Spring seen through my new camera lens

Oh my gosh, it's a photo post!!! I got myself a new wide-angle lens yesterday and went out to try it today with my friend G in tow, with the clear understanding that she would have to be patient while I shutter bugged away. This was also my first time taking my camera out since before my father passed away. I just hadn't felt like it since then, I think I hadn't even taken it out since Christmas, if even then. It feels like a lifetime ago. I have two vacations coming up though, one to Prince Edward Island in June and another to Paris in September and I wanted to be able to get some really great shots on both trips, so a new wide-angle lens was a must and one of Montreal's best photography supply shops, Lozeau, had a Canon sale on this week, so off I went to treat myself yesterday. The weather was not very good for photography today, it was raining on and off, very cloudy and windy, but my blossoming crab apple tree shots came out quite well :)

You can click all of them to enlarge them. More wide-angle lens fun to come, I bought my first home last week and am going for the inspection tomorrow, so a few photos may pop up on here :)

On another note, after my shutter bug session was over I went to Pointe-Claire Village with G and she took me into two shops with her, the first being Izzi, a shop that I had never notice before despite living in the West Island for 25 years before moving to NDG. It's been around for quite a while and what a discovery it was for me today. The sell natural body butters, hand creams, soaps and shower gels and they also had a sale on. I got myself an amazing sea kelp body butter that smells heavenly and since I purchased that, I got a mango hand cream for free. I will never use any products but theirs again, I swear it!!! 

We also went to Dix Mille Villages which sells exclusively hand crafted, fair trade products. I found my night tables made exclusively from old wood, meaning wood that was discarded or that comes from dead trees as well as my night table lamps there, so I am all in all very, very happy wit how my day went :) I encourage you to visit Dix Mille Villages if ever you are in Montreal or to see if there are any of their shops in your area, they really are amazing little places!

Fourth post-Myomectomy check-in and other news

Hi there everyone!

It has now been three and a half weeks since my surgery and I am doing really, really well! I hardly have to take any Tylenol at all, am stretching more and more, have gone back to driving and am walking at my normal pace, which is quite speedy. I also went to the first half of my choir practice last night and felt no discomfort after an hour and a half of singing. I was feeling amazing when I got out of there and fully intend to do my full three hour practice next week!

As for my living situation, my Sweetheart helped me move back to my place on Sunday and I've been doing well on my own. I was rather sad and lonely and a bit insecure at first, but I got back into the swing of things quite quickly and am now feeling quite normal. It's also much quieter at my place than at my Sweetheart's since there is no construction site behind the bedroom window here. There are putting the second phase of a condominium project up right behind my Sweetheart's condo building and let me tell you that getting woken up at 7:00 A.M. every weekday morning by jackhammers, dump trucks and backhoes is not much fun and they keep at it until 3:00 P.M. except on Fridays when they stop at noon. They also take a coffee break at 9:00 A.M. until 9:20 A.M. and lunch from noon until 1:00 P.M. Yup, after three weeks I learned their schedule by heart! I also napped with the back door and window shut and my headphones in. No need for that at my place, my closed courtyard blocks out most of the traffic noise from the street, but then again I have not needed a nap since Saturday, which is another nice development and is more than likely due to the fact that I sleep a good two hours more in the morning without the construction noise and also since my Sweetheart doesn't wake me up by leaving for work.

My post-surgery recommendations for this week would be, once again, do not overdo it. I did overdo it on Sunday a bit by carrying some things, even though they were well under the 10 lb weight restriction, up the stairs to my apartment in order to help my Sweetheart. I then spent a good part of the afternoon walking around in the sun and heat house hunting. I was very, very swollen by the end of the day and rather discouraged. The swelling has gone back down to what it was on Saturday now, but if I had not overdone it it might be gone by now. Who knows? All I know was that I was kicking myself on Sunday night when I saw how swollen I was. So no matter how good your are feeling, obey your doctor's orders and the six week restrictions he gives you, even the pesky abstinence order!!! That is the other positive point to my being back home, my boyfriend and I were beginning to have serious issues keeping our hands off of each other. The first two weeks was not an issue, but by the end of the third when I was really getting back to normal it was getting rough. My apologies to anyone who thinks that might be TMI, but it's part of the road to recovery. No sex for six weeks and that's the end of it, nothing to be done and it is the hardest part. No house cleaning is nothing in comparison :J

On an entirely different subject, I AM BUYING A HOUSE!!! Well, it's actually an upper duplex here in my neighborhood, but it's the size of a small house and I am over the moon about it. I had been looking for a place for about two weeks and had visited nine places already in three neighborhoods and was getting discouraged because trust me folks, people ask crazy prices for complete and utter crap out there. I decided that what I really wanted was to stay in my current neighborhood. I really, really love it here, it's a great area, very safe, very quiet and also quite close to where I work. That meant broadening my financial horizons a bit though and I was comfortable with that because it is thanks to my father that I am able to finally buy a place and he would have wanted me to buy something that would make me happy and allow me to live in a nice, safe neighborhood. My father knows this neighborhood, he grew up in it and lived here all his life until my brother came along and he moved into the suburbs with my mother and I. So I upped my price range a bit and *poof* fell onto the perfect upper duplex that had only been on the market for two weeks. I pounced on it, sent the listing to my agent right away and asked him to arrange a visit for me yesterday. We went to see it with a friend of mine (always a good idea to visit houses with a second pair of eyes) and I had trouble containing my enthusiasm. We walked out, thanked the listing agent, let her leave and then I told my agent I wanted to make an offer. Yes, I was sure, yes, I was comfortable with being above my original budget, no, I did not want to wait for my Sweetheart to get back from his business trip to Niagara Falls because I was afraid I might lose the place if I waited until Wednesday or Thursday. Just put the offer in, man, put the offer in!!! So there you have it, my offer should be in by the end of the day and I should be moving in at some point in July. I am absolutely thrilled and I am sure my father is happy for me too, he approves of my choice, I can feel it. I will be posting pictures of the place once I am moved in and cannot wait for all of you to see it. It is so perfect, so me and I cannot believe it is going to be mine.

Thank you so much for looking after me Daddy, thank you a thousand times over. I just miss you so much and wish you could be here to help me and to pick up my moving van and drive it and help load it perfectly like you did for my two other moves. I just know that something will fall over in the truck because you weren't there to fit everything together like a perfect jigsaw puzzle. Hopefully Adam and Stéphane will be able to figure it out between them. Give them a nudge in the right direction, would you?

*May 6th through 12th is Mental Health Week here in Canada. I invite you to visit this website to learn more about Mental Health Week and also how you can maintain you mental health and where you can turn for help if you or someone you love has mental health issues.

Third post-Myomectomy check-in: out and about!

Hi everyone!

So, I am two weeks and one day out of my surgery and am feeling pretty darn good! I went for my first major outing by myself yesterday, walking to a mall that is about 5-10 minutes from my Sweetheart's place. I had lunch there, shopped around a little and then stopped in at the grocery store to get myself a little something for dinner and bouquet of flowers before coming back home. I felt great upon arriving back home, still full of energy and I was also feeling great this morning, so I decided to hop on the metro with my Sweetheart and a bunch of his family who were going to Sweetheart's parents' place for lunch. There was no room for me in the car at the other end, so I got off the metro at McGill and went shopping Downtown. After getting myself a new spring coat and a christening gift for Sweetheart's soon-to-be Godson (the ceremony is tomorrow afternoon), I walked along Ste-Catherine back to Guy metro and came home. I am very pleased with my progress and I should be back in my own apartment on Tuesday or Wednesday and also back to driving! I may see about taking AnnieG, my beloved VW GTI out for a spin tonight otherwise I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

On the medical front, things are going very well. I removed my steri-strips on Wednesday and the scabs are coming off of my incision very nicely. I now only occasionally feel a slight twinge from my inner stitches and I have not had any Naproxen since Wednesday and am therefore sleeping much better. My swelling is also still coming down and I am almost down to what I was before the operation. I find that my swelling goes down by a good notch the day following a nice, active day. I've even been able to wear my skinny jeans a few times, hurray! I wouldn't be able to do a full day in them though as I do get more swollen as the day goes on, which is perfectly normal. As for my scar, it is very, very thin and very pink. There is also a hard ridge underneath it, which is normal. I am also still quite numb between my belly button and my pubic bone, but even that is getting better.

So, recommendations for this stage of recovery: fight cabin fever!!! Even if you do not feel like going out for a walk, do it! You will feel much better afterwards because if you stay inside too much, you will get very bored, very frustrated and unhappy. I went through this about mid-way through this week and it was not fun. After pushing myself to go out though and seeing how well I felt afterwards, I made a point of going out a bit every day.

Also, if you feel the need to take a nap, do! If it is after 4:00 P.M. though, put an alarm on for a half hour or one hour at the most, otherwise you will have issues getting to sleep later on in the evening. This also happened to me this week. I fell asleep at about 3:30 P.M. on Wednesday and didn't wake up until 5:30 P.M.. I then had some pretty decent issues getting to sleep when we went to bed at 11:30 P.M. Oops :J

Finally, pace yourself. Just because I am feeling pretty amazing two weeks after my surgery doesn't mean you will. I am a fast healer and was in amazing shape going into my operation. I do encourage you to try and do a bit more every day. My big progress today was getting being able to stretch a bit when I woke up this morning and getting onto the metro (outside of rush hour and fairly early for a Saturday to make sure I could have a seat, you do not want to risk getting elbowed or knocked over). Doing something new every day will feel like winning a trophy, you'll see :)

That's it for now, I'll be in for another update next week! Until then, I hope you're enjoying Spring and the weekend!

Second post-myomectomy check-in!

Hi everyone!

So, I had my surgery exactly one week ago today and like clockwork there is a huge difference in my energy level today! I've been up since about 7:45 this morning (Sweetheart had to get up to go to work and I was starving so I got up as well) and have not had to go back to bed for a nap yet. I've laid down to read and watch a movie just so I don't overdo it, but have not felt sleepy at all, which is something because I've ended up having at least one or two naps a day since coming home from the hospital.

I've also started weaning myself off my prescription anti-inflammatory medication, Naproxen. I was able to skip a dose last night and only had half a pill this morning. I'm very happy about this because the medication had been giving my really, really odd dreams that bordered on nightmares, shortness of breath and possibly hot flashes as well, but those may also have been caused by my body working so hard on the healing process and the estrogen that was feeding the fibroid refocusing itself elsewhere. The jury is still out on that one, but I have been having fewer hot flashes since I've been cutting back on the Naproxen.

Also, my clips were removed yesterday and my incision is now covered with steri-strips which I was told I can remove next Thursday.

The incision is apparently healing perfectly, which I was very happy to hear. I'm going to keep treating it with Traumeel cream and will hopefully avoid having too much of a scar, although things are looking very good on that front so far. Also, my swelling is coming down nicely, so I may be able to give you a bit of an 'after fibroid removal' picture next week if everything keeps going well.

On that note, I do believe I will take myself out for a walk since it is nice and warm here today. Not sunny, but definitely warm, a nice, balmy 21 degrees Celsius!

First post-myomectomy check in!

Hi folks!

So, I came through my surgery with flying colors and have been recovering very, very quickly! The entire surgery lasted under two hours, they took me in at 7:45 A.M. and I was wheeled into recovery at 9:20 A.M. after they removed one single but very large fibroid from the left hand side of my uterine lining.  What happened to the other fibroids that were seen on my last ultrasound, I do not know. They may have disappeared when I stopped using progesterone cream or perhaps they were never there at all. They may have been an illusion created by how misshapen my uterus had become due to the size (think grapefruit on steroids) of the fibroid that has always been there, but the bottom line is that there being only one fibroid in there is a very good sign that my having a fibroid was more than likely a fluke and I will hopefully never have another. Typically fibroids that are caused by a serious hormone imbalance grow in abundance which is what I had been led to believe was my case, but apparently not, or at lease not anymore! Hooray!

No picture with this post because I am still very swollen from the surgery, but I can tell you that my incision is healing very well. The surgical staples are coming out on Thursday and I am moving around more and more easily every day. My Sweetheart and his family (sister and mother) are taking very, very good care of me and the only bothersome things I cannot do for myself right now are drive, put on my socks and dry myself off below my knees. That and I am doing everything I can to not sneeze or laugh. Laughing is quite painful so I dare not imagine what sneezing would be like!

My recommendations so far for any ladies out there who are going to be going through this surgery are to do your core strengthening exercises for a good two months beforehand if you can! I'm pretty sure they're part of the reason I am recovering so quickly and also have so little pain. Also, be warned that you will be very, very gassy for a few days after your surgery and this will not get better until after you have had a few bowel movements. If you want this go quickly for you, leave off the morphine as soon as you are able, drink loads and loads of water to flush it out of you system and WALK, like lots and lots. You will heal more quickly if you do and once the gas starts walking will help it pass. You may think this is TMI, but you will thank me fore telling you about it if you ever need the info. As of Saturday night I have been taking Naproxen for pain and the stuff works great and has no undesirable side-effects as far as I can tell. Take the oral painkillers they give you once you are off the morphine and do not look back unless you make a false move, laugh too much or, God forbid, sneeze.

That's it for now, I'm off to wash so dishes and then hop back into bed with my book. I'll be back with another post as soon as I feel I can offer more useful information and also an inspiring 'after picture'. Let me tell you though, if you are considering a myomectomy because your fibroids are making your life miserable, do not hesitate, just go for it! The relief of the fibroid symptoms after the surgery is instant and amazing, you will absolutely never regret it!

Pre-myomectomy picture

Hi folks,

It's taken me a lot of guts to post this picture, not because I think I look bad, but because I'm afraid of the opposite type of comments, the "Oh my God, this woman is faking it, her problem isn't that bad, look how tiny her midriff is!". Do not let the degree of swelling around my waistline deceive you folks, believe me when I tell you there is a doozy of a fibroid (soft ball to grapefruit sized) in there along with a collection of others, all of which I am having my OB/GYN evict on Friday. The largest fibroid is in the lining of my uterus on the left hand side and, as I have said before, is squishing my bladder and putting pressure on the lower part of my spine, causing pain right before my period. I also have abnormal swelling right before my period (the photo is me at my slimmest a few days after the end of my cycle, taken this evening and also after two months of intense core muscle strengthening in preparation for my surgery). I also have been suffering from gradually increasing menstrual flow for the past year, so really, it's time for these fibroids to go, especially if my Sweetheart and I want to be able to have babies any time in the near (within the next few years) future.

So there you have it, I've decided to share my story on here because really, there are so few ressources out there for women suffering from fibroids. I've looked and looked and aside from ge eric medical texts, I've found very few testimonies from women who have dealt with fibroids and had them removed, especially women my age in Canada who have gone through this recently. It think this is because A: not many women my age have fibroids that need to be removed B: it takes a lot of courage to talk about this type of problem because people often look at you with pity when you do and that feels crappy and C: it can be embarrassing. I realise that I am very fortunate to not be more visibly swollen than I am. God gave me a uterus that is tilted towards the back. If it was tilted forwards I would look like I was almost five months pregnant.

I sincerely hope that women who suffer from fibroids will find my fibroid posts (I will be posting at least one or two after my surgery) and that they will find them helpful and comforting. In the mean time, please send positive thoughts and prayers to my Sweetheart and for the road ahead and also healing thoughts and prayers for me.