I'm home... It's 5:00 Saturday and I arrived here about 3 p.m. My parents chauffeured me home and Dan and the boys had the pizza boxes and empty pop cans all cleaned up. Actually, the place is spotless and germ-free - they had a housekeeper come do a bang-up job. Here's a recap of what has happened since Wednesday.
Wednesday 6/4 - Surgery day. Dan and I dropped the boys at school, he dropped me off with Ms. Hayes my newlywed sister and she drove me to Seattle. I was weak and zoned out most of the drive. We checked in at 10:00 and I was never so glad to get an IV. Met the surgeon and Anesthesiologist (photo will be posted tomorrow), rolled into surgery at 12:30. Surgery was completed by 3:30 p.m. 12 inches of my colon was removed and resectioned, the tumor and all damaged tissue was sent to pathology, the my appendix was also removed. The appendix should lie down in the pelvic area, mine was up near my liver and would have been serious if I ever had appendicitis mostly because ER crew might not have looked for it there. So it was removed as a precautionary step - added 5 minutes to the procedure.
I was in recovery and spoke to the boys at 4:30 to tell them all was well. Family left about 9:00 and I went to sleep. At 10:30, I was awakened with the sensation of no feeling in my legs. I could move my toes, but numb from buttocks to ankles from the epidural delivering my pain meds. Asked for an anesthesia consult and finally got one at 2:30 a.m. My main reason for panic was that my paternal grandfather was a paraplegic from a bad epidural. So there was understandable panic. Removed epidural the next day at 12 and legs were back to normal in 5 minutes. Didn't sleep much the first night.
Thursday - Second day passed some gas and got only ice chips, slept A LOT in the afternoon and evening. Boys and Dan visited Thursday night for about 1/2 hour just to reassure them that Mom was fine.
Friday - got out and walked around today, took a shower, ate some liquid diet (green jello), I may get out of here Saturday.
Saturday - EGGS for breakfast, baked potato for lunch and watched Pretty Woman until discharged at 2:00 p.m.
The oncology/surgery ward at Northwest in fairly small and the surgeon would make me his last stop for the night before taking off - hitting his star patient last. We'd shoot the breeze and check all the vitals and assess what I needed to do tomorrow to be out Saturday. I realized Friday that only 3 of us on the floor were ambulatory and heading toward discharge, the rest were very ill folks. I haven't been able to pray for myself, but found it easy to pray for others I saw there. Besides, I knew how many were praying on my behalf, and how much it helped us.
The BRA chicks visited late Friday night, Aunt Pam and Uncle Rick Friday evening and Mom and Dad daily - MANY THANKS, I had ample time to rest and recuperate. Mom got the fun jobs like helping me shower and dress.
Many thanks to all who pitched in while I was away - the boys look none the worse for wear and Dan is a bit ragged but did well on his own. I'll be on a "toddler diet" for several weeks, no driving while I'm on pain meds, no housework for a month and only light exercise. There are more foods that I CAN have than those I cannot - no high fiber, raw veggies, nuts, popcorn, etc. lots of soft/mild digested food. Officially, a mechanical soft food diet.
More insightful musings tomorrow in retrospect of this whole adventure...
Peace and blessings,
Michelle
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