I'll stay home

Thursday evening... 48 hours post-op... welcome back, my old friend... diarrhea...


Yes, one of the expected steps of recovery from my ileostomy reversal surgery is a period of time where my colon is relearning to do its job. Diarrhea has been a common theme of this blog as I've dealt with radiation and IV chemotherapy. Unfortunately, this time, I am not able to take any medication to stop the flow. We don't want to slow the bowels down as they are just now gearing up. So, I spent most of Thursday night in the bathroom. Thankfully, I left a magazine in there earlier in the day as I had plenty of time to read in the middle of the night.


Friday evening... 72 hours post-op... had a diarrhea-free day, yay! However, my stomach is very swollen, assuming the appearance of a basket ball; the incisions look good; and my newly recharged colon has gone into overdrive in the gas-production department! I think I'll stay at home...

Every  year at Christmas we have a Christmas party for the COF staff. We always have a gift exchange which is made more exciting by the fact that half of the gifts are nice gifts and the other half are, well, not exactly what you would want to take home.


This past Christmas Mark received the book pictured above as his part of his gift. I quickly swiped it from him, knowing that the day may come when I would be re-training my bowels in the art of toilet use! What an appropriate gift! LOL! I guess God was getting us prepared for the days and weeks ahead of me now!

Thank you for your faithful prayers. I truly believe the reason my colon went right to work and I was able to come home so quickly, and the reason I have had surprisingly little pain following this surgery is a direct result of your prayers. Please continue to pray for my system to make needed adjustments, that I won't get dehydrated, and that I will heal up completely. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!