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 my tongue is super sore. I also have a tingling numbness in both my big toes. I talked to the surgeon’s nurse today and she said that patients that have experienced neuropathy during chemo can get a late onset after HIPEC. I am also much much more fatigued this time and spend a whole lot of time partly sitting mostly not.

In between two daily walks and a little bit of putting around the house I nap and watch tv and I am now half way through my crocheting project, so at least I’m doing something not just staring into thin air. I try to help a little bit with cooking and tidying, but I need to go back to the couch after ten minutes.

It continues to be hard to straighten up completely. My incision still hurts a bit and now that my abdominal muscles are starting to wake up it feels like I’ve taken 100 sit-ups – very sore muscles. I feel pretty beat up. Waking up the intestines is also rather painful, but the stabbing pain only happens three or four times per day now and the intensity is decreasing so it’s definitely improving. I’m handling the pain pretty well. I’ve only taken painkillers at bedtime. It knocks me out, so I prefer to not be dazed in addition to fatigued during the daytime. It is less painful to cough and sneeze so the incision is definitely growing, but oh my it has started to itch big time. I have not needed to use the G-tube as a nausea relief luckily so I am managing to eat just as much as my stomach can handle. It is definitely an annoying attachment, and a bit sore where it’s attached, so I’m looking forward to getting it pulled out.

So all in all I’m improving every day slowly but surely. When I spoke to the nurse today she was very happy with how I’m handling it and how well it is progressing. So I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and continue to push myself a little bit more each day.