it felt so relaxing.

I got up early today and sat at the table to eat breakfast with Perry like a real human being. I then sat on the couch and spent 4 hours reading my e-mail from work. Several people told me to knock it off and quit working, so finally I did.

Healing-wise, everything is going really well. The only thing I dread each day is my Fragmin injection. Fragmin is a blood thinner I must inject daily for 2 weeks to prevent blood clots. It barely hurts, but I dread it each day because it's hard to push a needle into your own stomach. I'm really not afraid of needles, despite all of my negative posts on giving blood. It's just not the most pleasant part of my day.

Speaking of blood, in the hospital the professional vampires came to take blood from me daily. They were truly vampire-like because they always woke me up at 3 or 4 in the morning when it was still dark outside to take blood. That said, they were truly wonderful and able to get blood out of me with no pain. Sara, the phlebotomist with the mostest, told me on the first day that the reason I've suffered in the past was because there is a tendon right below my very tiny crooked rubbery rolling vein (this is true in both arms). Unless someone is careful, when my vein rolls they will probably poke me in the tendon. A needle in the tendon hurts like hell. She said with the large needle they use for autologous blood donations, it is likely that the needle was stuck in my tendon for the entire 45 minutes I was trying to donate. She said anyone would have been shaking and screaming in pain. I no longer feel like such a big weanie.

I'm still working on my long post regarding the details of my hospital stay. It may take a few days because there are many details to share. Meanwhile, let the healing continue.