i got home last night, no more worrying about me! i have been pretty much pain free since i started solid foods last saturday. such a relief, i can tell you! but i had to stay, for observation i guess, but as we pretty much all know, a hospital stay in japan is usually much longer than one in the states (and i think, other western countries...) anyway. we had to meet with the doctor on wednesday (yesterday) to go over my condition and decide when to set me free. (sadly, the doctor is off on tuesdays, or we may have been able to do it then). i am doing well, though i still have inflammation, so i have to wait before having surgery (to have my gall bladder removed. i definitely want to have it done.) i have an appointment next friday to check my condition, so fingers crossed i can stay well!

about my stay....it was rough on me in several ways, most of all in missing my family. i think the kids had a difficult time adjusting, which made it rough for those taking care of them. then there was sasha's birthday, which made me quite sad. yoshi wasn't going to come visit (me in the hospital) that day, but he did manage it in the end, as you saw. another thing that was rough for me was all the needles! it took them four tries on sunday (my first morning) to start an iv, plus i had blood drawn, so i had five stabs right there. each time means they couldn't use the same place again, so they were kinda running out of veins in the end. if you know me in person, then i have probably told you my needle horror story and i have a great fear of needles, which only made it worse. *sigh* on the fifth day (thursday?) the iv had to be moved to prevent infection, which was not fun. it took the nurse two tries to get it. then, the next morning, the night nurse didn't change my iv bag in time and it backed up. which meant a new iv, of course. the night nurse tried three times, and failed, to do it. then another two nurses took three tries and finally got on in on my hand. i admit, i cried a lot that morning. and then, the boredom was pretty bad. i was in a shared room, but i didn't really talk to my neighbors. two of them were elderly ladies with some kind of leg injury, and they were mostly quiet and kept to themselves. they slept a lot, or watched a lot of TV. i slept a lot, too, especially the first week (most of the time when i was on an iv), but i didn't watch very much TV. i did get to read a few books and work on my cross stitch, but some times i was very bored and quite lonely! it was an unexpected hospital stay and it was difficult to ask yoshi to bring what i wanted or needed!

i have to be careful with my diet, limiting (or eliminating) fats and alcohol, and taking care with sweets and trying to increase my veggie intake. this will be good for my flummy challenge! wish me luck, because i never ever want to experience that pain again!!