Tomorrow is surgery day! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As everyone has said, allow your body to heal.  Being still is sometimes the hardest thing to do, but let your body recover from this trauma.  We're with you.

Chris

I'm sorry that you didn't get the robotic surgery you had hoped for. Take your time to heal now! My prayers are with you. Here's to a speedy recovery

Hang in there Cheese A Reno, you made it through major surgery and have come out the other side. You'll be fine!

Red Corvette

EZLiving66 said:

I'm so glad to hear you're

I'm so glad to hear you're able to move around a little.  Isn't it wonderful when friends (angels) bring over meals?  I had a couple of good friends including our son's fiancee's mother, who brought over complete meals including the dinner rolls.  I wasn't eating much but my husband and our son LOVED them and took a load off my mind on what to serve (frozen pizza anyone??).

My husband was a godsend too.  I don't know how I would have gotten through the surgery, the chemo and the side effects without that man.  Yeah, he changed the sheets and put the pillowcases back on inside out but they were clean and he was trying!!  LOL

Love,

Eldri

Check that off your list.  Sorry the surgeon had to revert to open procedure, but I'm sure he did it for a good reason, either for better access or visibility.  And that's what we all want.  I had early stage, low grade cancer but I was scared to death of having an open procedure.  The surgeon (gyn oncologist) assured me he does open procedures all the time, but I was so frightened primarily of the surgery itself.  Heck, I was scared of the robotic surgery, too!  But we do get through this part and can look back on it being not as bad as we thought it would be.  I hope your pathology report does not have any surprises and you can put the surgery behind you and move on to the next step and then put that behind you.   And lasagne can be frozen and eaten later if you don't feel like it now, but know you're going to want some later!  We learn to adapt. . .

Best,

Suzanne

CheeseQueen57 said:

CheeseQueen checking in

Hi Sisters

I'm hanging in there. Now just taking extra strength Tylenol cause I was afraid of GI bleed with levonox. I have to say, I'm really having trouble with the injections. Although they didn't hurt when I gave it to myself in the hospital, they hurt now. Maybe I'll try injecting in my belly tomorrow. Only 14 more days, right

CQ, Keep hanging in there and the 14 days will fly by!  What injections are you having to do?  Hope they get easier for you.  Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Nancy

CheeseQueen57 said:

Injections

The Levonex is an  njection of low dose heparin. They prescribe it to help prevent blood clots after you've had abdominal surgery these days. 

They tried to start me on that when I was in the hospital.  When I asked the nurse to doublecheck because I've had problems in the past with my blood NOT clotting, she never came back.  Next time I went into the doctor, they had it on my list of medications.  I AGAIN told them that I have never taken it and if they'd check, they'd see in my chart that I bleed very easily and shouldn't be given any kind of blood thinner.  Just another instance of looking out for yourself and questioning everything.

Hope the pain from the injections stops soon (((CQ))).

Love,

Eldri

CheeseQueen57 said:

Home Care

Thanks Eldri,

Boy, you've really been through the ringer, bless your heart 

I finally broke down and asked for a home care nurse to visit. Why not?  He/she can look at my incision, help me with my injection, and generally make sure things are going as they should. I'll let you all know how it goes. 

Home health care sounds like a great idea!  When my port site wound wouldn't heal I had to pack the "hole" twice a day by myself.  It wouldn't have been so bad except my fingers were numb and my right hand shook.  I would work so hard to stuff it with this gauze that looked like a shoestring dipped in some kind of solution using a little stick.  I would go to cut off the excess "shoestring" and pull the whole dang thing out and have to start all over again - LOL!!!  When I told my wound care doctor how hard it was to take care of myself, she said I only had to do it once a day - no home health care was ever offered.  She did ask me if I had a friend who was a nurse that could do it - so much for our health care system!!  

I hope everything goes smoothly from now on!

Love,

Eldri

CheeseQueen57 said:

CheeseQueen checking in

Hi Sisters

I'm hanging in there. Now just taking extra strength Tylenol cause I was afraid of GI bleed with levonox. I have to say, I'm really having trouble with the injections. Although they didn't hurt when I gave it to myself in the hospital, they hurt now. Maybe I'll try injecting in my belly tomorrow. Only 14 more days, right

Hi Cheese, I found that the injections are less painful if you inject them very slowly. I guess it's because the medicine is thick? Doing it quickly (which is natural since you want to get it over with) made it hurt like heck! Good luck on your continued recuperation.

CheeseQueen57 said:

Today's Advice-arrange for home are if you can

Hi Sisters,

Thanks again for all your suggestions. 

The home care nurse came promptly this morning and what a doll. Firm yet very caring. I'm very fortunate because my PCP is also my dear friend. I also work as a consulting dietitian in their office. Those people will do anything for me and it's such a relief to have that kind of support. My doc/friend sent her daughter across the street with their own personal bottle of extra strength Tylenol. Last night after leaving the office after 9:00 pm and stopping to check on her elderly father, she sent over a pillow bolster for me to use to be more comfortable. She and her husband are angels on earth. Choose your PCP wisely. I asked them who had the best home care agency because Fox Chase is about 40 minutes away and they don't know the local areas as well.

Although the care manager in the hospital met with me and discussed home care, she didn't push it. And I, trying to be the stoic one, didn't either. In hind site, I think most insurances would pay for this and we should all take advantage of it, especially at certain critical times. She checked my incision, injected the Lovenex (but is not letting me off the hook learning to do it myself) and reinforced the discharge instructions. Now frankly, we were given so much info at discharge that this is probably of most value. I would encourage you all to request a home care visit get scheduled before you leave the hospital. It will give you and your caregiver great peace of mind and keep you on the right track. Just make sure you use a good home care agency. If you are in an HMO, you may need to use whoever they are contracted with in the area (which also may be good). 

Back on Percocet for pain. Stoic didn't cut it yesterday. Thanks again for all your love, support and suggestions. I value each and every response as I know what an effort it takes to read and respond when you are not well. God bless each and every one of you special ladies. 

That sounds soooo nice - being so well taken care of.  I am so glad you have all that available to you.  If my cancer comes back, I am going to be so ready!!  I didn't know any of this stuff was available.  I didn't even know about "wound care" until somebody on here told me about it.  I probably would still have that big old port site hole if I hadn't gone there.  This forum is a god-send!!

Love,

Eldri