Bye bye elephant woman

Today came with some unexpected developments. I woke this morning feeling groggy, shaky and a bit down. I think after the progress and activity of the past few days, I knew I was settling in to wait for the internal healing and no real progress until next week. But two big and exciting events happened.

My primary care doctor actually came in this afternoon and told me they're just going to start me on food on Monday. So no CT scan to see if the hole is still there. He said, it'll be seven days from the last CT and 10 from surgery, so there's a good chance it'll be healed. Although when I asked if the risk was low, he said, "I wouldn't say that at all." I don't know exactly what that means (because the doctors zip in and out of my room with little chance for contemplation or questions) but I will ask the resident in the morning.

I'm so excited about getting real food. And by real food, I mean clear liquids at first - jello, broth, juice. Two more days.

Then tonight, I got the NG tube removed. I no longer look like an elephant. I don't have a machine suctioning out my stomach juices anymore. I was a bit nervous about its removal, but the nurse pulled it out quickly and then it was out. It's very freeing. I now only have my two drainage tubes and the IV pole to cart around with me.

Speaking of drainage tubes, one of the fluid collection reservoirs got plugged by a blood clot last night and I was oozing fluid from the drain site on my abdomen. But Michael's eagle eyes discovered the problem, my nurse replaced the reservoir and I seem to be draining properly again. Whew.

I'm tired tonight and I was a bit more sore than usual today. But I've been active too. I went for a long walk today (probably a couple of kilometres) in the sunshine. Again, it was good to get outside. I'll try to get a few blocks of sleep tonight between tests and IV changes so I can rejeuvenate. And over the next two days, I'll work on healing internally. While I may not have a lot of control over that, I'll try to get lots of rest and think positively.

Tina