So, it was time for surgery, October 19th. Taylor and I went down and spent the night in Gainesville and were joined by my Aunt Carol and Mom as well as his brother and Dad. It was nice to know there were so many there to support Taylor and Mom during my surgery. I got to do the 'prep' (haha) before surgery and was beyond nervous. At 6am the morning of the 19th, we all headed to the hospital. I was moved from one waiting room to another and then finally taken to a 'holding room'. This room was the scary one! I was given my wonderfully flattering blue gown to adorn and asked to lay in a bed. I was one of about 12 people in the room all being prepped for surgery. Some of these people already had their happy drugs and some were like me terrified to look around the room. I was soon given my sedation and that is the last thing I remember. Mom, Taylor and Brother Walt all assure me that they told me goodbye before surgery and even had a prayer. I was oblivious to this fact however! :)
Alot of what happened while I was in surgery is second hand information. For example, Mom was nervous and kept asking how the surgery was going and was told by the doctor to leave her alone and let her do her job.... or something along those lines. My family was told that the surgery would be a five to six hour surgery and it ended up being eight hours, so they got a little ansy in the waiting area!
When I went to recovery I remember nothing about the area, the nurse, who I saw or anything to that effect. I do remember being in my room after recovery and my family being there with me. I woke to a new body function, the colostomy, and lots of pain medication. I do not remember hurting but I do remember the medication! :) I had 32 staples down my abdomen and six in my groin. I was not able to sit or lie flat on my bottom and had to continuously flip from hip to hip. This became easier as the days went by. Dr. Huang came in and let me know they had removed the lymph node in question from my groin as well as several from my rectal area. I would be in the hospital for six days. Just before I was being released I was given a shot of morphine so that the drainage pouch in my abdomen could be removed. I quickly discovered that I am allergic to morphine! After a huge dose of Benadryl and many ugly words spoken to the resident who not so kindly ripped the drainage pouch from my abdomen I was ready to get out of the hospital! On Sunday, October 25th I got to go home. Man I was so ready to be home with my babies and in MY bed!
I was unaware that I was becoming sicker by the day. I was however, losing weight and running a fever of 103. So, back to Shands I go to have the staples removed from my abdomen and groin and allow the surgeon to check on my wound. When I got there and Dr. Huang saw me she immediately started to fill out admission paperwork. I was not aware that I had developed SEVERAL hematomas and was very infected. After she ruptured three hematomas in the office I was moved to a hospital room where she burst several additional hematomas. After a few days of fluids and lots of cleaning I was again released on Saturday, October 31. This time I felt much better and was sure that my recovery was quickly on its way.
After meeting my new home health team I was informed that there was still infection and my fever was not going away so I would be sent back to Shands. Yes, this is my third trip and way more days in the hospital than I care to ever spend again! This time I got to go to the new hospital with private rooms. MUCH better than sharing with with the smokers and the lady who had to use the toilet beside the bed as opposed to the one in the room on the OTHER side of her bed??!! I was readmitted on the 3rd of November and was sent for several additional scans. During this visit it was discovered that I had a large infection mass that wrapped around my tail bone and had to be removed. Time for another surgery. This one would be less invasive as the staples and stitches were already in place! The infection was removed and I was placed under three additional surgeries to keep the area clean and remove additional problematic areas. I left the hospital this time 10 days later on Friday, November 13th. I was wearing a vac that would pull the drainage from the wound and allow me to heal more quickly. I was informed before leaving the hospital at this stay that there were spots on my lungs that were causing some concern for the chemotherapist, Dr. George (aka Doogie Howser from earlier posts). The spots were present in the scans from July but seemed to have doubled in size to the size of a pea in the recent scans taken in November. This sent a shock wave through our family like no other.
My doctor did not want to send me home without being assured that I had a wound care specialist that could take care of me four hours away. This is when my family met one of our newest additions, Land. He quickly became part of the crew here in our house as he was here three days a week and was keeping Mommy healthy. There were numerous days that he would come in greeted by both dogs and little girls all excited to see him. With Land's guidance we have been able to stay out of the hospital for over two months now, YAY!! Now, it was time to find out if I was ready for chemo.
