Surgery

Surgery turned out to be less extensive than I had anticipated...thank goodness. For some odd reason I informed Dr. Worsey & Dr. Launer of a lump that came and went just above my stoma so they both wanted to see if it was a hernia before cutting me open to fix a valve that may not need fixing. You couldn't feel the hernia no matter what position I was in or what "tests" they do. We agreed that they would make a small incision to check it out before doing anything else and it turned out that it was in fact a hernia. Had Dr. Worsey kept my cute little stoma intact I wouldn't be in so much pain today...mostly a burning feeling from the stoma edges. I really liked my little hole, now it looks like a big eye with a tongue hanging out of it. I'm hoping in the next few weeks it will heal up and look a little prettier than it does now and that this burning will end soon. I dread intubating because of it, but I know I can't put it off.

So surgery was on Tuesday and Wednesday morning I was back in La Jolla having Dr. Worsey putting my catheter in. It was like hitting a block wall. At 2am I was up trying to get it in. I tried laying down, sitting back on the toilet, standing, breathing...you name it I tried and could not get it in. Forget the nurses in the ER...they had no clue. Dr. Worsey came in and had to put so much pressure to get it through I thought he was going to perferate my pouch. Once in I asked to keep it for a day or 2 and see if some of the swelling would go down and to not have to make another trip to the hospital. I took my cath out today and so far so good. I'm just emptying every 3 hours to not let it get to angry and tighten up again. Per Dr. W I have some strong stomach muscles and with the swelling my valve just got really tight. I really don't ever want to go through that again.

The highlight of the whole surgery was that Dr. Launer was there. He came in to see me before the surgery and all the nurses were so excited to see him. It was like he was a rock star. He looked pretty good for all he's going through. Couldn't believe he divuldged he had stomach cancer and was having his stomach removed at the end of the month. Pretty crazy for someone who creates intestinal pouches to be going through something similar just with his stomach. I am hoping and praying he gets through this and has many more wonderful years on earth.