Rash

I woke up this morning and my lower right leg felt like it was on fire. I looked down and a rash had formed directly around the area where the compression sleeves had been placed on my legs to prevent blood clots during my stay in the hospital. I wondered if I was having an allergic reaction to some of the meds that had been given to me in the hospital or if it was just contact dermatitis from the sleeves. My surgeon had prescribed vicodin to help with any post surgical pain, but I was afraid that I might be causing the allergic reaction and so I stopped all pain meds immediately.

Homeward bound

I was discharged from the hospital this afternoon and I was able to walk out of the hospital unassisted. It felt good to be outside again, but it felt even better to be home. My mother-in-law had been holding down the fort at home taking care of our daughter so that my wife could be with me in the hospital. I was very appreciative of her taking the time and effort to fly up from Oklahoma to help me in my time of need.

Hangin’ at hospital with the fam

I was finally able to take a shower this morning and it felt great to get cleaned up. Two of my sisters, Margaret and Libby drove up from Denver and came for a visit this morning. We made lap around the entire wing and visited for a while back in my room. It was great seeing them and we were all looking forward getting together again after I returned home from the hospital. My blood pressure was elevated this evening for some reason and I had to be placed on an IV blood pressure medication in order for it to come down to a reasonable level.

Now and Zen

Two colleagues from work came to visit me in the hospital this afternoon. The lab pitched in and bought me some flowers; a beautiful arrangement including bird of paradise. We had a great visit and it was nice to see some familiar faces. Liz and Jarrod, you guys rock!

Silence! I kill you!

It’s hard to get a descent night sleep in the hospital when staff are coming in at all hours of the night taking vital signs, etc., but I will have to say the staff did a good job of keeping interruptions to a minimum. My IV pump on the other hand always seemed to be alarming for some reason or another. I soon began to refer to it as Achmed wake the dead. My wife left early that morning to go home and get a few hours of sleep. Not long afterwards my surgeon arrived to see how I was doing. He said that surgery took a little longer than expected because I had a small pelvis and it was difficult to maneuver. He was glad that we had opted to do neoadjuvant therapy to shrink the tumor prior to surgery, which made the procedure easier that it would have been otherwise. He upgraded my diet from ice chips and IVs to broth and clear fluids and it felt good to get a little something in my stomach. I was up and moving around a few times during the day. My wife returned later that day and we settled in for another night. 

Cut along the dotted line…

I spent the day before surgery day fasting, only broth and clear liquids in preparation for surgery. I started my first dose of antibiotics in the morning and continued in the afternoon and evening. I started the McMargarita (magnesium citrate) late in afternoon and it wasn’t long before I was dancing the quick step to the bathroom. The prep was similar to colonoscopy prep except for the antibiotics. However later in the evening I began vomiting and it continued throughout the night. I got to the hospital about 8:00 AM and surgery was scheduled for 10:30 AM, which according to Dr. Oz turns out to be the optimal time of day for having surgery. The idea being that the surgeon has been awake for a while, has already preformed a procedure or two and is starting to hit their stride.

I mentioned to the admitting nurse that I had been vomiting all night and she wasn’t surprised since taking metronidazole on an empty stomach frequently causes nausea and vomiting. Now you tell me, I said. Apparently they don’t like to tell patients about the side effects out of concern that they won’t take the antibiotics prior to surgery.  While the bowel prep was successful it still wasn’t as clear and pristine as the colonoscopy prep and I was concerned about peritonitis. I mentioned this to my surgeon and he wasn’t alarmed at all. He said not to worry and that all would be well. They rolled me into the surgical room and all I could see was a bright white room with an array of large surgical lights above. I had to scoot from the gurney to the adjacent narrow operating table. The anesthesia began to flow and that was the last thing I recall before waking up in recovery.

I remember feeling pretty groggy in recovery, but it wasn’t too long before they moved me upstairs to my room. I made it too my room and began to settle in for the rest of the afternoon. They hooked me up to a patient controlled analgesia (PCA) pump with morphine and soon all was well. I used it sparingly since opiates decrease peristalsis (contractions of smooth muscle in the gastrointestinal tract that moves along its journey through the body). Abdominal surgery and especially gastrointestinal surgery also causes decreased peristalsis. This coupled with the use of opiates can cause traffic to come to a standstill. The nursing staff wanted me to get up and start moving around as soon as possible for two reasons: (1) to keep blood circulation flowing well so as to prevent blood clots from forming and (2) to help keep things moving in the GI tract. I was up and walking around this evening about 7:00 PM. I made a lap around the nurses station and it was back to bed. The nurses strapped compression sleeves on my legs to prevent blood clots from forming while I was in bed. My wife fixed up the chair next to my bed and we settled in for the night.

Tell me somethin’ good

I got the results of my PET scan this afternoon and I was amazed at the results. My oncologist said that the tumor had shrunk about 60-70% from its original size. Neoadjuvant treatment was a great success! The original scan is displayed in the top pane and the tumor is depicted as a bright yellow/orange mass near the center of the image (circled). The follow up scan is displayed in the bottom pane and shows a dramatic reduction in size. The two bright areas in the top portion of the image are considered physiologic.

Can you see the real me?

I received some terrible news this morning. A colleague of mine had taken his own life. He was a good man, married with two wonderful, healthy children. He had a great sense of humor, was well liked by all who knew him and he seemed to be happy. However, outward appearances can be deceiving and no one knows for sure what another person is really thinking. As news of his death began to sink in I was struck by irony of the situation. Here I was going through months of treatment, fighting for my life while someone else was willing to throw their life away. Many people experience depression at one point or another during their lives, but what drives a person to the point where they honestly believe that their family, friends and the world as a whole will be better off without them? 

Everyone has their breaking point, but we need to remember that all of us have an ally in common…change. It’s the one thing that we humans can depend on in life. No matter how bad things appear to be now they will most certainly change in the future. However, when a person is in the throes of depression it can be difficult, almost impossible to see beyond what is happening right now. Societal attitudes and the perceived stigma associated depression and other mental health disorders need to change. People shouldn’t hesitate to ask for help, especially when they need it most.  It’s not a sign of weakness. It’ a sign that says I’m going through a difficult period in my life and I can’t do it alone; I need the help and support of others to get me through this difficult time.

PET scan

The follow up PET scan was this morning, but I came prepared this time with flexeril and vicodin in hand, which really helped my bad back. As I laid there on the table I kept wondering about the results and couldn’t wait to see them next week.

DEXA scan

My oncologist was concerned about my chronic lower back pain and ordered a bone density or DEXA scan to rule out any structural problems. These scans are typically done on older women to look for signs of osteoporosis. That being the case the scan tables are pretty short and I had a little trouble getting positioned correctly, but all ended well.  I got the results a few days later and everything looked fine, structural problems or evidence of osteoporosis. In fact my bone density was above average. My chronic back pain was probably a neuromuscular problem.

Port flush

I had to go to make a quick trip to the oncology office this afternoon for a port flush.

My port has to be flushed with heparin about every 4 weeks to prevent any blood clots from forming and obstructing flow.  It’s a simple in and out procedure. Slap on the blood wings, followed by a syringe of saline or two and then one syringe of heparin.

National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

In honor of national colorectal cancer awareness month I thought I would post a link to humorist, Dave Barry's hilarious article detailing his personal colonoscopy experience,  entitled "a journey into my colon -- and yours".