Tag Archives: surgery

surgery…

31 Monday Jul 2017

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today in my Facebook feed the following memory came up…

I had been in the hospital for a few days with pancreatitis when I wrote the above post, and ended up there for six weeks… during that time I also had my gallbladder removed… I was very sick and when we left the hospital I was afraid, I’d been there so long I wasn’t sure how I would manage at home… I still had a drainage tube in my side and was barely able to eat…

a lot has happened in seven years… 

the tube came out just a few days before our younger daughter’s wedding and I finally started to have an appetite…

two years later my husband died suddenly in March and within a few weeks I was diagnosed with uterine cancer… I’d been waiting for hernia surgery and so there were lots of discussions with the various doctors as they figured out how they could do both surgeries at the same time…

in July of 2012 I had a combination surgery and spent ten weeks recovering…

my body does not handle drugs well and within 8 hours following the cancer surgery I stopped taking all drugs…

dealing with pain is easier than dealing with the side effects of drugs…

this afternoon I had my final appointment at CancerCare… after eleven visit… saw my surgeon, who I rarely see as they work on a rotation, and was discharged from the program…

life is pretty darn good even with all the changes;-)…

precious…

20 Thursday Jul 2017

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early this morning I picked my first pepper of the season…


looks like another two or three are starting… funny thing is I don’t really love green peppers, lol…

the morning glories are blooming all along the deck… up till today they were only flowering in one spot…

they remind me of when George would bring me pictures of whichever one was blooming every morning when I spent six weeks in the hospital…

it was so sweet…

over lunch we went to the Farmers Market and I got a great bag full of treats…


radishes, tiny cucumbers, peas, new potatoes and yellow beans (which we ate before I took the picture)…

summer is so precious…

recovery…

19 Wednesday Jul 2017

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some lovely pictures this morning…


flowers make me happy…

yesterday marked five years since my cancer/hernia surgery… I hadn’t been able to lift anything for weeks as the hernia was causing a lot of trouble… for the next six weeks as I was in recovery mode I still wasn’t able to lift anything over two pounds… I spent the summer having friends and family coming over to look after the garden and take care of me…

things are much better now and I am so blessed…

normal…

14 Tuesday Feb 2017

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had my tenth visit to CancerCare yesterday…

have the process down fairly smoothly… I walk over to the hotel that is just a block away from the office and take a cab to the CancerCare building…

much simpler than taking the car and trying to find a parking spot… also saves time…

arrived right on time only to hear that their records had me scheduled for half an hour later… sat down and in just a few minutes I was called…

had the usual weigh in and height measurement and was put into a room… about five minutes later a nurse came in to get the basic info… she asked if I’d come on my own today and if there were any changes to my medical history… I said no, that I’d mentioned my diabetes previously… she says that’s not on your chart… then she asks for my birthdate and says what’s your last name… at which point we realize that there were two of us with the same first name waiting to see one of the doctors…

she left and after quite a long wait one of the doctors came in… it was the doctor who did my surgery and I think this might be the second time I’ve seen her since my actual surgery…

there are four surgeons and you see whoever is working that day…

she asked the usual questions and did the usual exam… she advised that everything looked normal and said she always used those words so that the patients’ know they are doing okay…

she talked about the fact that my next appointment will be my last, at which time I will be released back to my family doctor for yearly follow ups…

a quick walk through HSC and out to the taxi stand where the driver had me sit in the front with him… first time a cab driver has ever offered that option…

he was very friendly and we chatted all the way back to the office…

ten down and one left to go… let’s keep on with the normal…

circles…

11 Saturday Feb 2017

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as I’ve been struggling with this cold or almost flu it has reminded me of how great I usually feel…

when I think back to the few times I’ve been seriously ill and gone through tough surgeries… and the slow process to recover and how I would feel a little better each day… and then would eventually get to the place where I was well… 

sometimes we forget how much we take good health for granted…

next week I have a CancerCare checkup… I think it is my second to last appointment as July will be five years since my cancer surgery…

amazing how the time has gone by so quickly…

good reminder that although I’ve felt rough over the last week it is nothing like what I’ve been through before… and I am very blessed on the whole…

thinking of all those in my circles who are struggling with health issues, either their own or their loved ones…

drops…

29 Sunday Jan 2017

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been thinking about eye drops a lot…

in January or February of 2012, George had cataract surgery on his right eye… it made a huge improvement to his vision and he did very well during and after the surgery… 

the cataract came on very quickly and he kept thinking that he had something in his eye so we were very happy to discover that was the problem… saw a wonderful doctor, got on the list and into and out of the Misericordia in record time…

the one difficulty he struggled with was the eye drops which started out three times a day at the beginning and were still happening twice a day even when he went back to work…

he just couldn’t put them in by himself, lol… so it became my job to administer the drops…

I’ve been putting drops in my eyes every night for many years as I’ve been diagnosed with glaucoma… once you start taking them you have to continue forever…

recently I was doing some work in my computer photo library and came across a photo I had taken of his eye just a few days before his death… it was very close up and showed the sparkle that was always there…

here’s one that always makes me chuckle… 

system…

01 Thursday Dec 2016

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had a conversation with someone a few days back about health, or lack thereof…

they were waiting on appointments and test results and the stress was nearly unbearable…

made me think back to some of our difficult times…

November/December 2008, when George had bypass surgery… the stress leading up to the actual surgery was huge… the struggles with the healthcare system were daunting… 

advocating for yourself or your loved one takes courage, patience and persistence… and you can’t give up… 

once we got to the actual surgery he responded beautifully… 

August 2010, when I had a procedure for a blocked bile duct which led to a very bad bout of pancreatitis and ended with gall bladder surgery… for six weeks he came to see me every morning before work and looked after everything on the home front…

now I have memories of those times and although some of them are difficult they also remind me of what a special life we have been blessed with… reminded me of this blog I wrote in February of 2013…

one step at a time…

blooming hibiscus…

kettle…

15 Saturday Oct 2016

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I love my tea in the morning… there isn’t time on weekdays to make it at home, so I have tea at the office…

on weekend mornings the first thing I do is fill my kettle to make a pot… 

every time I take it out of the cupboard and fill it with water I think abut my dear friend Dobby who bought it for me after my hysterectomy in 2012… I wasn’t able to lift anything for many weeks afterward and my usual kettle was twice as heavy…

she stayed and looked after me for a week and fed me, entertained me and reorganized my freezer while she was here…

it made all the difference to my recovery as I was still struggling with pain and couldn’t even go up the stairs… she made lovely bits of food to encourage me to eat and helped me get outside to sit and enjoy the sun and fresh air…

so every time I see the kettle I think of her wonderful care…

and now I also remember fun with family… 

this summer I went camping with my kids for a few weeks and I took along the kettle… it became a lifesaver… the first site we were at didn’t have electricity so I’d go to an empty site early in the morning so I could make a thermos of tea… then I realized that if I just put the hot water in the thermos there would be water for the tea I wanted and the coffee the kids like, but needed quite a bit later, lol… it also came in handy to heat up water for dishes…

at our second location we had two sites, one with electricity and one without… we’d put the kettle on the table by the power to heat for tea, coffee, hot chocolate and dish water and would run back and forth to get it for whatever we were working on… lots of fun…

this morning I had a raspberry smoothie with my tea…

great memories…

repair…

18 Monday Jul 2016

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four years ago today I went into surgery for a hysterectomy due to cancer, and a hernia repair… I had two different surgeons involved to get everything done, basically at the same time…

just four months after George died I had been to accountants, financial experts and lawyers to put my affairs in order… I wasn’t sure I would wake up…

I remember that morning, as I lay on the stretcher, my heart pounding, wondering if I had done everything needed so that my girls wouldn’t have too much trouble dealing with my stuff if I didn’t make it… I didn’t want them to struggle the way I had when my beloved died…

I was so thrilled to wake up and learn that the surgery had gone well and the prognosis was excellent…

my body has always reacted poorly to any drugs and the pain meds they gave me kept me from sleeping and made me slightly crazy… eventually (within 8 hours) I was able to convince the doctors and nurses to stop all medication… I have always felt it easier to deal with the pain than the side effects of medication…

so, it was painful for a while, but my head was clear and I knew the pain would subside as my body repaired itself… 

and I was so happy to be alive, that helped too…

every step of my recovery was supported by family and friends… people sent me flowers, brought me food, sat with me, walked with me, ate with me, called me every day, stayed with me, and did chores around the house and yard that I couldn’t manage – for the first six weeks I couldn’t lift anything over a pound… what an amazing group… 

fast forward to today… I am healthy, able to lift and carry, have lost around 40 pounds, walk regularly and eat carefully… I am managing my diabetes with diet and exercise and feel pretty darn good…

still have the most amazing group of people in my life… 


I just realized a few days ago that there are no morning glories in the garden this year… made me a bit sad… we’ve had them in the garden for many years… I just love their beauty, the surprise in the morning when they open, and the inner glow they seem to have… when I was in hospital in 2010 for a six week stint, I remember George taking pictures each morning before he came so he could show the blooms to me…

I miss my beloved each and every day but know I truly am blessed as I continue down this new path…


life is fleeting…   enjoy every moment…

Dobby…

22 Sunday Mar 2015

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had a lovely conversation with a good friend who I haven’t seen for a while… 

she has been helping another friend who was recovering from surgery…

reminded me of when she came and stayed with me after my cancer surgery… for a number of weeks I wasn’t able to lift anything over a couple of pounds…
while she was here she cleaned and cooked lovely treats which encouraged me to eat… she also recorded everything that was in my freezer, and made little bits and pieces to go into the freezer to entice me to eat…
and she went out and found me a kettle that wasn’t too heavy which I could pick up once I was on my own…
  
nearly every time I use it I think of her and how well she looked after me…

while she was here I referred to her as Dobby, the kitchen elf…

I’ve been thinking about that a lot this weekend as I have been under the weather…

how lucky was I…