Main » January 2006
January 25, 2006
Hanging in there through a slow recovery
Just a quick update. I taught Tuesday and Wednesday though in quite a bit of pain. A combination of dextromethorphan and diphenhydramine helped me to finally get some sleep last night after three nights with a total of 3 hours sleep. The incision from the colon surgery is still slowly healing in. I have two open areas that are still discharging fluid so I am still bandaging the area during the day. I have decided not to go back to the surgeon for any further followups since he just looks at the incision, rebandages it, and tells me to make another appointment without really doing anything constructive to help with the pain or sleepless nights. I am gradually getting better but am somewhat bitter over the lack of any pain management for this. It seems that all the surgeon cares about is the fact the surgery was successful. I can finish the healing process over the next month without the sort of 'help' I've gotten from him. I do intend on sending in the questionaire the hospital sent me with a complete description of the care, both good and poor, I received from the staff there. It probably won't accomplish much but at least it will help me relieve some of the anger I've felt over the whole situation.
The rosacea symptoms have been about the same, with some dryness and a little redness. With the other daily struggles it just doesn't seem as important right now. I'm going to bed now to try to get some much needed rest.
Posted by at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
I took the day off
I had a lot of pain last night and spent most of the evening awake. This morning I woke up and felt drained but a little less pain. I probably went back to work too soon and have been "butting my head against the wall" trying to keep going while healing. For that reason I decided to take the day off and rest as much as possible. I'm going back to bed now and hope to catch up on the missed sleep.
Posted by at 04:28 AM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2006
Good and bad days
The pain meds are gone now and the healing continues. Yesterday there was much less pain and the incision from the colon surgery is filling in better. Today was a rough day. I know the colon is healing but I have a really nasty pain in the right lower quadrant where the colon was pulled over to be reattached. During the microscope tissue lab I managed to stagger around and help the groups; I was exhausted at the end of the day and took a long nap when I got home. I took the last two Loratabs, which relieved much of the pain. I will sure be glad when this healing stuff is complete and I can feel normal again.
The rosacea is holding about the same. My forehead and nose are very dry and pink now so I've been using lots of moisturizer with little improvement. Cold weather is not good for Rosacea.
Posted by at 06:49 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006
Pain while teaching
Though bandaged up and wearing very loose fitting pants, the pain has been grueling in class today. It feels like someone is jabbing a dull knife into my lower right abdomen. I know it's just part of the healing process but having that type of pain really makes it difficult to teach my 3 Anatomy classes. I'm sitting down more now, but there is no position that feels comfortable. What I really need is a month off to just let the colon and the incision heal. That's not going to happen. I'll have to just grit my teeth and try not to gasp when a sharp pain hits while I'm in front of the kids.
Posted by at 07:29 PM | Comments (3)
January 16, 2006
Slow healing from the hemicolonectomy
After making it through the week teaching, I've been resting a lot this weekend. The incision form the colon resection is about 60% closed, but the top portion tore open after the staples were removed and has been a real pain to deal with. Though not infected, there is a hole about the size of a half dollar that is deep and discharging an orange liquid. I've been letting it air out this weekend and it appears to be very slowly filling in. When going out, I have to put a pad and gauze on it to keep leakage from staining my pants. Yesterday there was a lot of deep pain whenever I got up or shifted position. This is less today and I hope that is a sign that the internal healing is progressing. I go back to the doctor in a couple of hours to be checked. I've come out of this experience with the realization that most doctors do not have a clue as to the importance of proper pain control in their patients' healing. They have their particular expertise such as cutting out parts and that's about all they really focus on. I have a small amount of pain medication I have been carefully using to help me sleep at night or get around in the morning,but I could use about twice the amount the doctor gave me to be able to get around with minimal discomfort. I'm making do with what I have and waiting to feel better.
Posted by at 09:24 AM | Comments (2)
January 10, 2006
Return to teaching
After missing a week and a day of the new classes this term I finally went back today. The incision has partially healed but there are two rather deep holes in it that have not healed well so far. There is no obvious infection or fever but there is a lot of drainage from the holes. I used a cane to help me get around and bound the area with gauze and tape. With some help from pain pills I made it successfully through the day and taught about tissue types. When I got home and unwrapped the gauze it tore open the wounds and some bleeding occurred. I'm sitting here now with a piece of gauze over the holes to keep out dust and am letting the incision air dry some. I think I can make it through the rest of the week but the pain level is rather bad at times and I am sitting as much as possible.
Posted by at 02:41 PM | Comments (1)
