Cody Updates by Mom

After putting this picture of me on Facebook I realized that I have not put any new pictures of me out for many months.  This is the pink jacket I wore last week in commemoration of my 1 year anniversary of finding out I had cancer.

My after surgery post was pretty short since sleep was my main goal at the time so I thought I would expand.  Surgery itself went well.  Actually they had called about 10 minutes before we were going to head up the hospital to see if we could come early.  The surgery right before mine had cancelled so they wanted to get started on me right away.  We really didn’t get there much earlier than we had planned however the amount of time waiting for things to happen at the hospital were nonexistent.  We literally sat down in the waiting room area and they were calling us back.  Dr. Mann came in right away and drew all over me for the surgery.  Within maybe 45 minutes of being there I was in the operating room.  Surgery took about an hour and a half.  It all went as planned and I was slowly waking up in recovery.  The hospital was very busy and the recovery time was much longer than expected as they simply had their hands full with the people that had trouble with anesthesia.  Luckily I never have had an issue so I end up doing a good amount of waiting.  Oh well.  They did however move me to a recliner to recover instead of a bed.  With the surgery I had they want me to be upright for awhile.

Once home I had to get a handle on my meds and rest.  Unfortunately the antibiotic they gave me is a fairly large capsule.  I called down to Mayo and they do not want me even trying to take it.  They recommended to see if I can open them and put them in food.  After talking with the pharmacist that filled the prescription I can do that.  The difficult part is getting them opened up.  I tend to get a little frustrated and then Jim usually steps in.  The really bad part is how it tastes.  Icky, ishy and gross.  The best thing I have found to mask the taste is A1 so we have some cottage cheese, A1 and antibiotic.  Yum!

Friday I spent the majority of the day just laying around and resting.  The pain from this surgery is much different from the pain of the other ones.  All of the pain I have experienced so far has been inside pain.  Muscles, organs and even the joint pain of the chemo.  This pain is much different.  It is a skin tugging, stretching, cutting pain.  Much more sharp and can take my breath away when I move wrong.  I have spent the last seven weeks protecting my abdomen area to the point that I am compensating without even knowing.  Well, until now.  Now I know.  Getting up from a chair I would compensate and use my upper body.  Well, that is not a fun thing anymore and I have had moments of foul language and crabbiness with making that mistake.  Time to retrain my brain.

Of course Saturday I recovered in the usual Mel way.  I spent a good chunk of the day making food for this next week.  I make chicken four different ways and then blended them so I have a selection of options.  I also figured out a quick and easy enchilada soup with no chunks.  We then went out and had a gig for a benefit for a previous member of the band that is battling cancer.  It is really hard to be good and stay off the stage so I didn’t fight it.  Got to sing for quite a few songs which is always extremely fun.  I am sure I am more sore today than I would have been if I would have taken it easy.  Oh well.  That’s not the Mel way to recover so why change now.

I finally got to take off the dressings and shower today.  It felt wonderful however it was quite painful as I needed to reach with my arms to wash my hair and back and that pulls all that skin around.  It was bearable though and I feel much better now that I have gotten the majority of the yellow stuff off my skin from surgery.

I am thinking that I may be able to wean off the pain meds tomorrow but will take it slow.  It’s now time to get some food in me and take a nap.  We went shopping for a bit today so I am a little wore out.  Sleeping upright on my back again and I don’t get real deep sleep that way.  On to my first full five day week back at work.  Yay!

Caring Bridge Comments

Love and prayers..from mom|Mar 23, 2015 7:49am
It sounds like you are doing fine and recovery is going well. I love you and pray that the pain will be just a memory before too long .