Looks like I will be going in to have my feeding tube stitched back in today. I MAY even have an upper GI done ( a barium swallow) but Dr Soukiasian said it is too early to have a dilation done. Too dangerous he said. We will wait about a month for that one.

4 things today.

#1 Cindi, my sister, you passed up your chance for pranking me, I changed my password to the blog. It is no longer "this sucks" Sorry.

#2 I am SO grateful we have insurance. I am beginning to get the insurance Explanation of Benefits they love to send out, basically stating "this is not a bill" and how much the hospital charged, how much the insurance is paying under their contract and how much I am or am not responsible for.

Cary and I estimated that my medical bills the insurance is paying out is approaching close to a million dollars.

That figure just makes my knees buckle. It actually made me grateful to set up the payments for "our share" .

#3 I popped my last stitch holding my feeding tube in and now it reminds me a bit of a trombone. I have to be extremely careful now as I don't want another trip to the emergency room if it comes out.  It is also looking like I will have to have a dilation to stretch my stomaphagus so I can swallow.

#4 I REALLY need help figuring out what this sign if for. "Poke Lady in Armpit"?  "Apply Deodorant"?  I am perplexed and need closure...

Working through the pains in my back, I think I have not been walking enough. Gotta get those muscles up to speed. I only feel them when I am up and about or sitting in a chair that does not give adequate lumbar support. I also think I need to improve my posture...I slump forward too much when my stomaphagus and innards hurt.

I just liked the bum on the top right...J-Lo got nothing on this guy!

(I do wonder about my strange and convoluted thought patterns ... but only sometimes...)

Still having trouble swallowing, but I have found that if I clench my teeth, I can get down stuff a bit easier, but I am not going to push it. 

Oh my gosh, I just have to blog about the boys skit today. Nothing to do with cancer, it just totally cracked me up.

Since we couldn't go to church today, (my fault) I taught them about David and Goliath, then they took turns filling in the roles of the various characters, King Saul, a soldier, David and of course, Goliath.

The costumes were pulled from the toy room's dress up box, so Goliath resembled more of a pirate, the soldiers armor looked suspiciously like ninja pants and a Nerf dart vest, David looked great in a red bathrobe and a towel fastened around his waist with a church belt, and King Saul's robe looked a bit like Daniels Ringwraith costume from last year.

Ben REALLY wanted to be Goliath first and it was SUCH a crack up! He said his lines standing up on a small chair and saw absolutely nothing funny about it. He ended up still being shorter than "David "(aka Nathan). Don't tell him that though, He delivered his lines with great gusto.

I love being a mom.

OK I am a bit daft sometimes, but ya really can't blame me.... ok maybe you can. I mentioned I have been having trouble swallowing. I felt that maybe I was just being a woose, (huh, wonder the real spelling on that one, spell check will NOT accept it...) SO like the brilliant person I am, I decided I would just push through it. I tried to eat a tiny piece of really soft flaky fish (yummy on the tongue BTW, Cary is a great cook).

It got hopelessly stuck.

It was a full day before I could even get water down, and took 2 days to completely go down. Bah...  I just want to get better. I spoke with the nurse who said it was possible my new "stomaphagus" (wish I could claim credit for that wonderful word, but found it on a EC chat site)  is having a spasm (hold the spaz jokes please).

We are giving it a week to see what happens.

Oh, and Cary fixed my chair :)

can I just say this feeding tube thing is getting old, and I broke the big recliner I have been sleeping in since I got home. grrr....

I shouldn't complain, I am doing better and better every day, even though swallowing is anything semi solid is still a challenge.

But all in all, 

I will survive  :)

added a couple more favorite links on the side bar...

Dr appointment went well, Met my PCP for the first time. Way back when, when I was arguing with the insurance, trying to get the care I needed, he was kind enough to just sign referrals with only reading my medical reports, not seeing me. (time constraints) . He seems very thorough and likable enough. He just kept saying "wow" when we were telling him a bit about the treatments I had gone through. He also made the comment, " I am glad I am seeing you after all this is over!".

I am just glad all this is over... well mostly...

I was so excited!  I actually ran some errands this weekend ( ok walked really slow, but whose counting...). Cary drove of course, but just getting out of the house was wonderful. I was a bit done in though afterward but hey, I will take what I can get.

I REALLY tried to make it to church Sunday, but my body just plain vetoed that one. I am going to try again next week.This time I am really going to take it easy on the weekend so I can have all that energy on the Sabbath.

I am getting better and better every day now and seriously, the thing that hurts the worst  is the wound in my neck, so that is a HUGE improvement over chest tube and drain holes.

Both drains came out yesterday!!! Only the feeding tube left now. I am in the home stretch of healing...although it still is hard to swallow anything but liquids or semi liquids. I am sure that will come as well.

still boring.... HOORAAYYY!!!!  I have an appointment on Thursday and understand that at least one of my drains will be removed. Jo Marie (remember, she's the surgeon's nurse practitioner) said they might wait a week before they take the other one out. Woo hoo!! then there will be only the feeding tube.

 

Ok so maybe my drains aren't THIS big...