Day by Day

Getting stronger each day. Mostly independent except changing bandages and the colostomy bag. I'll get there...

My right hand still has some numbness, but is also getting better.

Our family didn't have thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's because Beth made an unexpected trip to the hospital with an infection of some sort and what they think is kidney disfunction. Still praying she will continue to get better...

Love ya'll

No Bionic Eye?

Dr. Lee forgot to install the bionic eye...hmmm...Oh well...

Trivia: did you know that Farrah Fawcett Majors formerly married to Lee Majors (The Bionic Man) died recently of Anal Cancer, which is a totally different type than I HAD...yes...HAD!

I'm feeling stronger and am able to get up more often than not by myself, walk around and do a few things and not feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest.

A shower would still be nice, but that will come. Always nice to see the Beavers trounce the Trojans!

Still am draining out of 4 portals and Jeanah is doing a great job keeping those bandages changed 2x daily. Looking forward to Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's. Lots to give thanks for!

Love ya'll.

Surgication is over!

It's always a bummer when you come home from vacation and realize it's over. Well, imagine that we went to St. Vincent's (doesn't that sound tropical) and spent a week with "cabana boys and maids" that kept wanting to poke me with a needle! AND I still feel very much like I have the flu as far as my strength goes...

In fact, not to make you feel sorry for me, but just to give perspective where I am, this is is how I feel. 1) Haven't showered in 8 days...won't get to for about 20 more! Only sponge baths (thank God for Jeanah!) 2) I feel like I have several feet of duct tape on my belly holding drainage sites in place and the suchers. (again, thank God for Jeanah...she has to change the dressings twice/day. I can walk about 20 -30 steps before becoming winded. Not dizzy, just my heart thumping out of my chest...
tired, like I have the flu (and am healing).
Suddenly, my poop comes out the front, not the back (Um...what?) Oh, and I feel like I have a ball of that duct tape in between my cheeks.
And to boot, on my three main fingers on my right hand I feel like I have duct tape because they are slightly numb, but coming back slowly. BUT, I have very little actual pain, which everybody is quite amazed by, and I'm particularly happy about.

On the good side, I see how great my God is and how awesome my wife, friends and family are. Praise God for raising up an agent in Dr. Lee who was able to do some complex surgery like this!! WOW!! When I hear what he did, unbelieveable! I want to get an read the surgical notes at some point.

I AM AlIVE...and CANCER FREE!!!! Woo Hoo!!

OK, I'm getting tired of being at the computer...more later...

Preparation

Dr. Williams said I "did a good job" with the colonoscopy. That's great because I was asleep during the entire procedure. Surprisingly, the found cancer! Ha! They also did find one small pollup and removed it and will biopsy that. The Doc decided not to do another biopsy of the cancer as we just did that two weeks ago and determined it was adenocarcinoma (the dreaded "butt cancer" according to Jeanahisms 101).

Friday night we went out bowling with some friends. Saturday, I'm working for the last time for a while until 1pm, then Jeanah has a surprise in store.

Sunday, I will be preparing for surgery.

We go in at 7:15 on Monday. Surgery starts at 9:15. I will blog as soon as I can to let you all know how things turned out!

Double Dosage

Things are coming in twos this week.

First, I found out that I get to prep for a colonoscopy on Thursday am at 10:30. AND I get to prep again on Sunday for surgery on Monday. Prepping is SO much fun, but it's a necessary evil...

Then, I found out that because we are not certain exactly how the surgeon will do the procedure, I get to have marks for the stoma on both sides of my belly.

Should be interesting to wake up on Monday night and see what happened! Wonder if I'll be out of surgery in time for Monday Night Football (just kidding, Jeanah).

Well, time to visit the porcelain again...ain't this fun!

Today I met with the Pre-Op nurse, the Stoma nurse, and the Hospital Doctor and they have all the paper work and poking and prodding ready for surgery. Should be an uneventful check in.

Good thing we did though because my Blood Pressure is too high and he wants it down for surgery. I told him I'll get right on that, but he prescribed more meds for me to take so it will go down. Also, my potassium is borderline so he gave me some supplements to take.

mmmmm....more pills!

Won't be long now!

We are getting the barn ready for a fine post-op experience. I'm all hooked up and ready to be able to work from home too, which will be good several weeks from now...

Love ya'll