Time For A Celebration!

Time For A Celebration! We have celebrated my 1 Year anniversary after having had my 2 handed lap assisted Sigmoidectomy with full mobilization of the splenic flexure (AKA Sigmoid Colon removed). Which turned out not to laparoscopic...lol and then I had an Anastomotic leak and infection. Yes, I am pretty much the patient that gives a doctor nightmares...lol.

 

These are made with Better Batter's Yellow Cake mix and just some icing I made with corn free powdered sugar & soy milk. YUM!

For those that know my story you can stop here at the cupcakes, grab one and enjoy! They are gluten free, corn free and dairy free too!! (with the exception of the chocolate heart on top). If you don't know my story read on below to learn more.
Hugs,
Moe

For those that don't know me, Jan 23, 2014 was a year since I had my surgery, a foot of sigmoid colon removed, I had done well got out in 3 1/2 days, then spiked a fever on day number 6 and ended up back in the hospital for 9 days due to a leak at my anastimosis. My recovery lasted from January until about the end of March before I could do much of anything at all (surgeon told me first of summer I would be up and running). I think I did well and had a GREAT surgeon and infectious disease doctor so that helped a ton! Having the Lord on my side was a major factor too :) So things have been going well in the year since surgery, I will tell folks that I still have weird sensations down by my large incision, sometimes it feels hot, cold, wet etc (even though it is not), I figure it's nerves healing, I have been told it can take more than a year for that to straighten out. I still feel slightly bruised when leaning into things, such as being short and having to reach into the bottom of the washing machine to get clothes out, once in a while I have a sort of stitch pain (like when you run too fast for too long you get that stitch in your side) on the left side behind my ribs, I think that is from the splenic flexure that I had done. Surgeon told me that they really moved stuff around in there...lol...YEAH! I could sure tell that. I guess after they cut out your bad colon, they have to carefully move it down and re-route it sometimes so that there is enough length to reattach you. YES!! I would have the surgery done again EVEN with everything I went though!! I will say the surgery was almost more emotionally hard than physically hard (even with the leak and infection). After the years of suffering, life is good! I've not had any of those weirdo slight fever/chills illnesses I would get every 6 weeks or so, in a full year. I would pick the same doctors too! Search out a GREAT colorectal surgeon, not a general surgeon and not a gastric surgeon, but a colorectal one if you need this type of surgery. It is so key to have a surgeon that has done many of these and is competent. 
Hugs,
Moe

Homeschooling Math When You Have A Major Illness

I had written this post way back in March and never posted it. So here goes, I hope that it encourages another homeschooling mom that is struggling.

Now lets do some homeschool math here peeps.
Illness + surgery + anastomotic leak + infection [people asking if the child is behind in school to the 10th power] I can't figure out how to do Exponents on my keyboard. = X

 Here is how you solve for X.

Illness = preparing our child/children ahead of time by teaching them to work on their own.
Surgery = having GREAT doctors like my wonderful GI doc that saw me in the hospital in 2011 and my WONDERFUL and AWESOME Colorectal Surgeon that knew just the right time to get that bad boy out of me. I had time plan school around the surgery, we skipped Christmas break so that school did not have to be done during my surgery and hospital stay.
Anastomotic leak = fever, chills, pain & a visit to the ER & then my surgeon calling us at 6:55am to say that I needed to pack a bag and get to the hospital by 4pm that day. to start IV antibotics.
Infection = always a possible complication, but I figured it would never happen HAHAHA!!!
School = people asking if we are behind in school (to the 10th power.)
X = Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

 

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

REST, REST & MORE REST

I've been gone for a bit, resting. It's amazing just how tired you can be after having a colon resection or the medical term Hand-assisted laparoscopic sigmoidectomy. Only mine was not exactly laparoscopic, I've got a nice sized scar that is healing well and 2 scope holes.

My son now wants to be a Colorectal Surgeon. LOL...had we known that sooner, we might have saved more for college...LOL. He has learned so much through this and taught himself a lot. He has been looking stuff up on the Internet, in books and reading through my medical records. He found that our health care provider has a way to read records online, so he even looked up the summary of my surgery. He was going crazy looking up the different medical terms, then telling me what they did to me in surgery. Thank the Lord that this all went on AFTER surgery, cuz I would have freaked if it had been told me to BEFORE surgery. There are just some things left better unsaid ya know?

March is  National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, So Get Your Butt In Here!

In honor of this being National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, I have put a really cool video on my blog  Tim Hawkins-Colonoscopy song it's very entertaining! lol.

I shall be going back to resting, as the doctor told me I would be like a newborn baby, I would come home from the surgery and eat, sleep and poop......lol. That is pretty much what I have been doing. If I try to do too much I end up feeling like I'm going to pass out, I nap for awhile and end up feeling better. Saturday was 2 months since my surgery and it is still hard to think about how tired I am. I feel really well, but the fatigue is no fun at all.

If all had gone fine, I would be up and running this past Saturday: two months post op. I was suppose to be in the hospital 4-6 days and my wonderful surgeon was pretty sure that I would come home with a temporary colostomy or appliance, not a 'bag' that is not politically correct, it's called an appliance. But praise the Lord he was able to put me back together. I did so well after the surgery that I got to go home in 4 days.

So with my Anastomotic Leak, I shall spare you the details as to what that is, you can Google that if you would like  :O)  I ended up spending an additional 9 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and then came home on the IV antibiotics.  

I've finally gotten rid of the guilty feeling I had from just laying around, puttering around the house and needing to nap on and off throughout the day..."Yes, I know exactly what you told me doctor, but I did not want to believe you!! It's those other people that you operate on that need all that extra rest, not me!" Boy was I wrong! And my family can see if I rest I feel better.

Saturday I took my last pain pill (I hope!), long car rides seem to really make it all flare up again and I still feel like someone has kicked me on my left side by my ribs. I have no idea what they did in there but it kills me sometimes if I bend, stretch, breathe too deeply etc. I should be up and going by the start of summer. I am hoping to soon be able to stop rotating between the 3 pairs of sweatpants that I own, nothing else fits. Well I have squeezed myself into a skirt for church, but thankfully I only have to stuff myself in to that for a short time each week. I've never been thin, but I must laugh at myself when I close the refrigerator door on my stomach or smack my stomach on a kitchen chair, as an adoptive mom I can only guess this is what it's like to have a preggo belly? I can finally reach the kitchen sink faucet handles, had to press my stomach into the kitchen sink to reach them and that really hurt, so I did not do dishes for a time.

 I've had some wonderful opportunities to share the love of Christ with many in the medical community. I was able to give out 2 Gospels of John books and several Bible tracts in different languages to the doctors that took AWESOME care of me! I have to giggle about the infectious disease control doctor (he brightened my days with his sense of humor, he is a very charming older gentlemen), he commented in his notes that we homeschool and that my son is up to date on his vaccines...LOL. That was funny to read, I wonder, if we utilized the public school system if that would be documented? LOL.

Would I have the surgery all over again, even with the complications? YES!  I am totally serious in saying this. Everyone I talked to that has had the surgery, had some sort of a complication, so I am not alone. Intestines DO NOT LIKE TO BE MESSED WITH! And I feel better, well I am sore and post-surgical stuff like that, but I don't feel that draggy sickness that I had before. Which the surgeon described perfectly in saying that I felt like I was run down from the flu all the time. A chronic smoldering infection will do that to you.

Thanks for hanging with me through the bumps in life.
Hugs,
Moe
Click here to learn more What you should know about diverticulitis.