Back Surgery Update

So before my Vicodin kicks in and I randomly fall off to sleep, I thought I would update on how my diskectomy went. I got to the surgery center (it's next to the hospital) at 8:40 Wednesday morning, got checked in, and brought back to a little room to wait for my surgery at 9:45. My mother was pretty nervous and kept telling me horror stories of when she had this exact surgery 25 years ago when she was 21 and how technology has gotten so much better. :P My mother is crazy!
So, at 9:45, one of my assisting nurses came and walked with me to the OR where the neurologist and Dr. Hoekema were waiting. After I got onto the operating table, the neurologist hooked me up to my IVs, though he had some problems finding a vein, so I have a beautifully long green bruise on my left hand. There were some complications to my surgery, so instead of getting out at 11:15, I didn't arrive at the recovery room until noon. I had been thinking my L4/L5 disk herniated around February some time, but once Dr. Hoekema cut me open and got in there, he realized it was AT LEAST February, if not sooner. So I played at least a third of this past season with a herniated disk. At least I know I not a pansy. ;)
Anyway, he discovered this when he went in because I had so much scar tissue built up around my herniation. As a result, instead of just pulling aside my muscle, he also had to retract a nerve, cut the scar tissue and herniation up and remove them in pieces instead of one chunk like originally anticipated. Of course, all of this means a lot of extra pain for me, which is exactly what I experienced upon waking up. The nurse immediately raised my meds to the next level but was afraid to do more in case I got nauseous, but it didn't help. I laid there in pain for like another hour, when they had me get up to go to the bathroom so I could go home. On the way back from the bathroom, I turned a funny color of green and got sent back to my bed to lay there for a while longer. I finally was able to leave after being in the recovery room for 3 hours. The nurse ordered me some Valium to go along with my Vicodin & Ibuprofin since it seemed I needed something a little more. Unfortunately, the pain has not gone away yet, though I have been mostly sleeping.
My daddy brought me flowers home Wednesday night, and my grandma came by with red carnations and a milkshake yesterday. My old church, Grace Baptist, also sent me a big gorgeous bouquet of purple flowers today. My little sisters are having a blast running from one bouquet to the next smelling them. :)
I've been laying here for 2 days now and am starting to get a little bored. At least Sarah's coming to visit me Saturday night. My friend/teammate AJ called me a couple hours after I got home from surgery Wednesday and it was so good to talk with her. Well, I know this post is a little disjointed and hard to understand, but that's what narcotics does to me . . . .