Day One

Karin did great today. She really wasn't keen on getting out of bed, knowing it would hurt. But she was brave and did it. It was certainly a challenge... she needed help getting up of course because of the incision, but things were complicated by her left shoulder being very painful to even touch (from the cancer), and her right shoulder also being in pain (side effect of pressure during surgery we're told), and her right thigh being so numb that she didn't really have much control over that leg... So basically we could work with a hand on her back and some support via her right arm. So we couldn't really help too much and Karin had to put in a lot of effort. The hard part for her is that despite the pain meds, as soon as she moved in any way, her left shoulder bone pain was very intense. She shed some tears but she got through it.. got into a chair, where she stayed for a couple hours and did very well, during which time her mom left the kids and came to visit. The switch back to bed was equally tough. Once there, she quickly fell asleep, and awoke 1.5 hours later in pain at her side. It took 1.5 hours to really get the pain under control again, with another 30 minutes of sleep in the middle, because she was so exhausted.

Before that pain started, I went home for an hour while Karin's mom was visiting to collect some things and spend a little time with the kids. Kevin was happy to see me but not at all weepy and asked no questions.. seemed like he actually had forgot where mommy was, but who knows.

When Karin was feeling well mid day, we decided to have the kids visit after dinner. Unfortunately, by the time Grandpa and Grandma brought them to visit, Karin was in pretty bad shape. She could hardly speak (just a whisper) and couldn't even smile. She felt really bad about Kevin seeing her this way. We assured Kevin that mommy will be doing better tomorrow. We ketp the visit very short, and he didn't get to touch mommy, just blow a kiss. He was upset to leave, but his emotions change quickly so I'm sure he was ok before long.

We finally got Karin's pain under control and she is sleeping again now. I pray she will wake pain-free too.