Re: New to the Group - I have 2 kids too

October 16, 2004

I just went through surgery on Sept 10th and I have a 4.5 and an

almost 3 year old. My little girl was in the throngs of " potty

learning " when I went in for surgery. My husband travels and works

from home so basically he took the first week off to tend to me and

the children, even into the second week but he was getting stressed

that I wasn't getting better fast enough. Yesterday, was the first

day I drove and that was a 5 weeks post-op, I think I could have

driven sooner but I was afraid of my reaction time...all was ok.

Can your Mom, a sister or a really good friend come to stay with

you? Maybe I'm not the norm but I really needed someone for weeks

after the operation. For the first week I was in and out of it with

drugs, the liquid diet is tough but once I started getting more

nourishment I felt stronger. I do not have a high threshold for

pain but the numbness keeps some of the pain abaited. As you heal,

the nerves regenerating drive you crazy but that's for later. Now,

I'm able to function close to my regular capacity, bath the kids, do

my favorite thing in the world...laundry, lunches, etc. My

housekeeper came every week and that kept the house up as it was

tough for my hubby to do it all. Every night, we had story time in

bed with me since I wasn't strong enough to sing and go to each of

their bedrooms, it was a nice ritual. I still need to rest in the

afternoon, too bad my kids didn't nap but your baby will and you

could nap with them. Both my kids are in a Montessori pre-school a

few days a week and keeping their schedule regular was important to

their little lives, they kept up with their soccer, karate and dance

with the help of friends since we don't have fammily near (mine live

on the East Coast of Canada). I worked out their school schedule so

that each has a day with Mommy alone, yesterday my oldest and I

picked out movies to watch and cuddled on the sofa together. I'm

not running to the zoo like I was but the quality time with the kids

is getting back to normal.

My advice is to line up childcare and keep their lives on the same

schedule. Keep in touch and feel free to write and ask anything you

want.

Carole Anne

>

> Hi everyone. I have been reading your e-mails for the past few

weeks

> and have found them to be quite helpful. I am scheduled for

surgery

> in June of 2005 and was wondering how long you needed someone to

> physically help you during the post-op period. I know that

everyone

> has different thresholds for pain and some heal at different

rates.

> I have a 3 year old and a 5 month old and I need to start planning

> for child care post-op. My husband is going to stay home for the

> first few days. Has anyone out there been crazy enough like me to

go

> through this with young kids?

October 16, 2004