Summer of 1989, I took five weeks off from work to have a Hysterectomy.
My doctor had found a fibroid in my uterus it was the size of a grapefruit.
He sent the fibroid off and said it was not cancer.
He also said that I could not do any heavy lifting or driving for 5 to 6 weeks after the surgery.
I remember checking in at the Hospital in Muscle Shoals where I was prepped for surgery.
I hate knives and the thought of being cut is terrifying so needless to say I was very nervous about the upcoming surgery.
When my nurse came in she said are you nervous about the surgery? I said yes.
Then the nurse said, “I am going to give you a shot it will relax you.”
The surgery went well and they had me up walking the next day.
During the surgery, my abdomen was filled with air.
My stomach looked & felt like a balloon ready to pop.
They gave me an enema to relieve the gas, but it did not work.
The nurse said that I needed to walk to relieve the gas.
I walked up and down the halls of the hospital but found no relief.
Finally, I went to the restroom and found relief, it sounded like the air coming from a hot air balloon or a stack of whoopee Cushions.
I was released from the hospital and my middle son came to the hospital to pick me up.
I had a prescription that needed to be filled so we stopped at Kmart’s Pharmacy in Muscle Shoals.
The prescription was for the pain it was Tylenol with codeine.
The doctors wanted me to walk so I walked inside K-mart with my son to get the prescription filled.
A week after I came home from the hospital my daughter-in-law said we are going to the Birmingham Zoo do you want to go? We can rent a wheelchair to push you around.
I had been cooped up in the house for a week since my stay in the hospital and I was ready to get out.
It takes about two and a half hours to drive to the Birmingham Zoo, when we arrived we purchased tickets and rented a wheelchair.
I was still very sore from the surgery, and as I was pushed into the wheelchair I could feel every bump and pothole that we hit.
It made me appreciate people who have to ride in wheelchairs all the time, especially rented ones with no extra padding.
 |
| Riding in a Wheelchair |
At the Birmingham Zoo, we saw the African elephants throwing dirt onto their backs. We saw giraffes eating leaves from very tall trees. We visit the cages of the Siberian tiger, the roaring lions, the cheetah, the Black Panthers, Snow leopards, and the Jaguar.
We visited Monkey Island which housed hundreds of monkeys.
We saw a family of Gorilla with the mother feeding her young.
We went into the reptile house and saw rattle Snakes, copperheads, coral snakes, Boas, Anaconda, dragon monsters, chameleons, helmet lizards, Iguanas, and many different species of frogs.
Our next stop was to see the Roman God Vulcan atop Red Mountain, he overlooks the city of Birmingham. The Vulcan is 56 feet tall and there is an elevator that takes you to an overlook encircling the statue.
I had a wonderful time at the Birmingham Zoo & The Vulcan but was sore the next day and I had to take several Tylenol with codeine for pain.
A few weeks later I rode to the Space and Rocket Center with my son and his wife.
This trip was also fun but I had to take Tylenol with codeine because my stomach had not completely healed from the surgery.
I spent my time sunbathing on my back porch during the day.
I spent time at the Birmingham Zoo, at the Vulcan, and at the Space and Rocket Center with family.
I went back to the doctor for my six-week check-up and the doctor said I could go back to work.
I was ready to head back to work and it was wonderful to be able to sit behind the steering wheel of my own car.
