Chemo 4 over. Disconnect day

11 days of freedom!


Headed in... dressed AND showered. Adjusting to bag life. I hung it outside the shower today then dashed out to get it pulled.


Back home and at work. Again.

All is well with the world.
Cold sensitivity is still there.
Diarrhea eased up
Feeling tired but early wake up at 5:30 exacerbates that I'm sure. Not sure what's up with that issue. Emptied bag at 5:30. Couldn't go back to sleep. Sigh.

Back is holding steady. Not sure if that's due to milkweed balm that was recommended or paying closer attention when I'm clenching and forcing relaxations. Either way I'll take it!!

6 hours later the reality



Sleep sounds lovely right now 😄

Pig in the house! 🐷 🏡

The pump affectingly know as the pig is back. I have heard a few more hints about how to muffle her

She is now being tucked between two pillows AND nested in a blanket to boot 😜 AND wear plugs. I didn't hear a thing when I went to bed!! Zzzzz

At 3:30 I woke for bag empty. Ok that's better than last time for sure. I think I had three empties the first night last time. I ate heavier at lunch the day prior so I think that helped.

The only thing was a crawled back in bed and laid there and laid there. Yep could NOT go back to sleep. I got up and went to the recliner. I did Facebook for a bit then about 4:30 or 5:00 I thought. Hum I could sleep now so
I grabbed my blanket and pillow and went to lay on the couch. It was actually NICE to have a backrest and be on my side. Zzzz snores for an hour before Butch's alarms started. One of which in the kitchen. Sigh. I did go back to sleep
After that, thank goodness. 😄

I snoozed until my alarm went off in time to have me roll up to the computer for my job.

Worked and had thoughts of sleeping at lunch. Didn't happen. I made some lunch for Lizzie and me as she was here. Enjoyed a bit of downtime during lunch then back at it. I'm on a roll the last few days (6 now) I've been doing full days of work. It's about time.

I DID take an hour nap after work though 😄 zzzz

It's been 6 weeks since surgery. It's time to get back at it. I still have 32 hours of annual leave on the books and have 4 whole hours of sick leave leave on the books. That's a good thing is I didn't have to dip into borrowed sick leave or beg for leave just yet, so that's a good thing.

I still may have to in the coming months for the reversal however we will deal with that when the time comes. It's still a way off.

As of today symptoms are about the same:
Hoarse throat
Cold sensitivity that goes to even tap water
A bit of diarrhea (Again less notable with bag)
Increased appetite today. Want to eat everything in sight!! Keeping it under control with calorie counting
Tires eyes (could be the interrupted sleep?)
Back pain is minimal- not creeping in too badly
Sleepy...9pm and ready for bed.

Chemo infusion day number two

Chemo infusion day number two!
Mom came with me to experience what the process is. She was so cute. She wanted to come pick me up. I warned her it was a LONG process and not advisable. She scoffed, then experienced it herself. 😜

I came in at 9:30
Wait out front to get vitals
Vitals taken weight loss still at 50 lbs
Wait in the back hall to get nurse assigned
Go to infusion room
Wait to get blood draw
Go back and wait in the back hall
Get assigned room
Wait for doc
Talk to doc
Go to infusion room to start the actual infusion. It is now 11:30

Start pre-infusions
Start infusion at noon


Waiting to see the doc


Number TWO

And now we wait for it to all get pumped in and the pig 🐷 put on for two days. :)

Going home I went by to see Liz. It HIT me in the Starbucks... hum. Get your Benadryl and GO HOME. Yeah. Standing AND talking was not working as my voice was super froggy and crackling.

Weird. Ok. That's a new one. I felt a little hoarse and "breathy" sounding last time. Interesting. So far so good. Going to bed at 10. As the rest of the time will be earlier feel that this timing is good time.

Oh and even room temp water is hitting the throats like ice. That sucks. Hot tea for a bit I guess. 😳

Backs feeling better!!!

That moment when you're walking to your bedroom and you notice your backs not killing you. In fact you were sitting quite comfortably there watching TV without having to shift multiple times.

Nice!! And scary as typically pain in an area indicated cancer cells are being attacked. Makes you wonder what's going on at that battle front, eh? Me too. Kill'em all!!!

Yay - baby steps

So what is so exciting about this?  There is no more glaring white "dot" of a bandaid left on my neck - ya!!!!

Cancer life is less obvious without the white bandage in plain sight.  I know it's silly, but it's nice to NOT have outward signs of stuff going wrong.  I hope folks are honest with me about the bag not being that noticeable when I'm not wearing the binder because that thing is super uncomfortable.  It's not that squishy, it's just hard to go potty.  Weird, eh?  but it I wear it above the undies, but under the pants so it doesn't hang out the bottom of my shirts.  This is great, but in a matter of urgency one needs to be able to get shirt up, pants down, binder up, undies down.  Yeah so not worth it to a procrastinator like me! :)

All of me wants to be normal.  I want to go to work and complain about having to go to work again.... well, I do that still complain about having to work, but it's just that I work from home now and fight sitting all day.  My back hurts so badly most days... I have to shift positions all the stinkin' time.  It's better than it was last week, but it's still there, it's still aching.  It's going to be "sorta" OK by the time I go back for treatment #2.  I have to remind myself I chose this.  I could have backed out... but honestly know it's probably the best thing I can do to head off a recurrence - or head off any spreading.  Hopefully.

Yesterday I went into my closet to try on my jeans to see which ones of the snug ones would fit me for New York.  Yeah, none of them fit...they all have a huge gap - they would fall off... maybe I should just invest in a belt?  Hum.. there's a thought.  Shirts are fitting OK still - mostly - some are a bit baggy, but I like baggy.  Part of me is happy about the weight loss, part of me is sad to not have anything to wear.  I think about thrift stores, but they won't have tall pants.  Guess it's time to head out and see if I can buy two pair of pants for the trip - the rest can be slacks that are baggy.

Weekend update

Hair loss last week after a brush clean out so it's JUST what I brushed out before and after the shower.
Hair loss this week. Same drill.
MAY look a bit like it's more due to me having balled it up a bit more to dispose of it. Hard to tell. I was told that hair loss would/could start and hit the high at about the third treatment. Nutrition is a bit worse now that I'm not getting specific ones through shakes but my output is MUCH more tolerable as it's not liquid anymore. That's a plus!!
And this is what the port sight looks like now. Not too shabby and the bruise is really only noticeable to me when I'm bright sunlight.

I've been cutting back the bandages slowly as they peel up to avoid pulling them on anything. So far so good they are coming off slowly. It's just under two weeks and I know from the belly it takes a while for surgical glue come off very slowly on me!!

Weight forefront in comfortable saying I have lost 53lbs now. It's holding steady and losing SLOWLY. The perils of adding real food to the mix. I'm thinking I should join up with weight watchers and see if I can't make healthier choices in the future. We shall see. I would like to get down about 40 more.

Part of me wonders if I should just hang onto the Optifast as it constipated me and use it during transition as I'm afraid of losing control on that forefront. Decisions decisions.

But if I really AM lactose intolerant then I probably shouldn't 😜

My girlies!!

I was a mess this day, I had been crying about something to do with the cancer diagnosis/treatment/schedule, something earlier, my hair was a mess, I wasn't dressed for the occasion... I was having morbid thoughts that I wanted to be in this picture so they would remember me before it all changed... before I wasn't "me" anymore... so I jumped in...

I don't feel the morbid thoughts anymore, however, I'm super grateful I DID jump into that picture with these two beauties!!

Update...

Well, I haven't updated since Saturday when I was still feeling rather "OK" - that went downhill fast.

Sunday I barely moved from bed to chair to bed... looking at food on TV even made me queasy. Yeah, I was a mess. Monday I woke up and thought "hum...., I could eat"... yeah, hadn't had that thought in a day.

So I ate some cheese grits and then even went out to lunch with Mom, Aunt Tuny and Lynn. It was a nice lunch at Appleby's in Perry








then I went home and took a nap - ha! I'm such a light weight! I tell you, that chemo is not for the weak at all!

So I have had hot flashes, nausea to the point of waking me up in the middle of the night, diarrhea, even when not eating (makes for gross bag emptying lemme tell ya), exhaustion, blurry vision (not bad, more like sleepy eyes), gas (still burping all the time), cold sensitivity (could NOT drink cold drinks for about four days after disconnect), and rough spots in the mouth (a few are sores now, but working around them) and sore back (which according to them is very weird).. and with ALL this? I was told today I'm tolerating chemo well. HA!

Yep, my blood counts are all looking OK for where I am in the process. The symptoms I have are all workable. They aren't horrible. They are not GREAT, by any means, but really? It could be worse, I could be puking my guts up, I could have active sores in my mouth that keep me from eating at all.... BUT the back pain? Holy mother! Yeah, I could live without that crap. I was looking at the pain scale today and for me? I think it's a 5 - meaning it's a sad face. Yeah, they would rate that at an 7 to 9. Sigh... I'm way too tough for my own good at points like these...
So - I'm now going to be taking prescription strength Advil and Tylenol alternating ... then filling (or trying to) the prescription for my heavy duty stuff (OxyCodone) to have on hand if things just get too much. If it's not better by Friday I'm to call them. But really? What are they going to do about it all? Gimme drugs. I will have drugs on hand and will take those and hope for the best.
Sigh. This stuff sucks.

Sunday I felt like I had been hit by a truck and had the flu. I was looking at the clock at 8:30pm and going to sleep and sleeping until 8am - yep... you read that right AND taking a nap to boot. It's sooo sad. Last night even I was looking at the clock and thinking "what is acceptable for me to just ditch out and go to bed?" it was 8:30pm. Lawd!!
So... I feel more "together" during the day now and yesterday... but honestly could sleep for hours. The good news is that over the weekend I would sleep and NOT feel rested... now I sleep and nap and actually FEEL rested when I wake up. That's always a plus!

So - there you have it, what it's like to be on chemo for the first time...
Sleep, feel horrible, sleep, feel horrible, start to come out of the yuckies slowly... sleep some more.... sleep some more... and hopefully by the time I start this all over again I will be used to the drill and just know to sleep when I need to sleep and do what I gotta do.

Work is understanding to some degree in that I telework. I get up at 7am - literally roll out of bed and sign into the computer - jammies and all. I get coffee at some point. HOWEVER that is another thing... coffee and I are not on speaking terms right now... could NOT stomach it over the weekend. I did tea and toast all weekend. And Ritz crackers. They were welcomed. And room temperature water. Really - straight out of the garage so barely room temperature - more like luke warm. But, hey, it worked for me. Hydration is a thing... something I have a harder time keeping up on - so far no liquids have been needed, so I think I'm riding a fine line. Not quite at dehydrated, but feeling a bit dehydrated.

So, that is the update for now. Not all roses and pretty things, but not all doom and gloom either.
Trying not to sugar coat it and say I'm fine... but when I think about what could be, when I see the folks in the cancer center in wheel chairs and I'm up and walking and driving myself to treatments, I feel very lucky to be where I am, and as healthy as I am through this. It's not a walk in the park, but it's not super horrible.

What I'm honestly dreading more than anything is the reversal and incontinence. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I mean I know I'll do what I need to, but I dread it.

Disconnect Day

The needle that was shoved in my chest. Ok so not really IN my chest but in the port in my chest then taped down.
The small hole below the white tape (its over my incision) is where the needle was poked into the port.

The small bandage above is where they accessed the jugular. And yes, you can feel the tube through the skin.

A little orange/green from bruising but not as bad as I anticipated.
The skin irritation from the medical dermabond tapes. 🙁. Poor skin!

We'll use some of the barrier seal like I use on my tummy next time.

And there ya have it. More to come when steri-strips come off :)
Weird stretching due to the new tunnel. Hopefully that will not stay that way 😳. If so then so be it.

I'm fine. I'm great.

So I was told I sugar coat too much. I appear fine in Facebook. But who wants to hear the truth?


Not very many. But my updates and comments to bosses are becoming more real lately.

And yes folks I'm in Jammie's at 8:30 and in bed. I telework because I'm just sitting at home anyway. I feel meh but I'm just sitting there anyway. May as well work so I will put in 4 hours teleworking.

It's not all it's cracked up to be, this teleworking thing. Your coworkers treat you like you are not in charge anymore because you're NOT there. They don't communicate to you like you wish they would. It sucks to try to lead system from afar.

While working there are always few dashes away from the computer as Chemo does a digestive number. Wow! For once glad I have a bag!!

I have a little cold sensitivity - moved to room temp items and avoided the fridge (hope that's short lived).

I've had a few super hot flashes and my day is just about complete with an emergency clean up in the kitchen isle (and a quick rinse off) I had finished work already so no hurry there to get cleaned and back at it.

Yeah this stuff is quite an adventure. Honestly the only add on is the hot flashes and cold sensitivity. The rest was already there and being adapted to somewhat (unhappily). It's a bit more in an uproar after Chemo. Hopefully it will chill between treatments. That would be nice.

The good news is the cold sensitivity should dissipate over time. Two/three days. Hopefully the bowel stuff that was settling prior will settle again as well. I just repeat over and over "5 more treatments, 5 more treatments". That and I'm fine. Really. It's all good. It's a smaller price than some pay. So I will take it like a woman (a woman in hard labor - ha!).

It's worth it in the end!! Pun intended.

Oh and 3x a night wake up is not uncommon for bag stuff (2nd ballon experience, however not as dramatically full as the first). 1x in the middle is considered a great night!! I had a great night last night 🙂 now to get my "skills down to a 2 minute dump and run" instead of 10 minutes and I'll be super jazzed!!

First chemo day.

8:00 arrive cancer center
8:15 called back to check in
8:20 see Dr Sumrall

Was told the first few weeks are unique as I will be back next week as a precaution to just lay eyes on me and make sure all is well.

Oh one MORE clarification - SIX treatments only so not a full three months. Six treatments. However they fall on the calendar and depending on delays could be over quickly.

8:30 into chemo area to get blood draws
And we wait.


We wait for blood draw results. Once results are back as being good we proceed with chemo. THEN it's two hours to get the infusion.

So found out these two visits typically go the opposite. It will in the future be go into chemo area, get blood draws then wait for doc to see you THEN back to the room to get treatment as blood work will generally be done by then. So next time they will be flip flopped.

9:15 still waiting!


I got up got my blanket and pillow to chill out. Took the picture, sent it in a text to a friend.

9:16 no joke as soon as I sent something to a friend she came out and brought a new pole with two pumps 😳
Meds in board for for nausea and now another drug that I didn't catch what it does. But it's NOT the chemo. It will pump in over 30 minutes. Yeah this really is an all day event isn't it?
It's now 9:25am


And then I look around and I'm the youngest person in the whole 20 chair room. All the rest of the folks are 65+ (being generous here). Really? Didn't expect that!! I think I'm more in par with the nurses age than the patients.

Someone else who is younger is now in here!! She's I. Her phone as well.

9:54 chemo started.


Mind freaking out now. Two bags. One is supportive fluids that help the chemo work. One is the Oxaliplatin - aka the horrible chemo. And so it begins.

10:08 young girl gone now :( back to being the youngest.
10:30 man about my age now here with his wife. No port... fighting over a good vein. Poor guy.


Had to let Peggy know her poop emoji pillow has gone on ALL my adventures. She was even in the operating room with me for my port. 😄 love my 💩 pillow!!

11:52 last IV pump done!! Now for the take home pump.
And Liz just called to see if I wanted company. Sure. Come on down!!

While she was there they hooked up my pump to take home with me. I didn't take pictures while at the center because Liz was there.

They put me in a smaller pack. I chuckled. Yeah. I'm NOT petite. Never have been, never will be. So here is the pack in all its glory


A bag of chemo at the bottom and the pump on the top. It will count down the liquid as it goes. I will have it on until Friday at 10am.


It's in a lovely black fanny pack. Stylish, don't you think??

I thought I had escaped cold sensitivities but. Yeah. Nope. Had tingling in my mouth when I drank and thought nothing of it. Then even with ice removed from the drink the last time I sipped it was ice chunk feeling in my throat. Ooh yuck. That and nothing tastes quite right drink wise. Mostly food tastes good. I had Zaxbys for lunch (kids meal) it was tasty. Had t had it in a while.

Getting a LOT of burbles from Audrey today. She's not happy. Sigh. And so it begins.

Noted in the office:


I have come to the conclusion I live in the 😳 portion (4 or 5). There's always something poking aching and or bugging me. But as that's my new normal, I choose to slide the scale. My 😄 shall be a 4 or 5 and 😳 medium shall be at 7 or 8. That's life. No since in crying over it

Port

Today is port day.
7:45 Go to hospital
8:00 Check in
8:15 Go to lab - get labs drawn
8:20 Go to waiting room .... wait


8:30 check into Interventional Radiation to get settled. Visit with the SUPER chatty nurse. She was sweet. I told her I wanted to watch. Not possible. No pictures of procedure either.


BUT she had a guide wire that she showed me. This was put in my jugular to guide the port tube. Thick, eh??

She described the process. A slice at the neck to access the jugular and place the tube in that will be connected to the port. Then create a small pocket for the actual port and burrow a tunnel under the skin and the two places are joined. I don't know if the place the port then burrow the hole and pull the tube through or put it in the vein first then connect it to the port. I suspect the latter as they did show me the port and there was no tube connected.

Anyway. There was a lot of waiting while they were waiting for my blood work. Blood work finally came back at 9:30 and I was pushed across the hospital to "the" room as I waited in the hall....


Looking at the door.


My thoughts on being in the hall waiting!! Ha! Looking lovely in my hat 😳

Then the pictures stop. It was a operating room with an X-ray or fluoroscope or something to track where they were placing the end of the tube. The end of the port is placed close to the heart. Lots of screens and such.

I was moved over to the smaller table and arm holders were put in place - like little half round plexiglass that keep your arms from falling down. (those are nice options on a thin table) I was hooked up to IVs and drugs were started to take the edge off. Ahhh drugs. Ha!

I was then draped and the drape was stuck to me and there I was facing left and looking a blue drape and not a lot else. I could see to the top where the IV pole was so it wasn't closed off and the nurse could poke her head in. Agatha was her name.

And I waited again for the doc. I never even MET the doc. He didn't even put his face down where I could see him. Apparently I was quite chatty and he had them bump the drugs and that was that. I was zonked!!

I woke to the nurse or the assistant stitching me up. All dissolvable stitches so I don't have to go back to see them AND per the request of the cancer center they left the needle in so I won't have to be stuck again for my infusion tomorrow.


The green is the needle access for tomorrow. The bandaid is where they accessed the vein. Pretty sure that will be a huge bruise below the bandaid.



All smiles because I'm still numb as 💩 and I have my poop to keep me company 😄


And we're home! Now to relax and chill for the day.

Oh and the IV stick was horrible. She didn't get it in the arm. She missed and I have GREAT veins on the side she tried. Then she tried in my hand and it was iffy if she got it or not, but it worked. Good enough. Worst IV I've gotten in a while. Did I say I'll be happy with a port as I won't have to worry about inept sticks for a while!!

It's tiny. Like quarter size and about 1/2" thick. It was much smaller than I was anticipated!! Nice!!

Optifast (?) week 12 and chemo update

Ok I'm going to have to drop the Optifast title because I'm a slacker and have not been doing Optifast lately. I have tried to do two to three of the shakes for nutrition but honestly food and I are no longer having a relationship. We've broken up. It's just not a priority or a draw. I get fuller faster and eat a lot less now. It's weird.

I'm not losing like I was with Optifast BUT I'm reporting every week and I probably shouldn't. If I weigh every day I'm surprised how my weight fluctuates - up to three pounds at a time. I went to the cancer clinic and it was three pounds more than what I weighed at home the day prior.

So. I'm close to 50 lbs down still....the right downward trend.

I'm tracking my food on My Fitness Pal and thinking of getting the premium to show better suggestions on what I need to add to be more healthy and balanced.

But here it is as if today:








That big bump is the lovely hernia and the bag. Fingers are resting around the hernia. Sigh. This will get fixed in 4 or so months.

Three months of chemo and one month healing time then surgery to reverse. So thinking if it's like my first surgery it would be a 6 week wait or so to get in.

And so I march on!

Chemo. I had my education on Friday (15th) they told me pretty much told me what I know already about from my groups and having three months to research and talk with folks. Nothing shocking.

Well I take that back they said I would START chemo the very next day. Yeah, you read that right. I will start chemo on the 20th bright and early. Ummmmm. Ok. AND they said when I get my port put in I should tell them to leave the needle in.

Uhm say what??? Yeah, leave the needle in that they will be using to flush the line the first time. Why you ask (cause I know I did)?? Well, I will be sore and stiff and they said rather the poking me again I should have them leave it in and avoid the stick. Smart move!! Ok need to remember that.

And so the journey will begin.

While I'm here gotta say a few things. I am not gonna sugar coating things here. I had the nurse ask me Friday when I explained I was still supposed to be on the Optifast diet and have very liquid output at most time. She asked me why (not the first nurse to ask this). What on earth do you want me to say? I've gotten to the point of saying "because I'm fat". I mean duh. You can see that. Sigh.

Also someone said "oh it must be nice to be back to normal". Hum. Yeah. I'm so far from normal. I always say "I'm fine" which all things considered, I AM fine.

I could be worse. But normal? Uh, nope. I poop myself daily even though I have a stoma. I have a poop bag in the front but what they (docs) don't tell you is some folks have mucus pass through the nether region as well.

As it is I'm lucky in that my colon work super well. But I'm unlucky that my colon works super well and I'm the mucus queen. To the point of "pooping" myself. I wear a pad daily and see diapers in my future. No really. I'm going to have to retrain my bowels. If I'm lucky it will go quickly and things will solidify and I'll get control easily. Either way there will be pads in my future for some time as I have Read that accidents WILL happen.. for a while.

So when I say "fine" it's just that I know you don't wanna know. Not really. It's gonna be a long road back and I may never get there and, that's OK too. Not ideal, but it's fine. I'll deal with it. I may whine, but hopefully I'll just laugh about it and move on. The reality is I'm shopping diapers at Sams and happy to announce they have what i will need if things don't go as well as I hope ;)

But yeah, I'm fine.

Oncology

Port placement date set: 19 Sept
Education date set for the 21st.

Reality is sinking in.

Feeling Ok about it.... just getting real.

One would think surgery to remove and rearrange your innards as outtards would be more real than a little drug therapy... but the realization that I am going to voluntarily poison myself for a few months is a bit daunting.

Ballooing and gas output - yep, it's a poop post

last night was the first time I have ever experienced a SUPER full bag that was ballooned.
It doesn't sound like a big deal until you reach down in the dark and feel this HUGE ballooned bag and think "please don't loose seal, pop, or otherwise unleash poop onto the bed!"




Really a scary feeling to be wandering through your dark room praying to not run into anything in hopes of making it to the toilet in time to release the Kracken!

It was super full of not only gas, but poop.  yeah..slosh, slosh, slosh.  Toddle off to the potty to empty this.  So.. that was NOT fun to wake up to in the middle of the night.  SO glad it didn't pop, spring a leak at the flange of anything else.  Fun times, these bags!

Audrey is still sounding off daily.  the only thing different last night from any other night was sour cream.  Hum... guess THAT is off the table from now on, eh?

I have to say, that it's kinda fun to be sitting in the living room when she sounds off and I just get to say "not me, it's Audrey sounding off " - but the up side to this is there is no stink when Audrey sounds off during the day

Oncologist discussion and decisions

So. I'm super lucky in that I am stage 2. I'm super lucky in that I have no lymph nodes involved. I'm super lucky in that there wasn't cross over to other areas.

What isn't lucky in that I don't have a definitive answer on if Chemo is warranted.

It's a crap shoot if it's worth it. There are no studies to tell me that 100% this IS the way to go. BUT on the flip side of that there is no studies showing 100% this isn't the way to go.

Soooo it's a judgement call. Basically the answer is "do it if you will regret having NOT done it if cancer comes back".

So basically it's up to me. That's a scary decision to make. 80% of the time i lean towards napalming this stuff. The other 20% of the time I want to just hold off for the three months and get the reversal done and walk away.

Yeah the 80% is winning.

Even the doc said with my young age (it's NICE to hear that all the time) he would lean towards chemo just to be sure.

So. I signed on for chemo. He did say I had time to change my mind after. Even if we only did a few sessions and things weren't going well and I wasn't tolerating things well, I could pull the plug on it all and walk away.

And so the adventure continues. Dr Sumrall will start the process to get me going on Chemo and we begin in a few weeks.

Mayo follow-up

Warning if you are grossed out do NOT scroll to the bottom!!

Liz and I drove to Mayo after she got done with work. Oh and speaking of work *I* went back to work for the first time Tuesday as well. Wow. I forgot how wearing it can be to use your brain. I was so worn that by noon I gave up and took a nap!! Really. The first nap since I had surgery. I was beat!!

I got up shortly before Liz got home so when she pulled in we packed and headed to Mayo for my appointments on Wednesday. Yay us!

We got into town around 7:30 and stopped for dinner at Millers Ale house. Liz had a steak. I had a bite of her steak along with baked potato and some green beans.

We then went out hotel and basically collapsed we were both so stinkin tired!!




Out view off our balcony.


Look In the far left. You CAN see the beach.... just a little ;)



I laughed. The hotel is a Hilton but the cups are Hampton. Funny!!

Ok the next picture will be graphic so scroll carefully!!

Funny story about our stoma Nurse.
Her name is Nurse Doctor. No really that is her name. AND she is going for her doctorate in nursing so she will become Doctor Nurse Doctor in the near future!!

I went to my fist appointment at 10:30 with the stoma nurse. As I had so many problems the week prior I was afraid to go. She said it looked really good. And to my little Audrey's defense she was looking MUCH less mad angry and swollen.

The skin had healed around the area and there was only one bad area directly around the stoma that was not looking great.

So here she is. Looking a bit more healthy.



That spot in the lower abdomen is glue residue. It's not anything horrible.

The surgical follow up with Nurse Christy and she crashed the stoma party and checked everything then. I got an all clear and some discussion about my diet had her talking to Tina the dietitian and I have a modified diet now!! Yay!!!

So it's now Week 10 and four days down 45lbs. I am happily moved to 3 shakes a day and one meal under 500 calories!! Whooohooo food without feeling like I'm cheating all the time!! Oh and a few high protein snacks during the day to get my output more solid and less like diarrhea. I had almost been doing this anyway since surgery... I couldn't take the liquid bags!! AND I have been told that my foamy output (gross eh?) could be a sign that I'm becoming lactose intolerant as well (common after surgery?).

So great news on all levels.

And with that we fought the traffic going north and now escaping Irma. Two gas stations with NO gas and two too crowded to get into and finally stuck with station 5 and they only had premium at $3.75 a gallon. Silly me didn't fill up. Figured I was going far enough to get gas. Nope. More closed stations between Jacksonville and Waycross. Wow. On the plus side I came home with 3/4 tank so I'm just going to stay home!!

Stoma naming

It's official my stoma is named Audrey II (Twoey for short) because she was always talking that first week and still talking every once on a while still (Feed me Seymour).


Liz pointed out she came into existence about the time of the eclipse as well so her name is truly fitting.

Tummy updates

Belly update.



Day after surgery



Today.
A lost less swollen. Still chunky.
Yellow bruises. Healing.
Just took off the BIG bulky bandaid off the drain site. Not sure why it took me so long to do that. I guess because I have been showering every other day as I don't DO anything.

The drain was removed last Wednesday. The first few drain bandage changes there was some drainage. This last time nothing. Yay. So it graduated to a bandaid. Probably doesn't need that really bug because it's under clothing we shall keep one in for a bit.

Speaking of the drain you haven't met.


Meet
The drain hole in healing. Nope. No steri-strip no closure just pull then bandage. Uhm, OK. If it works, then do it I guess. (Yes, that's a bruise above and below it)


THIS is part of the stitch that was poking out at the narrow end of the injury. Just a smidge was sticking out when I pulled. This BIG hunk slid out easily. Yikes. Oh well. It's out now!!


This is what I feel about it all anymore.
Bwahahaha.