Little things

Tonight, I washed my hair.  Kind of silly but also kind of a milestone.  

For those who don't know, the last several years I've been growing my hair out long - takes about two years - then cutting it off and donating it to Locks of Love.  This year will be my fourth donation.  I usually cut it in October, but may do it as soon as I can tolerate sitting "normally" for an extended period again, maybe in a couple of weeks.  As I understand it the chemo I will get does not have the side affect of hair loss (or at least a very low risk) but I may as well be prepared just in case.  

As a friend of mine once said, so much fuss about a dead protein... may be easier to be rid of it regardless!

Catching up

I'm attempting to readjust to home by catching up on mundane household tasks - putting away laundry, opening mail, paying bills, that kind of excitement.  In doing this I've realized one unexpected pro of being in the hospital for three of the last six weeks: there are no charges on my credit card!!

I can't do very much at once, especially if it involves standing or walking around, but I did take three "walks" to the bedroom on the opposite side of the house.  I may venture down the stairs for dinner, too.  Coming up was okay; hopefully going down isn't too much harder, especially with my new trusty cane (we have an old house with very steep stairs).  I also managed to stay on top of my meds schedule today and that makes a HUGE difference.  I'm done with all my antibiotics now, just pain meds are left.  Hoping I can cut back on those in the not too distant future.  Just need... less pain.

I also realize I kind of missed summer.  I still haven't really processed everything that has happened since the last week of July.  Everything changed so suddenly and drastically, without warning, without reason.  One of these days I'll absorb it.

Home

Made it home.  Made it up the stairs.  All scrips are filled.  Trying to stay on top of meds without going nuts, keep walking without getting overtired.  Took my celebratory coming home nap already.  Feel like I could sleep for a year.  

Over and out for today... thanks all for the support and good wishes.

Hard to believe I went through this door nearly two weeks ago:

Homeward bound

Surgical team has cleared me to go home!  It's always great to hear that, and then immediately terrifying.  So many questions and little things that will temporarily be big things - flat bed that's harder to get in & out of, stairs, clothes that won't bother the incisions, injections I'll have to give myself (surprise), scheduling all the meds... argh.

Also turns out there was a friendly feud between the surgery and infectious disease teams.  ID wants me to finish out a certain course of antibiotics but surgery wants me to go home.  Apparently there was a compromise and I should be able to finish whatever antibiotic is needed by mouth.  That said there is still something cranking away on my IV - I sense not everyone is on the same page yet...

Well, let's see if we can figure out how to get this show on the road, or pause it if needed...

Stage IV

My surgeon received the pathology today and confirmed the tumor on my colon was perforated and the cancer had metastasized to both the right and left ovaries.  The uterus was unaffected.  Four lymph nodes were affected out of the twenty-something they removed.  She had also seen something on the small intestine but turned out to be just a pus like substance, not tumor.  There is some evidence that cancer cells remain on the right pelvic wall.  She'll confirm with my oncologist but chemotherapy is still the expected next step once I've recovered from this surgery, possibly followed by radiation.

Oh, and she removed my appendix too.  Package deal.

No real surprises, I suppose - we always knew it was stage III or IV.  What a lot of internal real estate to remove at once.

So now to recover already!

New doctor

Doctor Connor makes everything better.

Less is less

During surgery last week they put in two nerve blocks, on the right and left of my abdomen, to help with pain.  They are very similar to an epidural just in a different place. The medication flows directly into the catheters.  These were two of my many tubes.

On Sunday one of the connections became disconnected and no one noticed for a while.  It probably came loose when I moved from the bed to the chair.  This was the day of my big walk, and after sitting in the chair for a couple hours I realized I felt pretty lousy and was not sure why, and worried about walking when I felt that way.  When a nurse came to check vitals and placed the blood pressure cuff, I noticed my gown was soaking wet; the medicine had been dripping on the chair for a couple hours.

I got re-connected and in a little while felt much better again.  So I knew what a difference the blocks were making.  Yesterday they removed them all together and I was very nervous about the pain getting worse, but it held steady most of the day.  I even didn't take the full dose of my oral pain meds thinking I didn't need it.

That was a mistake.  Last night was long and the incision seemed to just radiate and throb all night.  I finally had to ask for the "backup" IV meds at 5am just to get some sleep.  I am trying to get back on track now and make sure I take the full dose every time, on time.  I am all for two fewer tubes but I wish it could have been a smoother transition.

Little speed bump.  And I keep remembering I'm just trying to get home so I can recover fully from this surgery.  I haven't even started chemo.  I don't even know what else is coming for me.  

Today might be a long day.