So How Was Your Summer?: Barbara and I landed in Eugene shortly before midnight last night. It's nice to be home, as you can imagine.
I've been wondering what to write about the experiences of the last ten or so days...it's not that there's so little to talk about. I could talk about my understanding of the surgery being originally much less invasive than it actually was, or that it took over ten hours, a very, very long time to be under anesthesia (I was told that it might take as little as two). Or I could mention my initial stumble back into the ICU Friday night (I was given a very strong epidural that I believe contributed to behaviors that returned me there, including a lengthy period of hallucinations and serious hypotension. Have you ever felt like calling your doctor the devil and telling him that he's trying to convert you into Satanism? Well, I'm your hero, then. I do remember a little about this; thankfully, the team found it really comical). Or maybe I could mention the slow recovery and transition out of the ICU, the sometimes-funny, sometimes-frustrating misunderstandings between myself and some of the nurses (there's no need to say most of them were truly great and patient people, and that the misunderstandings were relatively minor in the scheme of things), or the seemingly endless swirl of activity around me and things I had to do and remember to keep my recovery on the right path...
As I told one of the doctors, the entire experience is a wonderful opportunity, but a much-less than wonderful experience. Having Barb there was absolutely the best part of the whole ordeal. Wife, best friend, second brain...she's been so many things to me.
Physically, I think (and am told) that I'm doing really, incredibly well. Due to the epidural, I had absolutely no pain the first few days after surgery (again, I think I was strongly over-medicated, but I can understand the caution) and haven't taken a pain pill in about 24 hours. But mentally, I'm more than a bit spent, so apologies about not going into the depths now.
I have another short trip back to NIH on the 11th (which was a surprise to me), but may return to the blog before then.
4 comments:
Wow.... hallucinations are no fun... I'm glad that Barb was able to come out and be your thinking brain for a while... 10 hours is a long time to be under and certainly didn't help your grasp on reality (or the lack thereof)... Satanist, huh.... interesting subconscious stuff there...
Did they say that they got more out? Or was it just all the scar tissue? Maybe that is what is showing up on the scans now?
Let yourself rest... Let Barb take care of you. You are precious...
Hallucinations are indeed no fun. Aside from the whole Satanist stuff (and yes, like you I wondered where that was coming from in my subconscious), there was the bed trying to cram itself through the door, furtive voices, radios playing, etc.
I was told that 95% of the cancer was removed. No word about all that scar tissue, but it sounds like they won't need to touch that area again.
Thank you. Yes, am mostly resting this weekend. And Barb is taking great care of me. ☺☺:-)
95%!!!! That's terrific!!! WOO HOO!!!! I know that it's not all of it, but that has to be a relief in and of itself.
I wouldn't wonder too much about where it came from... Chemicals do funny things...
Thanks. It is pretty terrific and a huge relief to know that a huge portion of it is gone.
Re: Where the Satanic hallucination came from: I've watched more than my share of schlocky movies in my time, so it's likely that some silly stuff is bouncing around my subconscious from that alone.
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