The Wound
Hold your hands in front of you, palms down. Touch your pinkies together. Now touch your thumbs together as well. The shape you'll have made approximates the size of the open wound I have in my abdomen, 35 days into this hospital stay. I'll attach a photo - Not everyone is as squeamish as I am. Be aware my bellybutton has migrated far to the east.
They've given up on sewing the muscle layers back together for now. Far more important to get the bowels working. Can always circle around in a few months and do a hernia surgery if I'm up for that.
So the status now is that I have a huge open wound that is attached to a vacuum system. The point of the vacuum system is to suck out any liquid leaking from the bowels. Evidently there are 2 damaged areas that were likely nicked when I had the procedure to move the ostomy from right to left (the same surgery this wound is from). I'm on complete bowel rest. They want nothing going thru there. The drier and less active that area is, the better chance it has to heal. If the fistulas refuse to heal, we'll get to play 'Operation!' again.
A few days ago, they were allowing me small sips of Gatorade. That pretty much stopped when they noticed pooling fluid at the wound site. Orange, sweet smelling fluid. It seems even the small amounts of Gatorade I was allowed was flowing into my stomach, into the small intestines, and thru the holes into the wound crater.
So no drinking for me. I get to swish and spit, which isn't the same but is better than nothing. Gatorade as mouthwash is better than mouthwash as mouthwash.
It's looking like they're trying to send me home with the open wound and some equipment for feeding me via IV. Karen and I are being trained on TPN (total parenteral nutrition) - It's a bag of fluid that one of my children called my 'cum bag'. Save your criticism. Remotely parenting from a hospital bed is level 10 hard. Also, I thought it was at least a little funny. No turning back now.
We'll be fully trained on the TPN by Monday. So possible mid-week release. I'll still be wildly limited in what I can do once I'm home (likely still no food/drink for a few weeks). So it'll be difficult, but hopefully not 'sleep in this hospital' difficult.
Mentally I'm ready to leave this place. I don't find the TV interesting. It's hard to get into any books. I stare at the clock on the wall a lot. The minute hand moves every 15 seconds, which means it must have about 240 gear teeth on it. I have witnessed it NOT move on a few occasions. This may be observation error, or it may be a true clock defect. Frustrated to report that attempts to engage hospital administration in this matter continue to fall short. I may just have to take it apart on my own.
The good news that I can share (that I haven't really up until now) is that the pathology report from the removed tissue looks good. I had no positive lymph nodes, which is a big deal because cancer spread usually happens thru the lymphatic system. It's at least a hopeful sign that I won't have to deal with distant metastasis to other locations in the future. Again, not a lock. Not trying to jinx anything here. Just some data that falls on the side we'd like it to fall on.
That's about all I have to say. Thanks all for reading - It makes it easier to not have the same conversation multiple times. It's also encouraging to read your responses. Just because I don't typically reply doesn't mean I'm not reading each one.
~Ed