The Picture of Stefthl

That title is a very unwitty Stef + Health = Stefthl
Like Brangelina, but not.

Manny always loved my thumbs (sarcasm) and subsequent idea to start a project known as:
Resurrecting the Thumbs Up.
This also pertains to another little-known project of ours: Resurrecting the High-Five.
We work on these projects anytime we enter a chic cafe or bar in the city.
It's taken us as far as... Receiving free tap water.

Bottom line: Stint-free never felt so good! It's really quite unnecessary for me to document the day of my (true to its phrase this time!) Day Surgery because.... It can be summed up in this: I repeated my horror story to anyone who came near me in that hospital, including the poor unfortunate soul who had to give me a "standard-it's-the-law" pregnancy test before I put on that sexy hospital gown and thick socks with tread on the bottom.

Then there was the other nurse involved in calling downstairs to relay my demand message: No nurse anesthetists allowed. Only Dr. Anesthesia. Oh, and easy on the air this time. Oh, and steer clear of the pancreas. Oh, and go easy on all of my innards while you're at it. And then there were the last words I remember uttering to my GI surgeon before falling under the magic gas while blanketed on the stretcher: "This better be our last hurrah doc!"

As I woke up from the nicest nap I've had in a while, I could taste the sterile whatever-they-used to go down my throat and into my abdomen and I waited for the onset of the worst pain ever and.... It never came. The next thing I knew, my mom was meeting me in recovery and I was more joyous than a fat kid in a candy shop. It. Was. Over.

I'm a little upset my GI surgeon didn't come say goodbye after all we've been through but it's okay. We've broken up, but it was a mutual agreement. I'm much better off without him.

Other than some random phantom pains in the location which formerly housed my gallbladder, and the incisions near my belly button and under my ribs, I feel healthier than I have in a long time. I'm laying off the former guilty pleasures (fat and wine, folks) and looking onward and upward.

On a side note, I was lucky enough to have my mom and step-dad come in for the weekend and check out the recent apartment remodel and also visit. It was Rob's first time here since we've moved to the n.y.c. (that's a whole hand-full of years: 5) and he must've liked it because he plans on coming back. It was so great to have mom there at the hospital on Friday, too. She was my security blanket. If something happened, Ma was there and she doesn't mess around. She is the ultimate Mama Bear and I really needed her. It was great seeing her in recovery!! Definitely a different experience than what Pops had a few weeks ago, poor guy.

I have a lot to be thankful for... In the worst of it, Aunt Carol (a.k.a. Aunt Harold) flew in to help with the kiddos and I was on bowel rest for the week following the pancreatitis. Pops was in. Mom made it in. Abuelo hung out with the kiddos a few afternoons. Amy came up when it all began! Feels like forever ago. Our friends have been amazing support, Angela, Fredda, those who prayed and sent cards and flowers and texts and phone calls... Love you all. Abuela has been a God-send the past few weeks. And Manny, such a great hubbalub. I feel like I've been given an award... "Here we bestow on you the award of good health!" and now this is my speech. I hope I didn't forget anyone, if I did, it's because the music cut me short.

Onward and upward.