I'm baaaack!

Back home that is, ladies and gentlemen. As I had hoped, by Tuesday night the hospital was ready to send me home. Yes, apparently that is what too many wisecracks can do for a gal.

Until this morning I had issues with nausea, but a timely dose of Zofran helped me get over that and I managed to keep down my morning oatmeal. From that moment on, I improved rapidly as my pump was once again primed and my body could take nourishment.

Later in the day they took me off the Dilaudin pump, and also the saline since I could keep down liquids. Thus freed from my tethers I grabbed DH and together we enjoyed seven rounds of strolling around the entire general surgery station while making sure that as many nurses as possible observed my energy and feistiness. I spent the afternoon sitting with my mom, chatting and crocheting while waiting for the nurse to get the doctors to actually, physically sign off on thhe discharge they had promised me earlier in the morning (with the caveat, of course, that I had to be able to keep food down first...). By 6:30 the deed was finally done. I had done my teachback of emptying and "stripping" the surgical drain, reviewed my medication reconciliation sheet with the nurse, and received a parting gift of a pneumonia vaccine for good measure.

And now I am happily back home again, where things are comfy and mercifully quiet, and where the dog comes to snuggle up with me. No more blood pressure, temperature and oxygenation level checks every four hours. No more open bedroom doors facing a brightly lit hallway. No more roommates that are taken to the room at midnight. No more last batch of IV antibiotics that clot up the vein. Just good, old-fashioned care and recovery at home.

Thank you again to all of you who have helped carry me not only through my general cancer journey, but specifically this surgery on this big wave of love and support. I couldn't have done as well as I did without you!

I haven't had the time nor energy to answer individual emails in the past few days -- sorry about that. As I am now recovering at home I hope to catch up with that email backlog soon, so please bear with me. I'll be baaack...