Surgery

i had surgery on the 24th July to remove an 8x6cm (roughly) cyst from my right ovary. i got to the hospital at 8:30am, and then had to do some tests and get changed into a gown and then taken to a waiting room with about 20 other people who were having surgery that day. Gavin had to leave me there and go and wait somewhere else, and as it was my first time having surgery i was so nervous and scared! i finally got taken in at about 12:30, which was originally the time that they told Gavin that i would be done by. Gavin was keeping mum updated with what was happening with everything.

i was able to meet the doctor that was assisting the surgeon, and also everyone else who was involved in the surgery before hand. they assured me that i would be fine and that i wouldn't wake up half way through the surgery (which was my biggest fear!). they were all so nice! i drifted off to sleep and didn't feel a thing (thank goodness!).

the next thing i knew was that i was waking up in recovery. i woke up to a nurse holding my arms down. i was so confused, and she told me that she was holding my arms as i was throwing them around and it was pulling my canula out. i remember as i was waking up that i was dreaming that i was flying across the clouds, and i must have been using my arms to help myself fly! haha. i was pretty out of it still for a few hours, and as i was leaving recovery i told the nurse 'you are a really nice lady' haha.

mum, Morgan and Gavin came to visit when i was taken to my room, but i don't really remember much from it!

i had hardly any sleep on the first night, as i had a canula, a catheter, and these leg things (which got tight then loose alternatively). the leg things were quite uncomfortable, but were necessary as i was out for over an hour and a half and they are to prevent blood clots. 

cute little nephew visiting me. all the ladies in the room were oohing and aahing over him. ^^

my nurses were so nice! i felt so yuck when i was trying to go to sleep, and i wasn't able to get up at all, so my nurse brought me my toothbrush and a warm flannel so i could brush my teeth and wash my face in bed. it definitely made me feel a little better!

Gavin came by the next morning with this cute teddy inside a balloon. it made me laugh as they had no 'get well soon' ones, so he grabbed a 'happy birthday' one. he cracks me up!

i probably only had about 2 hours sleep the first night as they kept checking blood pressure etc all night. the next morning they got me up and about and i went to the toilet and had a shower, which made me feel heaps better. moving around was very sore!!

just before i went to hospital i bought Jory & Asha some minecraft pjs, and mum sent me this photo of Asha waving to me at the hospital wearing his new pjs. ^^

i couldn't really eat anything at all for the first day or so. i felt really sick for a while! i felt super nauseous while i had a shower, and when i came back out lunch had been delivered. it was a curry, and it totally set me off! once i had vomited i felt a lot better and was able to eat a little dinner that night. 

the second night i slept so well! they only woke me up once to check some things. i think having the canula etc removed was a lot more comfortable. i was able to eat a lot of breakfast and feel heaps better!

i had to wait a little while for the doctors to do their rounds, and then go away and check some things then come back and check me again, and then they said that i was ok to go home. i was glad to be going home, but it was also harder as i didn't have the nurses right there to help me constantly.

i came home to a balloon filled bedroom, which Morgan, Alex & Gavin had done. it was a nice surprise and it cheered me up. 

i also came home to a clean house including fresh sheets on the bed, thanks to my nana and papa who had cleaned everything with Gavin while i was in the hospital. it was so nice to come home to. 

i also came home to this 'little box of sunshine' on my doorstep from my friend Louise. it was so nice to come home to. 

the first week was definitely the worst. it was hard to move around without being in a lot of pain. it was also hard to get in and out of bed as it hurt so much! i had to just sit in bed or on the couch and make myself rest and heal. luckily i had some cute visitors and good books!

             

          my resting buddy ^^

Gavin was amazing. he had some paid leave built up from work, so he took a week of that, and it was so helpful to have him home where he could help me. he looked after me so well, making dinner, getting me drinks, helping me up and down from bed, and even giving me a foot massage! ^^

at the start of this week i was still in so much pain, and it didn't seem normal. everytime i moved a certain way i would have shooting pains across my stomach. they were so bad that this night i didn't sleep until 5:30am! i had to get Gavin to help me out of bed and i burst into tears it hurt so much. ^^

i went to the doctor and discovered that one of the small cuts was infected and he gave me some anti biotics and the pain has almost gone, thank goodness!

in the end they had to cut me open in the same place as when you have a caesarean. they looked inside me first with two cameras (and took photos for me!), and decided that they needed to do the big cut. they discovered that instead of the cyst growing on the outside of my ovary (like they thought) it was actually growing inside the ovarian sack, and had stretched my ovary out about 8-10cm! no wonder that i was in pain.
in the end they had to cut open the ovarian sack and remove the cyst, luckily it was just sitting there (which is a crazy thing to happen) as if it was attached to the actual ovary, they would have had to remove my whole ovary. luckily, they just removed the cyst and then cut a little of the ovarian sack away, then stitched it back up.
i am very lucky that they didn't have to take the whole ovary as well.

we threw the balloons into the office for a week, and then popped them all. (i say 'we' but it was actually Gavin haha) ^^

i am still in a bit of pain, and am trying not to lift anything heavy as i don't want to pop my stitches open! i have two more weeks off work, and i hope to feel even better by then. i am slowly feeling better and better each day. i am not meant to drive for 6 weeks, which has gotten incredibly boring already! 

but, i am slowly getting there! i just hope that these antibiotics clear up the infection as that is what is hurting the most at the moment. 

during the first week i had a lot of internal pain, which is slowly easing up. i have to remind myself that i just had major surgery and not to expect to feel amazing straight away. 

thank you to everyone who has made us a meal, visited, sent messages & phone calls and gave gifts. it was nice to be so loved and thought about. 

i am so glad that all the waiting is over and the surgery is finally done! it feels like it is time for a new chapter of our lives to start :) 

Our house...

.... in the middle of our street ;) 

when we decided to move back to my home town, this house literally just fell into our laps. it is a three bedroom house, with an extra bedroom and sunroom area out the back (perfect for child care). it has a huge yard and a sandpit already built in. 

we are still renting, but one of the main reasons that we decided to move house was so that i could do child care from home, and have a steady income, that would enable us to be able to buy/build a house later this year or next year. as this house was perfect, we couldn't say no. i thought that i would share a little tour as i don't want to forget the things about this house, when we move out sometime. 

we had a house inspection a week or so ago, and as the house was so clean and tidy (a rare occurrence!) it was a good opportunity to take photos! it was night time and i didn't use the flash, and this house has terrible lighting. when we build a house i am having lights, lights, lights! 

THE ENTRY/LOUNGE ROOM... 

we love this lounge room so much more than at our old house. we like how it is open plan, and also the big windows. in summer it was amazing to have the big front windows to look out and let the sun in. we had to buy lace though as so many people were staring in as they walked past! 

it's annoying as there are hardly any power points in this house.. it also annoys me how the picture hooks were all so high on the wall, it makes it hard for short people (like me and Gavin!) to see the photos straight on. we don't want to make new holes in the wall as it isn't our house. 

i love our new leather couch, we bought it from a friend for a great deal. i also love my new cushions, at first i thought they were too eclectic to fit together(after i already bought them), but i like the colour. ^^

THE KITCHEN... 

the kitchen is open plan with the lounge room, which is nice. we are the fourth people in my family to be the owners of the chairs and they desperately need a make over. i should have put away the dry dishes on the sink too... 

THE BACKROOM/LAUNDRY/PLAY ROOM...

these are the rooms that i do day care from. except these past few weeks as it has been freezing and one of the rooms is an extension, and is super cold! we love that we can close the door at the end of the work week and not have day care toys etc over run our house. we barely go out there when i am not working, except to do some washing. 

THE SPARE ROOMS... 

the office is kind of embarrassing. it's cleaner this week, but i didn't take a photo. this is where we keep our computers, paperwork, wardrobe, and everything else! there are absolutely no cupboards in this house, except for the kitchen, so we had a hard time knowing where to put things! we had to donate a lot of stuff, and the things that we want to keep are in those big plastic tubs, piled up! lots of cupboards goes on the list with lots of lights for when we build a house. 

our wardrobes. not ideal, but they are better than nothing. ^^

our other spare room is used as mostly storage for day care toys that i rotate. there is a toddler bed and a porta cot that get set up for rest time for day care. we also keep our board games in a huge cardboard box behind the door. no storage, i tell you! ^^



THE BATHROOM...

there's not really much to say about the bathroom, except that everyone always asks us why there are two bathroom doors.

OUR BEDROOM... 

i saved the best until last! this is definitely my favourite room in our house. i love our bedroom furniture. it was a really good package deal from fantastic furniture. our bed and bedside tables only just fit in the room! the thing we don't like about this room is that there is only one power point, and it is halfway up the bed on my side. also, i always pile our washing that needs to be folded in a basket in the corner of our room. i should just fold it straight away, but anyway. my favourite doona cover is a white one, with our quilt over the top, but it was in the wash the day i took these photos. the bunting is from our wedding. 

this is opposite our bed. we are contemplating upgrading our tv in the lounge room and putting the small one in our bedroom, but i kind of like that we have a no tv in the bedroom rule. thoughts? ^^

it kind of bugs me that this white shelf doesn't match too, but i still like it. it is only new and still needs some things on the bottom shelves, maybe some more books? ;) ^^

we are really happy with our decision to move here. we like the house, and the location. my work is 100 times better than what i did before. it is great as we earn more money now and have the opportunity to save some money so that we can buy/build a house in the near future (we are leaning towards building and we can't wait!). the downside is that Gavin travels 45 minutes to work, but he is doing a great job with the 5:30am mornings, while also studying. 

we are definitely a lot happier here, and although this house isn't forever, it was definitely what we needed at the time. we have no idea why we felt prompted to move when we did, and back to my home town of all places, but we are glad that we followed that prompting anyway, as we are happy :) 

The move

Back in January Gavin & i decided that it was time to move house, and head back to my home town (something that we thought we would never do!). I decided to quit my job and run a family day care business from home (which is a whole other post!). When we made the decision and started looking for a house to rent, one literally just fell into our laps.. We moved a few weeks later.

We still have no idea why we had the feeling to move here, but we are glad that we did. We miss a lot of things that living in the city provides, but we also don't miss a lot of things too. We won't be here forever, but it felt right to move at the time!

My family and lots of friends came to help us pack & move house, thank you so much everyone, we couldn't have done it without you!!

not sure if packing or unpacking is the worst part!? ^^ 

cutest little moving helper ^^

we actually moved on our first anniversary! We arrived at the new house to this ^^

Thank you to who left it there, it was nice to relax with it later that night! I was told later that there were also chocolates in the glasses, but i never saw those! Guess that's what happens when your dad & brothers beat you to the house ;)
A friend also cooked us dinner and dropped it around, it made it a lot more relaxing as we could just eat and go to bed, especially as we had no clue where any kitchen items were!


Asha and i spent some time in the house before the actual moving day, taking some items over and setting some things up. Asha had heaps of fun playing in an empty house!

Thanks again to everyone who helped us move, we are definitely a lot happier & relaxed here! We love it :)

I'll share a house tour in my next post.

Insta-life {May & June}

I keep forgetting to post my instagram pictures, but i love having them in collages as it is then so easy to print them as 12x12 inch photos for my project life album. I love instagram for daily life documentation. I probably post way too many photos on there, but i am always glad that i have them. I am makayla_jack if you want to follow me.

When i made these collages, i put some photos out of order, which didn't bother me at the time, but it is bugging me now. I might go back and make new ones, but probably wont. So these photos are mostly may and june combined! :)

Left to right, from top to bottom.

1. Nana's birthday (which was actually in April, i wanted the pic in my instagram feed). 

2. Gavin trying to win a minion at the cinema (he didn't!)

3. Gavin's reply when i said i would like to get this bike, he knows me so well!

4. Asha being crazy on a walk. 

5. Spending the day with Asha. 

6. Asha swinging. 

7. Learning about Aussie animals in pretty, morning light. 

8. Pretty morning light!

9. Happy mail! 

1. Great coffee table books from the post office. We are big Downton Abbey fans! 

2. We had a thermomix demo. 

3. My new couch cushions arrived! 

4. 3am - me, awake... Gavin, snoring! 

5. Our kids will be worth the wait (more like the health issues). 

6. Worst. job. ever. 

7. Second worst job! 

8. Morgan's baby shower. 

9. Every time we open the dishwasher! 

1. Took off to Hobart for the weekend. 

2. Gavin's Hobart wish - Nandos. 

3. At MONA. 

4. Gavin's other Hobart wish - a sausage mcmuffin. 

5. At MONA. 

6. Out for lunch with Asha. 

7. Waiting for my appointment at the hospital. 

8. Updated my blog. 

9. All the rainy days remind me of our honeymoon! 

1. Asha left a teddy in our bed for Gavin to snuggle. 

2. Our thermomix arrived. 

3. First dinner creation in the thermie. 

4. Leaves all over our backyard! 

5. The thermomix can make a cake in less than 5 mins. 

6. Visiting the ANZAC memorial with Asha. (this was from the start of may). 

7. An amazing book! 

8. 7 years since my Unlce Stuart passed away (May 27th). 

9. Waiting at more appointments. 

1. Frost, frost, frost! 

2. In my backyard. 

3. On our way to see Morgan's baby. What are his uncle & aunty for?? 

4. Cuddling James, my first nephew!!