Let’s break the good news first. No cancer cells in the lymph nodes that were removed. Only mucin in the small nodes and the intestine tissue – that means no cancer in those. The only tissue with high grade cancer cells was the growth in the diaphragm. The surgeon is confident that he has removed everything. I have recovered remarkably well (even if I feel otherwise), I am young (all things considered) and have shown that I am very strong….
Better days are ahead, but they seem far away at the moment. It was going so well. Slow but going forward. Sunday afternoon I crashed – on the couch – and I’ve had a problem working my energy up since then. I am so very very tired. A shower and washing my hair knocks me out for hours. I though I was on the mend. The surgeon told me I’d be fatigued for weeks, perhaps even months, and I’m for…
I’m still improving and manage to do a little bit more every day. Yesterday morning I thought I’d had a set back. When I reached the top of the hill at the end of the block I conked out. I did the silly mistake of talking while walking uphill – I’ll wait a few days before trying that again. Despite the unwanted morning collapse the rest of the day was good and my second walk was a nice long one…
Not much to say other than that I’m improving every day. I move slightly more each day, and the neighborhood walks become longer and more frequent. The recovery is going much slower than in February after my first surgery. No doubt that has to be because of the HIPEC this time. It is clear that some of the chemo must have worked it’s way into my system. The enhanced bitter flavor in my mouth is back and the tip of…
I’m sure you recognize the feeling when you take the first shower when you haven’t had a shower for a while. Not only was my shower yesterday one of my top ten showers, but the feeling when I put my own clothes on was fantastic, and getting big hugs from James and Benjamin was so wonderful after only being touched by glove covered hands for a week, and Chess’ gentle tongue meticulously licking my hand that had had the most…