I did it! - 11/13/12

Since last Monday was Tyler's surgery, we did not receive an e-mail from him.  Here is the latest about his surgery straight from his mouth:

I had my surgery and I'm alive enough to email at the library a week later. Fun stuff!

Today I had my follow-up visit with the surgeon, and it seems that all the symptoms that I worried about were perfectly normal. For example, nobody told me that my pain meds would make me constipated. But with the help of a lot of fiber, I am having bowel movements almost like normal again! The pain and swelling in my abdomen are still present, but at least I know that they are on the decline. I was also given another prescription for some more pain medication, so I will be a little bit loopy for another week. Hopefully I will be functional as a missionary by the end of this week!

The actual surgery last week was pretty miraculous. Even though it took the poor nurse two tries to get an IV stuck in my arm, I was brave and didn't cry, pass out, or throw up (all three were things I was scared of doing). After the IV was in my arm it was all fun and games. Elder Alvarez and I did our best to joke about everything that went on pre-operation, including my backless gown, the wheels on my bed, and the classy blue shower cap that I was wearing. One of the nurses said I could have one of the caps to take home, but I never found one in my stuff when it was time to go home. Sad day.

I remember being wheeled into the operating room and hearing the surgeon's music playing. I asked the anesthesiologist if he was going to give me something to relax, and that's the last thing I remember seeing, was him talking to me while he put medication into my IV. I don't remember being asked to count backwards or anything; I was out like a light.

My first memory after the surgery is of greeting my companion with a very goofy salutation. I didn't recognize the mission nurse at first, but when I did, I pulled my gown off to show her my incisions. My companion turned bright red at that point. But Sister Van Vleet has been a nurse for 40 years, I am sure she's seen it all before.

Details that I found out today: my polypropylene surgical mesh will be with me forever. The tacks and the suture that they used to attach it to me and seal me up will biodegrade and be absorbed by my body. The three little incisions under my bellybutton were glued together with cyanocrylate adhesive. I actually had a small hernia on the right side of my groin in addition to the left, so Dr. Hou patched me up on both sides. I must be one hard-working missionary to get two hernias in the first six months of my mission!

I haven't really done a whole lot of work this week, though. I got to leave the house only a couple of times last week. Instead, Elder Wolf and Elder Coleman, our two mini-missionaries from Yucaipa, have been going out with Elder Alvarez to talk to everybody. Our new tracting approach, shared with us at our multizone conference on Friday, is to announce to people that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that we've come to leave a blessing on their home. Hopefully we get in the door, write down the names of their families and friends, their trials, and then bless them and their homes through the priesthood. Then we ask if they want to be baptized, if we can teach them, and if we can come back to follow up on the blessing. It seems really cool, and has brought lots of success to other missions.

Well I love you all tons! Thanks for your prayers and support. I'm going to go lay down and take a nap now.