Recovery

The day I went home from surgery I felt awesome!!! Zero pain and just wanted to sleep. They told me I would have plenty of pain and to be sure to take my prescribed pain medicine every 4-6 hours along with Ibuprofen and food.  They also said that gas was used during the surgery to blow me up so they could see inside me and that the gas would be trapped in me but to walk around and it would come out.  The first 2 days I felt pretty good, didn't take anything but Ibuprofen, I had some visitors that brought gifts, food and flowers.....SO SWEET!!! I was fine and knew I'd be back to work in no time. Andy was with me and took care of me like a CHAMP! However, on the 3rd day he had to return to work which unfortunately was night work.  My Mom had been coming down every day to visit and be with me to give Andy a break, however when Andy had to go back to work, she came down to be with me.  I am so lucky to have so many people in my life that care about me. My husband helped me with things that I never imagined us going through together, my Mom kept me company, helped take care of things around the house, made sure I was eating and getting to the bathroom ok and my brother-in-law even came over and ended up making cold wash cloths for me at a time I was on the bathroom floor getting sick. The pain KICKED IN!!! I had intense pain throughout my pelvic area and the bruising was horrible.  However, the WORST part came on day 4. I lived on my sofa because I could not lay flat so they suggested laying in bed would maybe not be the best for awhile.  I began getting a crampy feeling in my right shoulder and it would not go away. The crampy feeling turned into sharp stabbing pains that moved to my back.  Every time I would stand up and walk around I began burping.....this apparently was the gas they told me about that I thought my body just chose to skip! On day 5 the gas pain got unbearable! Andy was helping me off the sofa to get to the bathroom when all of a sudden I couldn't breathe....the gas was trapped in my diaphragm and as I was moving to get up it cut off my lungs!!! I had a huge freak out, got sick and could not stop crying....I thought I was dying! This pain was ridiculous and getting old.  My mom and Andy would massage my shoulders to try and help but nothing would help but getting up and walking it out....burping.....weirdest thing ever! Finally after 1 week of living on the sofa, being blown up like a Macy's parade balloon and not leaving the house I decided to try and go back to work. This was very hard because I was still walking at the pace of a snail. Besides that, they also don't tell you that everything they have touched and removed on your insides causes residual bleeding...ew, constant discharge.  Days went on, surgical glue fell off, I was getting a little better each day but still calling the nurses to be sure it was normal that I still after 3 weeks was in pain....they reassured me that my surgery was very invasive and stage 3 endo is severe and that I would be recovering for at least 1 month.  I found this so hard to believe because I couldn't see this DISEASE! I didn't look sick! I have 3 tiny incisions in my stomach and 1 in my belly button but how can those tiny cuts cause so much pain??? I stayed so positive though! Andy had a lot of trouble with my diagnosis and kept wondering why? why Lindsey? I heard the entire story from Andy's perspective about the day of my surgery and apparently Andy cried and fell to the floor when the doctor told him what they had found during my surgery.  I continued to tell Andy "its ok, they figured out why I can't get pregnant so now I'm all better, we still have a chance to have a baby!" Then we met with him for again, his next step suggestions...........