CT Scan

So the last 20 hours have been a stomach's worst nightmare !!! I had to drink 2 450 mL Barium Sulfate suspension "smoothies". The instructions were to drink the first one 1 hour prior to bed the night before your test and the 2nd one 1 hour before the test. The first one I had was banana flavored. Not too bad. I has able to manage it in about 3 drinks. The effects on my stomach were not so good. I was up for about 3 hours last night with major indigestion. I didnt have a big dinner and have been eating sensibly so I am blaming the drink. This morning, I drank the 2nd one. Mixed Berries. It was AWFUL !!!!! I almost spit it up a few times. It was the worst. I went to the appt and was very surprised to learn about the procedure. I guess I should have done my research or asked questions to better prepare myself. First off, I had to wear a hospital gown. Was not ready for that. Nothing like sitting in a cold, drafty waiting room wearing a gown with total strangers sitting around you. Luckily, my wait was not very long. I went in the the CT room to see this huge donut looking machine. I laid on the table and the testing began. I was moved through this opening where I guess pictures were taken of my chest, pelvis and abdomen to look for abnormalities associated with cancer. The entire procedure took about 20 minutes or so. The iodine that they injected me with left a terrible taste in my mouth and a very strange feeling in my hands. Its only temporary so no long term effects. Anyhow, looking forward to a restful weekend and spending some holiday time with the family. I am doing some bloodwork/tests next Tuesday and will probably put a post up after that. So, enjoy the weekend and be safe.

Recovery Update

Well, my recovery has been moving along the way my doctor anticipated. I get to meet with him tomorrow to discuss the biopsy results and talk about a further course of treatment if needed. I am praying that this is all that will be needed. I will post something up tomorrow after my appointment so everyone knows whats going on. I did get to take my bandage off last night and had a shower. Someone said it would be the best shower I have ever had. I would say that it was close to the top for sure. I have about 20 staples along an 6-8 inch incision. It will end up being a nasty scar. I am still taking some pain meds. I think the meds are making me really groggy in the mornings. I am having the hardest time waking up and becoming aware of my surroundings. Maybe thats effects from the anesthesia.I find myself zoning out from time to time. Like I am daydreaming. That should be fun at work tomorrow. I am kinda curious to see how I will be able to manage at work tomorrow. Its a lot different being able to sit back in my comfy chair with my feet propped up and trying to deal with customers. Hopefully I will be functional tomorrow before going to the doctor appointment.

End of The Weekend

Evening all...... had a great time this afternoon with the family. Nice to hang out and play some cards to take my mind off of things. I spoke to the on-call doctor today and he said I had to leave my bandage on for a few days and I cant shower or get it wet at all. Thats not really very cool. Hopefully Melissa wont kick me out of bed or go sleep at her sisters house !!! Anyhow, I will be happy to get this off. I want to check out the scar !! The meds I am on are working pretty well. Still just taking 1 pill at 4-5 hour intervals. I am concerned about trying to go back to work this week. Lots of stuff to sort through. I will work on doing that in the next 2 days while I am home alone.

Good Sunday Morning

I thought I would give everyone an update from last night and this morning so far. My pain continues to be all localized to the incision the doctors made. I haven't tried to mess with the bandage or look at the staples but I assure you, they are there. We had a nice evening last night. Melissa picked up some Olive Garden and we watched a movie. I have been maintaining a 4-5 hour pace with my pain medication. I have only been taking 1 pill per time. I am thankful my pain has not been that bad. It hurts if I sit still for too long. I have been propping my legs up on the ottoman and that has felt nice. Almost like laying down which is what I was told to do. I went a little long last night without pain meds and when I woke up, the pain was much more evident. We are having some family over this afternoon for a little get together. I am looking forward to that. Its always nice when they are around. Very fun to hang out with. Anyhow, I hope everyone is well today and please pass the word about my blog to people in my situation or may find it useful. I am going to stat experimenting with pictures and video on here soon so it will have a much more interactive feel. Until later, Peace, love and much happiness.....

The Day After

So that brings us to today. Saturday May 22nd, 2010. I slept pretty well through the night. Woke up around 3:00 to take my pain meds. The directions say to take 1-2 every 4 hours. I have only taken a dosage of 1 so far. Haven't had enough pain to need 2 yet. God willing, I wont. We woke up around 8:00 and our daughter jumped in bed with us. My wife read a book and my daughter and I played a game on my phone. It was very peaceful. I thought about how lucky I am to have a great family who loves me around me to help me through this process. I then started thinking about this blog and have been working on it since around 9:00 AM. My wife went to the store and got us stuff for breakfast and for me to have next week while she works. I am off until Wednesday when I can hopefully go back to work. Fortunately, my boss is understanding and has made all of this very easy for me. My pain is a 2-3 on a scale of 1 to 10. My throat is sore and airway is swollen from where I had a breathing tube put in me during surgery. I have not removed the bandage that covers my incision. The doctor said it was being held together with staples. That's cool !!! I have to go get them removed sometime next week. I should have a follow up appt with him right before Memorial Day to go over the pathology reports and get staples removed. I am kinda eager to take the bandage off but am gonna hold off until I talk to the doctors office. So that brings us to the preset, breakfast is done and I have rambled on for about 4 hours of so. Time to take a break !! I will post another entry later on today or tomorrow for sure.

Recovery

The next thing I remember, I was in the post-op recovery room and my head was swirling. I was trying to gain focus on something. There was a nurse sitting next to me and I read her ID badge and said her name. She said "That's Me" and smiled. I then asked to see my wife and daughter and she said she would get them after I came out of anaesthesia fully. I then started looking around and reading signs. It was 6:15 PM. About an hour and half after they put me under. There was no one else in the recovery room that I could see. I started wondering if I made it though surgery. I asked the nurse if there were any complications and she said no. My first sigh of relief. I kept looking around and saw the other nurses. I felt invisible to everyone else there. One lady was talking on the phone, another was looking for her book. Guess it wasn't very busy for them. I slowly became more aware of my surroundings and being able to focus completely on things. I then started feeling the effects of my surgery. I have a big bandage across the right side of my pelvis. The doctors cut me open at my pubic area and removed my testicle through there. I had some pain from the effects. Obviously they pumped me full of drugs but still could feel the effects. A few minutes later, I saw the most beautiful thing in the world. I saw my wife walking towards me. I was so happy. I looked at her face to see if she had any bad news. She looked relieved. Another sigh of relief. The doctor had already talked to her and the surgery went well. By this time, I was pretty well recovered and was able to get dressed. It was around 7:00 by this time so I had been awake for about 45 minutes. I was able to stand on my own and get dressed with no issues. My doctor came and talked to me and said that everything went well and he didn't see anything while in there that was alarming. Another sign of relief. He said that we would meet after getting the pathology reports to see where we go from here. Treatments could include a short, localized radiation therapy, or a longer round of radiation or chemotherapy. This is assuming that the tumor was cancerous and that treatment would be needed. Then they brought a wheelchair for me and I was on my way out. It was warm and humid outside and I immediately thought to myself, Yep.... definitely Houston. My nurse was whipping me around the sidewalk and took a corner that I thought I was going to eat it in. She said something about me being worried but I didn't fully comprehend. One notable side effect of the medication is being able to focus on one thing at a time. Cant multi-task on that stuff. We got to my truck and I thought to myself, it would be a lot easier to sit down into a car rather than try and crawl up into a truck. Fortunately, it wasn't difficult to stand up and maneuver to get in. The ride home felt like the bumpiest, longest ride home. I kept waiting for my staples to fall out from the rid home. My "designated driver" did good getting me home ASAP. I was really hungry at this point of the day and was ready for dinner. We got home and my wife went to the pharmacy to get my pain meds. Doctors prescribed me something called Hydrocodone which is a combination of a narcotic and acetaminophen to reduce moderate to severe pain. My post op meal consisted of Chic-Fil-A chicken nuggets, waffle fries and lemonade. We were afraid of nausea caused my the medication but I felt great, except for the pain. We finished dinner and did a little racing on Mario Kart for the Wii. My wife beat me badly. I blame the drugs !!! After, we finished the night with Everybody Loves Raymond. my daughter fell asleep on the couch and all went to bed around 10:30 PM. Good conclusion to an otherwise tough, stressful day.

Longest 2 Hours of My Life

So I hope everyone has found this blog informational and you have gotten a good idea about what I have been going through and the process of it all. So at this point, I am in the Pre-Op waiting room with a bed, a chair, a stool, TV and a bunch of machines that I am clueless about. That was the order in which I saw and was able to identify things. Take comfort in what you know. The RN came in and told me to remove all of my clothing and put the gown on. She gave me some privacy and I, for the first time in my life, was wearing a hospital gown. And a little blue hat for my hair. I felt like I was working in a cafeteria somewhere. The RN came back in and went over some questions with me about why I was there. She then put in my IV line into my hand. It was a little painful, at least more so than I thought it would be. Again, never had anything like that in my veins before. I have donated blood before but its a little different and from your arm, not your hand. I didn't feel any particular sensation immediately. Just the pain from the needle. She left me and came back a few minutes later and let me know that the anaesthesiologist would be meeting with me before the doctor came in. She went and got my wife out of the waiting room and brought her back to see me along with my grandmother. I was starting to get emotional at this point. Tears started running for fear of the unknown, fear of complications, fear of leaving my wife a widow to raise our daughter alone. I felt afraid and alone and then something happened. I realized that I had the support of my family and friends and that I was going to be OK. My wife started showing me posts that people were leaving on Facebook and different text messages and it really made me feel better. I have a lot of great friends, a very loving family and my wife's family has accepted me as one of their own. I guess I just realized it for the first time. My wife's parents were on their way to the hospital with my daughter to be with my wife while I was in surgery. My wife was able to bring my daughter back to see me. She was a little scared at first to see her Daddy with IVs going into his hand and laying there in bed with a hospital robe and hat. She eventually gave me a big hug and kiss which made me very happy. The next hour or so consisted of watching some episodes of "Friends" which we really like. That took my mind off of things until the anaesthesiologist came in and gave me some medicine to make sure my stomach didn't get upset. Not sure how it could, I had no food or liquid in it !! My grandmother took my daughter out to the waiting room with the rest of the family and my wife stayed with me until they came in and took me to the operating room. My doctor came in and talked to us for a few minutes about the surgery and let my wife know what would happen after everything was done. It was time for me to go. My wife gave me a big hug and I felt at peace. The nurses drove me out to the OR and started prepping me. The last thing I remember is looking for the "box seats" where they observe you like you see on TV and I was out. I don't even think they told me they were putting me under. I was just gone.