Manifest Call

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  • Kmessier
    Kmessier Member Posts: 79
    #42
    Prayers

    Congratulations Mike sorry I didn't see this before Ulysses that pillow when you sneeze or cough that helped me a lot. My prayers and thoughts are with you both. 

    ~~ Kim

  • Mikenh
    Mikenh Member Posts: 777 Member
    #43
    lizard44 said:

    Mike, when you cough or sneeze

    or even laugh hard, hug a pillow to your belly. It really did help me.

    The nurse last night told me

    The nurse last night told me this but I have to remind myself to do this.

  • Ruthmomto4
    Ruthmomto4 Member Posts: 708 Member
    #44
    Mike

    i feel terrible I have not wished you well, I am very relieved it went well and the nasty storm we had (I am in CT) didn't cause an issue. Please try and take it easy, and know we are all thinking of you!!

  • Cindy225
    Cindy225 Member Posts: 172 Member
    #45
    No Heavier than a Milk Jug

    Mike - Great you're out of surgery and on the mend! Such a major shock to your body. No lifting anything heavier than a milk jug, twisting your torso or sitting straight up. I did a lot of slow rolling out of the bed. Hang in there with the Tylenol.  Worked for me. Also, large lidocaine patches were somewhat soothing. Great to get in a chair as difficult as it is.  Sooner start doing the hospital shuffle with the catheter/IV in the hallways the better and sooner you'll go home.  Good luck waiting for the pathology report.  My surgery was Thanksgiving week so I left the hospital before actually getting them. Keep in mind, no core work-outs for a long, long, long time.  Still advised not to do them yet. (Also, had ileostomy and reversal.) After 8 weeks did get OK to gradually start running (even with chemo).  Such a slog but almost a year later and happy to say getting my running swag back and finished 5K on Saturday placing third in my age group. Patience, patience, patience...first start with the hospital shuffle. 

    Cindy

  • Mikenh
    Mikenh Member Posts: 777 Member
    #46
    Ruthmomto4 said:

    Mike

    i feel terrible I have not wished you well, I am very relieved it went well and the nasty storm we had (I am in CT) didn't cause an issue. Please try and take it easy, and know we are all thinking of you!!

    No worries, Ruth. I

    No worries, Ruth. I understand we’re all here for each other and we all have stuff to deal with. One of my friends had a tree fall on his roof on Monday. Fortunately there was no damage but he couldn’t check it out in the dark so he moved to another part of his house. He called a tree service and they used a big winch to remove it. It was somewhat costly. Weather has been a bit crazy this year.

  • darcher
    darcher Member Posts: 304 Member
    edited November 2017 #47
    Tomorrow (Thursday)  is the

    Tomorrow (Thursday)  is the day before the big show.  Been doing the build up drinking the potions they gave but tomorrow (actually today) no food and just the bowl prep for clean out. To say I'm  nervous would be an understatement. This ls the almost final act so to speak. I don't feel much beyond still being forgetful and on edge.  Would you believe I'm still trying to maintain a level of denial.  Weird but that's what it feels like since I'm not in bad shape otherwise and am trying to pretend it doesn't exist. I can feel it a little bit and the bathroom trips are self evident but otherwise I don't look it. I hope this is an indication I'll zip through it without a problem.  I've even put on a few pounds and am borderline outside the range normal BMI (Ie, getting fat, lol)  I'm going in 6:30 Friday morning.  They moved it up 2 hours which is fine since I won't have to battle morning traffic.  Not sure if I'm driving myself in or not being we've got 2 crumb crunchers that need to be in school at 8. 

  • Mikenh
    Mikenh Member Posts: 777 Member
    #48
    We’ve been where you are now

    We’ve been where you are now and your feelings are normal from my perspective. The forgetful and anxious part is normal because you have weights on your mind and all kinds of random thoughts can flow in. I had a bit of time where I said I feel pretty good right now: do I really need surgery?

    I put on about 12 pounds in the honeymoon period starting with a vacation at the beginning of October. I’m normally quite careful with my weight but I wanted to relax given the ordeal of chemo and radiation. I don’t recall who coined the term honeymoon period (probably Jim) but I thought that it was an odd term when he mentioned it and then thought it appropriate after I went through it. I asked for a scale about ten minutes ago and they have this cool, mobile electronic scale and it indicated that I’ve dropped about six pounds in the past couple of days. I think that’s normal as well as the body doesn’t seem to want to eat a lot after surgery. You can feel hungry and your eyes can look at the menu wanting to order half of it but your body will tell you that it doesn’t want to eat a lot. So I expect to lose a few more pounds before leaving. I think that adding some weight is beneficial before surgery unless you are obese and the guy in the picture looks actually underweight. I think that you may know that people that are overweight (based on BMI) are less likely to die within 30 days of surgery than those that are normal to underweight (BMI < 23). It’s easy to find research on it if not.

    So I wouldn’t sweat the weight. I think that you have the background of being active so that you can lose unwanted weight or replace fat with muscle when you have the time and energy.

    I had a lot of people cheering me on for surgery and it’s a nice feeling to help combat the negative thoughts. You have the same cheering section + 1. We’ve all been on this runway and step-by-step, you get closer to the operation, then they put you to sleep and you wake up on the other side.

    The doctor’s day resident came in to talk to me and he said, “Were going to take good care of you.” I said that I’ve run into a lot of people that have had this surgery. There is always the risk of death in surgery but I don’t know anyone that’s died. He said the same thing - which is probably a good indicator as he does these on a regular basis.

    I can tell you that you shouldn’t worry but lots of people told me that before surgery and, of course, you worry, even when you try not to. But people telling you that may decrease the worry just a little bit each time and that can help.

    I would have someone bring me in if I had the choice as it’s one fewer thing to have to worry about when there’s a lot on your mind and a schedule of things that you have to take care of before you get to Admitting.

    I made out a lot of checklists, timelines and notes to keep me on track as you may be thinking about a lot of different things and it was helpful. I’m sure that you’re using the methods that are best for you. Feel free to chime in with random thoughts or questions.

    We all want a successful outcome.

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