The colon resection surgery......AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! (Surgery 12/6/2010)

Pre-surgery

Mama and me, pre-surgery

Oh my!  Right after surgery.  I was hurting and high as a kite.

You can really see me in the stratosphere here!  :)

OWWEEE!  That there is 27 staples, in my tummy, folks!  YIKES!!!!

These are the lovely compression pumps I had to wear on my legs after surgery.    Coupled with the demon bed and it's antics........it was an experience! 

The Demon Bed.    This thing caused me so much anxiety and frustration during my hospital stay..........YOU JUST DON'T KNOW!!!!!  Hated this thing with a passion, so much so that I called maintenance to come disconnect electricity from it but they refused.   There will be a longer post about this torture device later.   :)

The second i.v.   The first one blew my vein and had to be replaced.  Ouch!  Notice the band-aid on the back of my hand.  This was the location of my first i.v.    Question:  When  you have been cut above the belly button down to your pubic bone through skin, fat, muscle and other soft tissue to get to your colon and then stitched inside and stapled outside back together, do you know what parts of your body you use most and the most pressure is applied each and every time you try to move???   That is right, your hands.   Why on God's green earth the nurse put the i.v. in my hand, I will  never know.  Obviously, she was just preparing me for surgery and not thinking past it to recovery.   Needless to say, when it busted the vein and a big knot starting coming up on the back of my hand (the i.v. fluid leaking into my arm), I freaked out.  So, you now see the second location of the i.v.   This was so much better!!  Never had another problem with it after that!

I AM ALIVE!  I MADE IT!!!!  I am more with the world here.  :)  Just so happy to be alive.  Thank you, God!

Me prancing around the GI surgery floor on my Delottid and pain pump in my stomach.  Yeah, I was in pain but not a whole lot UNTIL the meds stopped.  Then, OMG!!  I know, I am absolutely post-surgery gorgeous.   Look at my pink houseshoes coupled with my compression stockings.  They really set off my hospital gowns!!!    Don't hate me because I am beautiful!  HAHA 

It is funny, the other surgical patients and I would "race" each other in our nurse directed "walks" around the surgical floor.  If you could have been a fly on the wall!!!!   We were literally like snails.  But, under the circumstances that some of us found ourselves, dealing with a newly diagnosed cancer and surgery, well, let's just say, the "races" and the laughter that insued was priceless and it and the people I met during that time will never be forgotten by me.     One man in particular comes to mind......he had just had pancreatic surgery for yes, you guessed it, pancreatic cancer.  He was hurting badly.  Wasting away due to nausea and vomiting.  I asked him if he wanted to "race".  He looked at me like I was absolutely a nut and said to me "NO, I don't want to race."   So, I told him to let me know if he changed his mind, smiled and walked away.   I saw my nurse and starting chatting with him since Delottid is a wonderful social drug!  I was Ms. Social Butterfly of the GI Surgical floor that week!  HAHA   I had stopped talking with my nurse when I saw Mr. Pancreatic Cancer round the corner going about .1 miles per hour.   It took him a good minute to get to where I was standing.  As he approached me, his disapproving look from before had all but vanished and a mischevious smile replaced it!!!  He stopped only for a brief moment and whispered in my ear, "Ok, NOW I want to race!", and he took off like a bat out of hell which after a GI surgery is about .1 mph!!!!  The race was on!!!!  We laughed and giggled and tried to out "run" each other.   Smiles were abounding if only for a few minutes.   I had made a friend.  That was the only time we had the opportunity to "race."   The day after his door remained closed the whole day.  On one of my many "walks" I stopped his wife and inquired about his condition.  "He isn't doing well,"  she said.  His health was declining and when I was discharged, he was very near death from what I gathered.  I said a  prayer for him and his family.  He couldn't have been more than mid-fifties if that.  For a moment, we shared smiles, joy, laughter and fun.  I will never forget him or what we shared.  I consider him one of my many MDACC Angels! 

My precious Mama, Alti/Toni, after a VERY long week in the hospital.  She NEVER left my side.  I love her so very much!!!  Believe me, I am not the best patient either!!  Thank you, Mama!!!!!

Finally, going home.  Now the recovery really begins minus 24 hour i.v. pain meds. 

This was a little glimpse of the colon resection surgery via pics.  More later.