Please pray for me...

Thank you.

I woke up from my nap in a lot of pain. I'll have to temporarily go back to my original pain medication dose.

I'm also really cold and hope I'm not getting sick or dehydrated...

My 3rd and hopefully final surgery is tomorrow morning. Please pray that everything goes well.

I'll be glad actually, because tomorrow is the last day I'll have a poop sack. It's nasty and painful so life will be much easier without it.

Good luck Thomas, we are still praying for you.

Hope things go well for you!

Bad news:  
- I came to after surgery in so much pain.  Like, I could barely talk and breathe.  That poor nurse was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, giving me as much dilaudid and fentanyl as she was allowed.  One hour felt like half a day with that much pain.

That's the end of the bad news.  

Good news:  
- That port is freaking AMAZING.  Before surgery, I was speaking with my anesthetist and didn't even realize they drew blood and started an IV.  I thought they were just getting started, but they were done!  So much easier and less painful.
- My pain is now under much better control.  MUCH better.  
- NO CATHETER.  I hate those things getting taken out too, and I was able to pee, a little bit.  I don't feel like I need to pee, which is a little strange...
- My surgeon said that my procedure was "textbook".  In other words, it went as well as it possibly could have.
- They were hoping I'd be able enough to get up and walk tomorrow, but since pain is moderate, I actually got out of my bed and walked FOR 20 MINUTES.  Actually ended up JOGGING a little bit.  I knew that ostomy always hurt, but I didn't realize how much until that burden was lifted.

- First and foremost, I feel uplifted spiritually.  I'll say it - today was the happiest I've been in weeks.  I'm DONE with surgery.  I'm almost done with cancer treatment.  A HUGE nasty inconvenience is literally cut out of my life.  I have a new lease on living and I want to get back in shape (gain back strength and weight).  I want to go back to work.  I want to get back to writing music!

...and with a little time, there's nothing to stop me from those!

I have prayed quite a bit today.  Like the typical prayer theme through most of my cancer journey usually starts with "please help and guide me" and ends with "Thank you and I love you."  God is totally awesome and I'm getting together a list of things I want to do for Him.

That's amazing

Wow such great news!!!  I've been thinking about and praying for you constantly and and I am so glad to hear this!!!  Praise God!

ThomasEversole wrote:Bad news:  
- I came to after surgery in so much pain.  Like, I could barely talk and breathe.  That poor nurse was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, giving me as much dilaudid and fentanyl as she was allowed.  One hour felt like half a day with that much pain.

That's the end of the bad news.  

Good news:  
- That port is freaking AMAZING.  Before surgery, I was speaking with my anesthetist and didn't even realize they drew blood and started an IV.  I thought they were just getting started, but they were done!  So much easier and less painful.
- My pain is now under much better control.  MUCH better.  
- NO CATHETER.  I hate those things getting taken out too, and I was able to pee, a little bit.  I don't feel like I need to pee, which is a little strange...
- My surgeon said that my procedure was "textbook".  In other words, it went as well as it possibly could have.
- They were hoping I'd be able enough to get up and walk tomorrow, but since pain is moderate, I actually got out of my bed and walked FOR 20 MINUTES.  Actually ended up JOGGING a little bit.  I knew that ostomy always hurt, but I didn't realize how much until that burden was lifted.

- First and foremost, I feel uplifted spiritually.  I'll say it - today was the happiest I've been in weeks.  I'm DONE with surgery.  I'm almost done with cancer treatment.  A HUGE nasty inconvenience is literally cut out of my life.  I have a new lease on living and I want to get back in shape (gain back strength and weight).  I want to go back to work.  I want to get back to writing music!

...and with a little time, there's nothing to stop me from those!

I have prayed quite a bit today.  Like the typical prayer theme through most of my cancer journey usually starts with "please help and guide me" and ends with "Thank you and I love you."  God is totally awesome and I'm getting together a list of things I want to do for Him.

I'm so glad! God is indeed good!

FANTASTIC!!!!

AWESOME NEWS!!! 
I am sharing this right now with my wife as she has been praying for you daily with a prayer group from church that gathers all nights at home. My wife was in tears of joy while Inwas sharing the news and shout: I TOLD YOU!!! GOD IS ANSWERING PRAYERS!!!

Thanks for sharing brother news like this are uplifting for us. God is helping us too!!!

I think I spoke too soon on this hospital visit. I think I'm getting sick. I can't get warm, even with hot blankets on me and my voice is hoarse. I pee and fart a lot, but no poop yet.

I'm expecting to be here maybe some of the weekend. Worse than getting used to urine being in a bladder is getting used to feces in intestines. I've had two meals and I just feel bloated and like it's stuck in me.

All I can really do is push fluids and keep eating in hopes that turds get expelled.

My surgeon seemed to think it was a good sign I was hungry and passing gas. I'm in too much pain though. Pain management is one of those go home factors, and I was in denial, thinking I was a 5, when really I was a 10.
Now it seems like torture/forever waiting for all the legal hoops to approve more pain management...

Sucks to be me. I really shot myself in the foot here...

KaramKaram wrote:AWESOME NEWS!!! 
I am sharing this right now with my wife as she has been praying for you daily with a prayer group from church that gathers all nights at home. My wife was in tears of joy while Inwas sharing the news and shout: I TOLD YOU!!! GOD IS ANSWERING PRAYERS!!!

Thanks for sharing brother news like this are uplifting for us. God is helping us too!!!

I'm glad to hear you're getting help and thank you again for the prayers. I'm so glad my wife is a nurse. All this pain management is coming out of the woodwork to help!

...obviously, when I mentioned moderate pain, I was on a dilauded pump. It got much worse trying to go from that to 1 7.5mg Norco every 6 hours.

My surgeon agreed to 2 pills every 4 hours, but never put the order in.

I'm calling my case manager tomorrow for my insurance on how my caregivers really dropped the ball.

I'm out of the hospital and ready to start recovering. So glad to be reversed and that I can eat normal things again.
Had a few complaints about my hospital experience, so I'm following up with their patient advocate about it. Things like an absence in necessary pain management on multiple occasions, this tech that didn't know what she was doing (her words); who dropped a pressure cuff on my face and took my temperature without the sanitation sleeve. She shoved the metal so far in my mouth I almost gagged.
I think things like that need reported - then I'll be done and moving on from that, on to happier things.

We wish you the best now, thanks God and still praying for your recovery

One of the patient advocates called me back after I left a message. They're going to investigate and file a grievance in regards to what I complained about.

Oh good.  I sure wouldn't wish what you experienced upon anyone...

Haven't been doing very well lately. All I want to do is sleep and apart from restroom trips, I've done so almost 24 hours straight.

My pain is worse than when I first came home. Probably some of that is it a hard to take my meds every 6 hours when I'm sleeping. ...The other is I see hints of infection. (It's not full blown, but I see hints of it.)

I start my chemo on Monday. Being that my birthday is in a few days, it kind of feels like "Happy birthday, here's some needles and poison."

I really don't want to permanently lose the feeling in my hands... which can happen with the type of chemo they want to give me. That would mean goodbye to being a musician.

My doctor told me that again today...

ThomasEversole wrote:I start my chemo on Monday. Being that my birthday is in a few days, it kind of feels like "Happy birthday, here's some needles and poison."

I really don't want to permanently lose the feeling in my hands... which can happen with the type of chemo they want to give me. That would mean goodbye to being a musician.

My doctor told me that again today...

Ugh!...

Sorry to hear this.

I just signed this thing saying that I'm aware that this chemo can CAUSE cancer. That's crazy.

I'll have a needle in my chest giving me this stuff until Wednesday. At least they gave my wife a kit so she can uninstall the pump herself.

Kinda depressing that on this chemo ward, I'm the youngest patient by 20-30 years I'm guessing...

That cold sensitivity they told me about is BRUTAL. Took a swig of my unsweetened tea after it sat in ice for a while and it felt like I swallowed 9 thumb-tacs.

I get why they put so much emphasis on room temperature drinks.

Figured out something that's actually good about chemo. Flys and mosquitos won't come near me. My wife and I were both sweating while jogging at the park (been exercising a lot lately) and they were eating her alive, but wouldn't even land on me. I've never had that happen in my life.

That being said, they told my wife and I today that we need to wash our clothes separately. If I wash my sweaty shirt with her clothes while this is coming out of my pores, it could make Kaytlyn sick.