No one said to me, "when you awaken from this surgery, you'll be in a LOT of pain and be quite disoriented". Looking back, I'm glad they didn't. I went in to surgery feeling very calm and confident,
and that would probably not have been the case had I been warned like that. Well, it WAS quite
painful and disorienting when I came out from under anesthesia. Luckily I was hooked up to a narcotic IV drip cocktail consisting of hydromorphone and tylenol; the brand name "Dilaudid". Good stuff. And I availed myself of PLENTY (self administered with a button) for the first 48 hours. While nodding off during this initial period, my wife Carrie and my mom Deborah became the dedicated "pusher girls", hitting the button for me at 6 or 10 minute intervals. The down side? an itch that started on my arms and slowly began to cover my whole body, and some chills. I started feeling like a junkie lunatic after awhile. Though I honestly can't say I know what THAT feels like.
When I moved to solid food on day 3, they weaned me of the "dilaudid" and switched me over to pills: I had a choice of Norco (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) or Percocet (oxycodone and acetaminophen). I opted for the Percocet as it seemed to make me slightly less catatonic-though only slightly less.Lying in my hospital bed, I was visited by an endless flurry of nurses and doctors. Their duties? 8 hour interval shots of Heprin (blood thinner to stop potential clots), blood draws to check vital counts, changing the urine catheter, checking on my temporary ileostomy ( I will have this for about 6 months while the colorectal surgical area heals and I do my follow up chemotherapy), and monitoring my pain levels. I should mention that my surgeon informed me that the surgery went "as well as could have been imagined". There were absolutely no complications. He estimated 6 hours for the procedure and it took 4.
I was discharged after 5 days. I got off the pain pills after 1 day at home as they started making me nauseous and I was tired of feeling like a zombie. The pain has lessened considerably, so I'm fine without them now. Since arriving home, my solid food intake has been pretty steady and I'm working on putting back about 10 pounds that I lost during my hospital stay..I realize this will take a little while.
Activities have included: finally watching the whole Sopranos series from beginning to end, playing Words With Friends on my new iPad (a gift from Mick Jones and Foreigner's management), short walks around the neighborhood, some music making, and lots of sleep.
Also, some amazing news: as well as removing the tumor, my surgeon removed 22 lymph nodes from the surrounding region and found they were completely free of cancer. This bodes very well for the future.
