The girls are all home & I'm healing well

Dear friends,

I do apologize for not writing for 10 days. We are almost done putting figurines onto our advent calendars, so I know Christmas is coming fast!

Tonight Laura got home, so we are all here in Spokane now. Laura really likes the new house and is now happily sleeping after a long day of travel from Baltimore. I accidentally got Allison’s ticket for a day earlier than I was supposed to, so she and I used it as an opportunity to surprise Greg and Jesse. I picked her up about 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday night. Greg had gone to sleep at 9:00, so he was clueless. Jesse was also asleep when she got home, but she insisted on going up and jumping on him anyway. They talked a little and she had mercy and let him go back to sleep.

In the morning, Jesse came into my room and asked for a ride to school since it was a block day and he was allowed to go in later. I asked him if he wanted to go pounce on Allison before going and he got a startled look on his face. He said, “What do you mean? She isn’t here!” I told him about how he had talked to her the night before, and he laughed and told me that he had just texted her on his cell phone to tell her that he had a dream that she had come home early. So he went in and pounced on her and she took him to school instead of me. So nice! And Greg…I left him a note for the morning and asked him to check something in the guestroom. When he went in, he found her and was very happy that one of his girls was home! She and Jesse went on Wed. night and picked Jenni up. It is so nice that it only takes 20-25 minutes to get to the airport here.

Medical Update
I am actually doing pretty well. I didn’t need to take pain meds until 5:00 this afternoon. My shoulder is sore, but we have adjusted my exercises as I was doing a couple of them a little wrong. Also my gynecologist has said I can go ahead with all of the exercises now since I am healing fine. I saw her for my 10 day follow-up and she said everything looks like it is healing well. I have to wait 3 months for my colonoscopy from when I had surgery. Since I turned 50, they are all eager for me to have one now.

My PT is very optimistic that my shoulder is past the potential freezing stage as long as I keep up with my exercises. I have regained the lost ground and am doing pretty well. I have begun the resistance exercises with the rupper band in the door one time a day, and am using a pulley and all sorts of other moves 3 times a day. I pushed a cart the other day at the store, and although I was very tired afterwards, there were no major problems. I am still being careful not to lift or do too much.

When I hurt from the rectocele repair, it is usually hits me all at once and I just have to take pain meds and change position. It hit during Jesse’s band concert last week and during his choir concert this week. I think the seats in the school auditorium are just not good for me at this stage. Dr. Ravacia told me that she didn’t have to fix my bladder as the nurse thought she had. She also said she tried to go as slowly as she could with my surgery and stall to see if they could find the bovine mesh she needed in time. She said she kept trying to think of things that could stretch out the time. She thought she could send the cyst for freezing at the lab, but she couldn’t justify it because it looked so normal. She was running out of ideas when the mesh arrived. It ended up coming on the morning supply truck to the hospital that day and they rushed it up to her. I am still sharing with people about my mesh miracle. (See earlier post if you don’t know what I am talking about.)

Other things going on…
I have sent out most of my Christmas cards and letters, but there are still some of you to go. I decided not to stress over trying to get them done by staying up late. They will eventually get there, and know that I haven’t forgotten you if yours hasn’t been mailed yet and you usually get one from us. I took time out from cards to make elk chili for Greg’s part of the staff for lunch yesterday. I made a big pan of corn bread, veggies and some cake for dessert. It was fun for all. I was a little worried because Greg told them it was “Nancy’s world famous chili!” Setting the bar a bit high on expectations, I thought! Many had never had elk before, and they appreciated that Greg had gotten the meat hunting, we had processed it ourselves, and also imported it from Colorado when we moved. I am glad that they were easy to impress and enjoyed the lunch. We work with very neat people!

Tomorrow Heng Hua will get here in the evening and will be with us until Christmas day. She has been our friend for 3 years now. We met when she was at DU getting her MBA. She has a job now in San Jose and we are very excited that she is able to visit. I think we will have at least one really good Chinese meal when she comes! Our family is lighting advent candles in church on Sunday morning and Jesse is playing Joseph in the play at the Christmas eve service. I hope you are getting chances to enjoy family and friends this week also. I am so grateful for the greatest gift of God’s Son celebrated with this holiday, and how He gave His life for us as celebrated at Easter. Thank you for your prayers and praise God with me that I am doing pretty well. I will sign off and let you get back to your Christmas activities, whatever they may be. Blessings- Nancy

Slow but steady recovery

Dear friends,
Sunday:
It is the end of a long day. We enjoyed church this morning, attended a luncheon, and I worked on our Christmas cards the rest of the day. If you are on our mailing list yours will be going into the mail very soon. We took a walk this evening to look at the Christmas lights and by the time we got home I wondered if it had been such a good idea for me to do that.

I am steadily healing, but would like you to join me in praying that I would continue to be careful not to do anything that would mess up the repairs my surgeon did 11 days ago. I did a little too much with my shoulder exercises yesterday and it is now sore. My PT altered them to keep stress off of my abdomen, but I must have misunderstood something. It is quite a balancing act. My physical therapist told me that it is very important right now to keep going for sessions so he can work with my shoulder so it doesn’t loose the motion I have already gained. It is nice to not be wearing a sling anymore! He advises that I keep coming until the end of the year so he can stretch what I can't because of my other surgery. My 15 visits allowed by insurance will be up before then, but we might have to just bite the bullet on this one. I don't know what a frozen shoulder looks or feels like, but I don't want to end up with limited mobility.
Monday:
It is the end of another long day. The cards are really almost out the door now, no kidding! I hope you enjoy catching up with our family through our letter. If we don’t have your address, get it to us and I will make sure I mail you a newsletter. (nancyfritz@aol.com, gregf@partnersintl.org)

I got official news today from my surgeon that there was no cancer on or in my ovary. What a blessing to know that there is none there. I walked less today and took it easy on my healing parts. I did go to physical therapy and Marc says I have lost some ground due to not being able to do arm exercises that will pull on my abdomen. He said I am not out of the woods on my shoulder freezing up, so I am taking my exercises very seriously and am continuing to do them faithfully. He has added several in to helpkeep me moving. I am trying not to hurt myself in the process. And still no lifting, pushing a cart, pulling, etc. It is easy to forget or not know the exact parameters of my limitations. So your prayers are welcome and would be appreciated.

Sleep beckons…Send your address if you think we need it. Ours is 805 E. Huron Drive, Spokane, WA 99208. I don’t have many Christmas cards yet, but I check the mail each day hoping! Blessings to you! Nancy Fritz

A week after surgery

It has almost been a week and I decided to give you an update. My abdomen actually feels pretty good. Hardly any discomfort or pains there. But it is another story about all the stitches in my vagina. That area will be slower healing and I am not to lift more than 5-10 pounds for 2-3 months. That is a long time. And I have decided that it is hard to know if you are doing it. So I am just not doing it for now if I am unsure. Others are helping me graciously.

Yesterday, my new friend from church, Patti came over. She is a nurse by trade and is a fantastically encouraging person. After eating some of the bread she brought hot out of her oven, she suggested I call my surgeon's office about a few issues I was having. They got me in yesterday afternoon and discovered that I had both an infection in my bladder and also in my vagina where everything is trying hard to heal. So I got the medicine and am doing better today.

I got to attend the last meeting of my Beth Moore study group today and it was a sweet time of sharing. The ladies picked me up and brought me home. I am on the verge of having a hard copy letter with pictures to send out with our Christmas cards. I have been working on it for a long time, and it is finally almost ready to go. Let me know if you would like one but are not on our snail mail list. Send me your address.

Well, I am indeed weary tonight and am going to sleep! Blessings to you- Nancy Fritz