Tag Archive for rectal

Recovery…

Thursday was a bit better…I felt a bit more “mobile” & actually left the room & walked the hall ways a bit…I’m pretty sure I was the youngest one there on the entire floor.  For the most part the nursing staff & techs were good, though the night shift for some reason was significantly better than the day shift.

There are a hand full of staff that stood out…Robin, Gordon, and a few others I’ll have to get their names…they were great.  It still baffles me why the day shift wasn’t as “attentive”, etc.  I just felt more like a burden to them than when the night shift was on (7:30 p.m. – 7:30 a.m.).

Thursday was also when i started being allowed to have liquids (instead of just water/ice)…basically soup broths, etc.  Apparently that was faster than “normal”, so that was good I guess.

Each day I started to “feel” a bit better.  I was more mobile each day, walking further & further.  At first, just to the nurses’ station on the one side, then around the one side of the floor & eventually within a couple of days, around the entire floor.  I usually walked at least twice, if not three times per day.

Friday was yet another milestone…I was allowed to have “soft” foods.  Now, what THEY consider soft foods and what I consider soft food are 2 completely different things.  Regardless, there were no complications, though there was also no bowel movements either.

Friday was also nice because I got the catheter removed…it didn’t “hurt”, but lets just say that the last 12″ or so is a feeling that I NEVER want to feel again…seriously!

On Saturday I was allowed to have the next level of foods, which they classify as “low fiber”, so the food progression apparently I was doing really well with & I was considered ahead of scheduled.  I also got the drip bag removed on Saturday as well, which was nice as it meant I wasn’t “tethered” or tied down to anything at all.  I had MUCH more freedom to roam around, etc.  I hadn’t been using the morphine that much as the pain had started to diminish (a little bit each day).

Saturday was also nice as I got the “JP” or drip pouch, whatever it’s called, removed.  It was basically a tube…how shall I say this…up what “was” my rear-end that was connected to a collection ball at the end.  It “collected” any additional fluids my body couldn’t absorb naturally.  Given it’s location (my rear end), to sit or lay was very uncomfortable, as that’s pretty much about ALL you do while you’re in the hospital!   Anyhow, apparently, the amount of fluids in the pouch had gotten low enough that they felt it could be removed.  Yet another nice feeling as it too had restricted my movements and was of course, uncomfortable.  Again though, no “bowel” movement(s) through the stoma.

Surgery Day…

My surgery was scheduled at Baylor Medical Center in Plano on May 22, 2012.  We arrived at 10 am & they got us into the prep room by 10:30, which I thought was a bit early given the surgery wasn’t scheduled for noon.  While they got me prepped quickly, surgery never happened at noon…they gave me my anesthesia around 11:30 a.m. & that’s the last thing I remember till they woke me up around 5 pm or so…I was in and out from there until they moved me to my room around 8 pm.

Dawnette stayed with me the first night, which was nice as I was in and out all that night in pain…I kept pushing that morphine button every 5 minutes or so…at least when I was awake!  ;o)

Believe it or not, they had me get out of bed the next morning & walk over to the chair where I stayed the entire day until it was time to go to bed.  The surgery supposedly went well, the doctor said he got everything…the cancer was about the size of a squash ball, or just a bit smaller than a tennis ball.  I guess it was one of the largest rectal cancers he’d had to remove.

That first day, Wednesday, was tough…I had a catheter where I NEVER want one again…it was incredibly uncomfortable.  They had me drinking water & chunking on ice all night Tuesday night & I guess my body adapted pretty well because around 11 am or so I heard this gurgling sound & liquid came out of the stoma.

Oh yes, I’m pretty sure I’d mentioned it already, but in most cases of rectal, colon, etc. cancer, the patient has to have a stoma (basically redirecting their bowel movements through a hole in their stomach) until the cancer area that was removed has healed completely (usually 4-6 months) and then they reverse the stoma & re-route things “back to normal”.

My situation, unfortunately, is permanent.  In the first place, was the size of the cancer…as mentioned, it was the size of a squash ball, which is quite large.  Secondly, the location of my cancer was only an inch and a half inside my rectum, so it was *extremely* low.  Lastly, the “shape” of my cancer was such that it was semi-circular.  If you think of your rectum in the shape of a cylinder, the cancer was not on the “side” of the cylinder, but it was semi-circular around the cylinder.  All of that means that my stoma/colostomy is permanent…which I’m not all that happy with to be honest…I had hoped it was only temporary.