Ironically, the last time I wrote, I had just had a minor diverticulitis attack. This time I am in mid-mend from and acute attack. I landed myself in the hospital for 2 weeks. 2 surgeries and 3 infections later, they sent me home to lay on my couch for a week before going back to work. The pisser, well one of them anyway, is that I am stuck with a jp drain sticking out of my belly. In reality, it is much better than a colostomy bag, so I will try not to whine too much. However, it is horribly uncomfortable and always tender. The other pisser in this deal is that I still have one more surgery to get through.
My nightmare began on September 7th. I should have gone to the ER but I'm cheap so I waited till morning and went to the walk in clinic. They ran some tests and admitted me to the hospital where I had my first surgery. Turns out the attack was so severe that it perforated my colon wall and spread the poison all over. I was septic and not doing so hot. I finally got to come home on September 21st. Now I am patiently waiting till Nov 4th to have my next (and hopefully last) surgery where they will remove the portion of the colon that is compromised. My goal is to not have a colostomy bag. We are waiting so the risk factor is lower. They could have done things earlier, but that would have pretty much led to the bag. So I wait.
It sounds like I am going to have one hell of a scar though. I already have a bunch from the last two surgeries, but this next one has to have an incision big enough for the doctors hand to go through. I have a doctor with enormous hands!!! I am only 5 foot so my torso doesn't have a whole lot of area to it.
It took a few weeks but I am finally having more good days than bad. I even managed to make a quick, unscheduled trip to WI to have a few meetings with mom's caregivers. I did have to sacrifice the Dierks Bentley concert the next night because I was just too tired and sore to go.
On the good side, if there is a good side, is that I was nauseous for the first month and didn't even want to eat. I forced myself to eat small meals all day and am down to 172 lbs fully dressed. So, there's one way to drop 10 lbs. Also, I have to watch what I eat and need to eat a lot of high fiber foods to avoid this happening again. And they tell me it probably will. So I am eating a lot of yogurt for good gut health, and adding fiber powder and wheat germ to my morning smoothie. I am trying to eat more whole wheat items and not peel my fruits and veggies. I am even eating the skin on my potatoes. I have had waaay less pizza but that may be because the weekend I got sick I had pizza for my last two meals. I am having trouble giving up pasta, so I am trying hard to cut back on it. I have mini wheats as a mid morning snack and whole wheat crackers for an afternoon snack, a smoothie for breakfast, yogurt for lunch and supper with my family. Oh, and after 2 weeks in the hospital of which the first week they didn't let me have anything and week 2 they let me have liquids and then solids, I was able to give up coffee. I still haven't had any. Also I was told not to drink alcohol until everything has healed. So no booze and no coffee. Talk about detox!
In the meantime, the world has continued to spin. My husbands vacation has crept up on me, my daughter is incredibly busy being a teenager and Christmas is way closer than I think I can deal with. I am still dealing with trying to get my mom comfortable from 265 miles away. Collene does the hands on things, I do the paperwork and phone calls and Dianne is with mom now trying to acclimate her back into her apartment. I was in WI cleaning moms house the weekend that I got sick. Hopefully she can come to terms with where she is in her life.
Well, my lasagna is almost done so I am going to go have dinner. Adios! Take care of yourselves. You are more important than you think!
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