I survived!

Me in my new cap, recuperating with Sigmoid the Bear at home.

Sigmoid and I leaving the hospital in Edith Ann's wheelchair.

I was released from the hospital yesterday after a eight day stay. Counting my earlier stay, I have spent almost half of January in the hospital. When I went into the hospital Chuck kept encouraging me to focus on a date in the future when the very worst of the the pain and misery would be over. I choose February 4, which seemed like a long time away on January 24. Yet February 4th is almost here and certainly the worst has got to be behind me (I'm so punny).

The good news is I do not have cancer. I did have lots of current and chronic Diverticulitis and related infections however the surgeon was able to remove one foot of my colon and remove all of the diseased section. Putting me on the two weeks of IV antibiotics prior to surgery calmed the infection down, making it the surgery easier and preventing a colostemy.

I've been told to expect a slow recovery of 4-6 weeks. All of my stomach muscles had to be cut to get to the colon and it takes them a long time to heal. I can't drive or lift anything heavier than the remote. I keep thinking of the theme song to "Petticoat Junction" (For my young blog viewers this was a 60's sitcom spin-off from the Beverly Hillbillies set in a hotel in Hooterville ) which went "...It is run by Kate, come and be her guest at the Junction. Petticoat Junction! And that's Uncle Joe, he's a movin' kinda slow at the Junction. Petticoat Junction!" I'm Uncle Joe. I now know what it must feel like to be 80 and let me tell you (as my Grandpa Rice would say), "It's not for sissies".

The top picture is of me and a stuffed Bear my Aunt & Uncle gave me. I named him "Sigmoid" after the portion of my colon they removed. I am wearing my new space-age shower cap they put on me in surgery. According to all my family as I was coming out of the anesthesia, I kept asking repeatedly if I could keep the cap and the nurse said "Honey, you can have what ever you want!" I remember nothing of these conversations. Perhaps I thought the aliens couldn't read my mind as long as I had on my shiny head wear. Or was just so totally delusional I thought I looked "hot" in it. Who knows?

Later, I apparently planned an entire party and kept asking Chuck if he knew someone we could borrow a horse and wagon from for the hayride around the pond. Chuck asked me what pond and I keep saying the one right by our house! He eventually figured out I was taking about Lake Shawnee. He said I also wanted to have a pinata at my party but instead of filling it with candy I wanted to fill it with flour. Apparently, I thought this would be hilarious and couldn't stop laughing about it.

I gave all the nurses nicknames in my head. There was "Nordic Olympic Downhill Skier" (very blond, athletic and determined), "Cha-Cha" (fiesty), "The Newleywed", etc. All were nice except the one male nurse I nicknamed the "Serial Killer". He came across as someone who would perform "mercy" killings to cover up his mistakes. I once waited over two hours to get anti-nausea medication. It turns out he had tried to give it to another patient because he had misunderstood the Aide.

One of my nurses told me on the last day she would always remember the day they put in my Central Line since this is something that is usually done while a patient is out not on the floor. My nurse had come back and told everyone I was very afraid. She said my doctor had said, "Well, so am I!" It was very apparent all the nurses really liked and looked up to my doctor which gave me a lot of confidence going into the surgery.

I spent so much time in the hospital in this month, several of the nurses came by to say good-bye the day I got discharged. They couldn't find a wheelchair and I was so anxious to get home, they finally wrangled me up the gigantic wheelchair pictured above and the charge nurse wheeled me out to the car. It reminded me of Lily Tomlin's character "Edith Ann" who always sat in the big rocking chair on Laugh-In. I look so thin in the gigantic wheelchair I may buy gigantic furniture for the living room next.

Overall, my stay went by pretty fast. I had 29 different visitors (not counting calls and cards) which amazed me when I counted them all up. I feel very loved. Thank you to everyone for you care and support, especially Chuck (who I couldn't have make it through without), my Mom who sat with me for endless hours in the hospital, Erica & Dave, Brian & Andrea and Joel's late night phone calls.