It has been TEN long days and I am doing good. I am so grateful that the surgery is over and I am finally home from MDA. We got home Thursday night. The surgery was definately the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but I am so grateful I was able to do it. It was a a long week at MDAnderson in my small hospital room. I actually have no memory of about the first two 1/2 days. For some reason I had some kind of reaction to anesthesia and have amnesia of the day of surgery and after. The last thing I remember is me and Amy sitting in the waiting room waiting for me to be called back to the o.r. and she was rubbing my shoulders. Then I start having memories of that Saturday. I was told I was throwing up violently after surgery and they were trying to stop it. I have no memory of that. Then when I got back to my room where my family was they say I was "talking crazy" out of my head. I had no idea I had just had surgery and no idea where I was. I was sitting up talking to all of them like nothing had just happened. (I have 40 staples in my stomach so to be able to do that is amazing within itself) So, we have had LOTS of laughs of my family telling all the silly, wild things I did and said. They said at first it was funny, but when I woke up the next day still doing it they were concerned. Doc assured them I was okay. I wasn't going cuckoo. Anyway, poor Stan slept on a recliner by my side every night except one. Mom stayed one night. Nurses came in every two hours to take blood pressure, blood, or load me up on pain meds. So, no one got much sleep except me in my pain medicine induced state. :) I had several different nurses and they all seemed to have very intersting names. Pablito, Naja, Shaza and the list just gets crazier. But, they were all top notch and everything there is definatley state of the art and first class all the way. So, I was very well taken care of despite of how nutty I was. HA
The pathology report came back on day four of my liver. They removed the whole right lobe. It showed that the chemo had killed a lot of the cancer(which means it was working) and the "margins" of tissue around the tumor were clear. So, basically now we wait for me to heal and I go back to my onclogist to see what kind of proactive treatment I will be doing. So, there were no surprises. Which was good! Thank you Jesus.
I finally got the go ahead to leave on Thursday morning from my doctor. Everyone was so ready to be home. I, on the other hand, was having a big old fear of leaving my doctors and being six hours away from them. The devil put all kinds of scenarios in my worrying little head. What if my liver has a problem? What if I get sick? How will I get back to Houston ASAP. But, Dad, Stan and my doctors assured me they could get me back on a medical helicopter. I took their word for it and agreed to leave. It was hard though. Anyway, Mom, Dad and Cole went ahead and headed home that morning and Stan and I had to wait around for my meds to be filled before we could leave. When we FINALLY got to leave the hospital Stan put me in a wheelchair and I was loaded down with my big purse, hot pink blanket, zebra pillow and cheetah house shoes. He was trying to push me and pull my polka dot suitcase, laptop and his bag all at the same time. Now, one would think at this huge place with all its other fancy stuff they would have someone help you leave, but they did not. So, we have seven floors to go down on the elevator. He is loading me into the elevator and rams my chair right into the back wall of the elevator. Drops the laptop, suitcases, etc. I almost went flying out into the wall. I was crying from pain and laughter at the same time. When we finally "land" on the first floor Stan wheels me out backwards and my wheels turn and hit the elevator door again! Then we hit another wall! He is sweating and I am laughing and am embarrassed. This woman comes up and asks if he needs some help. Stan says, "no, she's tough." ha ha ha. She then said, "Well, you are pushing this beautiful woman and keep ramming here into the wall!" awwwww. she said I was beautiful! As a girl, of course, that is all I heard. So, we then wheel out to the valet parking of the hospital and our car is parked across the street at the hotel. Stan says "Wait right here honey. I'll be right back." And he sprints across the downtown Houston city street. At that moment I am sitting there thinking "For some reason this reminds me of a scene from that old sitcom Green Acres!" oh, my country husband. I love him so much. He then pulls up and we load up and head west! Always an andventure. I will admit that this is hard. I thank God for each of you praying and every message, card and text is appreciated beyond you will ever know. I now am going to focus everything on our next move and my kids. I love each of you and will blog again when I find out our plan. Right now I am just healing. God bless you dear friends. Much love.
