Post-op

Yesterday was post-op appointment & oncology followup day.  First stop was my surgeon's office.  She was very pleased with how the incision was healing and happily removed my staples.  I took an oxycodone before we left the house, just in case, but this time there weren't any stubborn ones to cause me undue pain.  We also got the ball rolling for the next and hopefully last procedure to reverse the ileostomy.  I am very much looking forward to having all of my internal organs back inside where they belong.  I will have a procedure a week or two ahead of time to check how my reconnected colon is healing, as an extra precaution, and if all is well, we proceed.

She also gave me the pathology results for the four specimens submitted from my surgery.  All were "negative for tumor."  She expressed what very good news that was.  That's all I needed to know about that.

Next was the lab for my now routine 3-month blood work, ahead of the oncology followup.  When you check in for the lab they always ask you if you have a port; this was the first time I could say "no!"  However it turns out I'm still a needle ninny when someone else is wielding the needle.  I had a moment of flushing and uncertainty when the technician moved the needle ever so slightly, after it was in, and also a pre-op flashback.  It was fine in the end but I did have to sit an extra minute to make sure I was okay to stand up.  Who would have thought it's easier to have a needle in a device in your chest than in your arm.  Weird.

Last was my oncology followup, also routine and without issue.  The level of tumor marker was normal (read: negligible).  I was asked about  my neuropathy and realized it's barely in my feet anymore at all.  It left myfingers a few months back and is now only in the very tips of my toes.  This is all good news.

I am trying to not take any oxycodone now.  It's hard.  Everything is tight, and if I sit too long or walk too much, everything aches - not just the incision site or the ileostomy but all the other muscles I subconsciously clench whenever I move.  I have one more week of medical leave before I go back to work (remote to start) and need to figure out the right balance of moving and not moving, being upright and being horizontal.  Abdominal incisions suck.

Third time's a charm

I feel I am now a surgical recovery expert.  This time around hasn't been anywhere near as terrifying as the last time, at least on the post-op side of things (pre-op side was definitely more terrifying).  The pain has not been as bad despite having nearly the exact same incision; the number of internal organs they remove does make a difference.  Surgery was also only half as long as last time and I was not super sick going into it.  Staples are still uncomfortable and I'm walking with a hunch again but do not need my cane, at least not around the house.  Last night I had the first really good night's sleep I've had since the pre-op appointments.  This morning I took one less oxycodone and I'm not dying.  I can raise my arms above my head, but don't know yet if I can still touch my toes.  I'll have to wait for staples to come out before I check (hurts too much to bend that far).  I am wearing my Fitbit again and each day trying to get more steps than the day before.  This isn't saying much - the first day I only took 591 steps.  I'm looking to break 1,000 today.  Tomorrow I might even walk outside.

I am also no longer a needle ninny.  I went home with three weeks' worth of Lovanox injections, same as last time, but this time I AM INJECTING MYSELF.  What?!?  Yes, it's true.  I can now stick a needle in my own body, albeit an extremely small needle that feels like almost nothing, containing a small amount of liquid that doesn't sting.  On the day I was discharged the nurses did a teaching with me and had me do the first one.  I sat on the edge of the bed with the needle pointing at my leg for fifteen minutes before I had the courage to push it in.  I waited for the visiting nurse the first two days at home to make sure I could still do it (I could) and yesterday I did the first one all by myself.  I guess after a cancer diagnosis, chemo, radiation, abnormal anatomy, and three surgeries, a little needle stick isn't a big deal.