The good and the bad

I am home from *the hospital for about four hours now and so happy! I took a nap for an hour but I am in desperate need of more sleep. I'm trying to wait until tonight so I can get back to a somewhat normal schedule. Despite the hospital being actually really quiet at night time I still didn't get much sleep.

As far as the surgery everything went fantastic. My appointment was for 10:30 but after waiting for them to hook me up to IV fluids so I could provide a "sample" for my pregnancy test (negative, thank goodness!) I didn't go back to be prepped until 1 p.m. I had to keep reminding myself during those hours about how close I was to surgery and how much shit I had already been through because I was on the verge of complete breakdown. It was a good thing my mom and dad both came with me because it would have been a lot for just one of them to deal with alone. Emotionally, the toll of the past 8 months had caught up to me and I just couldn't wait for surgery much longer. I was dehdrated, tired, and just plain SPENT. I was ready to go.

Surgery started around 2 and lasted about an hour and a half. They discovered I had an internal hernia which my small bowel had essentially poked through, causing all of the nausea and vomitting I began experiencing lately. I have no idea how long the hernia has been there and I'm now suspecting it might have been mistaken for the bowel obstructions I've had in the past. I'll investiage that later when I follow up with my surgeon.

They were unable to create a colostomy, which I discussed in my last entry. They created an ileostomy because most of my remaining large bowel is too diseasead. It was important to me that they not actually remove this portion of my bowel because I have not lost all hope of one day having a miracle that will allow me to be hooked back up again.

So you are probably wondering how I am feeling, if I'm eating, if this surgery "cured" me? Well I must say that at this point, I am extremely happy even though I have a new "friend" hanging at my side. We have appropriately named my stoma (the medical name for the part that comes through my belly) Stevie. Steve the stoma. Stoma Steve. Take your pick. Anyway, if Stevie helps give me my life back then I can deal with it happily even though it is not ideal. At this point I am eating well (although in very small amouts) and no longer experiencing the debilitating pain that plagued me before. Surprisingly, too, my recovery from surgery thus far has been the easiest of all 4 of my surgeries!

I just wanted to give a tiny update of how I am doing at this point. Somehow I always make my small updates way too wordy. In a few days I'll have more to say about adjusting to the ileostomy and my continued progress.

Oh, and for those of you wondering what the bad news is, as suggested in the title of this post? I'm missing Penn Presby's Chicken Tender Tuesdays for lunch tomorrow!