Adjustments

As I have been in my recovery stage, I have had to make some adjustments to my new situation. First of all, I should say that though every other single medical situation I have ever had has been temporary (e.g., cold or flu, broken bones, etc.) so that whatever I had to deal with at those times was only for a little while, I am acutely aware that what I am now adjusting to will be lifelong for me. Adjusting to that mentally (as well as physically) is obviously very important in my dealing with my new reality. So far I have at least physically adjusted to what I have to do daily with the bag and I would like to think I have also done OK mentally, though I will admittedly have to see what transpires in new situations down the road.

One good change is that my "number one" going has returned to normal. This only reaffirms that the symptoms I was previously dealing with (similar to enlarged prostate symptoms you might see in TV commercials) were affected by the presence of the tumor. It is good to go "normally" again.

For awhile after surgery I had my colostomy bag (permanent, of course), a catheter, and a JP tube for draining excess fluids away from me. So I had a lot of fluid leaving me and going into sacks. The catheter was removed before I left the hospital and the JP tube was removed at my last visit to Dr. Ondrula last week. At that time, he also removed the staples from my abdomen and replaced them with Steri strips to help the healing process. However those strips seem to feel real tight, as if I'm wearing a really tight belt around my waist. It's therefore more comfortable for me to lie down but I know I need to be more mobile but that mobility tends to accentuate the tightness feeling of the strips. Hopefully they can be removed when I see Dr. Ondrula next week. This is all part of the "pain management" that Cyndy talks about as being part of my healing process.

As Dr. Beusse had prescribed, I have started walking outside with "Nurse Kailey" (my talkative 6 year old granddaughter) - first 15 minutes on Monday and 20 minutes yesterday. Today's goal is 25 minutes. The time and amount are what's important, not the pace I set (no running, just a slow walk).

I have noticed that my appetite (at least per setting) has really decreased. I had been advised to eat more frequent, smaller meals and that is certainly a reality. I just cannot eat very much at a time. In fact, it kind of hurts if I eat very much (I don't know if this will change much after the Steri strips are removed). So I am just tending to try to eat a little whenever I feel hungry. But overall in a day, I know I am eating less over 24 hours than before the surgery. Hopefully this, combined with my increased activity, will result in some nice, consistent weight loss. Again, not the ideal "Jenny Craig" weight loss plan, but if it turns in to a nice offshoot of this whole process, then that's a plus I'll accept.

Another thing to accept is that this overall healing process will still continue on for perhaps nine months. I don't know how much chemo I will need (hopefully no more than what I had before) or what the schedule will be (a few days on, then a few weeks off for several months?). I'll find out more about that from Dr. Y next week. But I know it will still be quite awhile before I am truly "fully recovered". That's a long mental adjustment to deal with for this process. But after hearing on TV this week from people who have had multiple cancers, I will no longer take anything for granted. Again I am extremely thankful to God for bringing me to this point. There's new things to adjust to in my life now but at least I am able to adjust to a life which is as normal as I can now expect and will hopefully continue for years to come. After all, as Cyndy has said, I have to dance at my grandson Gavin's wedding (he's one year old now). And I don't think he is ready to settle down quite yet.