A day earlier than expected is very good news. Bad news its a Sunday so most likely the Doc will come around after his round of golf.

I actually had a doc come in and see me around 9 am this morning and he said there was no reason to keep me here. I asked if I can shower without protecting my incisions and he said it's fine as is. I've got staples in my gut and will have to come back in 2 weeks to have them removed. Can't I just go to Office Max or some such place instead?

One of these?

https://epay.hawaii.edu/C24372_ustor...pleRemover.jpg

You're a ****ing BOSS ED!! Keep fighting bud

What he said. (God Bless You) :thumb:

I took my buddy's staples out with a good pair of side cutters.

Ed, keep fighting the good fight, brother.

LMAO I thought about this a yr ago when I had my first surgery. They used sutures on me this time.

Excellent!

I was sprung Friday evening. Hospitals need to keep costs down.

Right on, man! Get outta' that dump.

I am home now in my room, listening to YouTube and surfing around the web. I started to cough and that hurts, so I took a sip of Nyquil to coat my throat. Better now.

Awesome Ed no more Doctors showing up at all hours poking and prodding. No place like home.

Yes, it is. If I had not been preoccupied with blinding pains, I would have demanded that they access my chemo port much earlier, as in right away, since they were jabbing me left and right. I finally got the port accessed and they hardly had to use it. One blood draw and one IV of some potassium and mineral supplement and that was it. :banghead:

Keep up the good fight, Ed. Modern technology has come a long way from what it was just a short 20 years ago. Best of luck on your future recovery, and congrats on beating the shit out of cancer.

Thanks, but it is not over. There is still the matter of my liver at stage IV. My colon cancer is gone, though, and it's nice not seeing blood in the toilet anymore.

How long of a incision did they make Ed. I know surgery is so much different now. When I had my emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen I was 14 or 15. I just remember they had to get me in surgery immediately because if it burst I might not have made it.

I always remember they had gave me the shot in ass and i was groggy as the rolled me to operating room. The surgeon took his finger and thumped bottom my foot and my belly swelled up like a beach ball. Next I remember is waking in recovery. Pain was intense but not nearly as bad as the belly ache I had waiting for my parents to get home and telling them about me sneaking out the house while they worked down to the trails in the woods on that trail bike.
My recovery was long time to get strength back. Much like you they first dangled my likes over bed while I sat up. It made me sick had to vomit in that little tray that seems to small for the volume. In the end I have a 7in scar across my belly and have always been self conscious to take my shirt off and gross people out hahahahaha.

I am not sure how long it is, but maybe 5 inches, but probably less? I haven't examined it in detail since it hurts to pull the compression wrap up and look.

Just go back to surgeon and get those staples removed. I have never had any but sutures. are staples metal? I would hate to remove tissue along with the staple.

I have had plenty stitches in fingers and hand from field sharpening machete and ditch bank blades. I just pulled them with tweezers and needle nosed pliers. The emergency room doc always said come back to have removed but never did.

They look just like regular staples from what I can see.

I do miss the cute nurse touching my penis when she pulled out the cath. :)

LMAO

I remember worrying about that course I was 14 or 15. Nurse came like a thief in the night while I was sleeping hahahaha.

:LOL:

It's not a good feeling.

Mine sure wasn't, and then the clamp bit my stuff later, but it is healed now. I posted how the nurse forgot to take that clamp off my thigh.

I was a bit concerned about how I was going to get out of bed today since mine just stays flat and I can't raise my torso up like in the hospital. To my surprise, I was able to get up with little effort and no pain. I just rolled onto my side, scooted my legs off the edge of the bed and put my feet on the floor, pushed up with my left palm and right elbow to an upright sitting position and I felt some tightness, but no searing pain like in the hospital. I pushed up with both palms while leaning my torso forward and pushed up with my legs, and then there I was, standing upright out of bed.

I am also walking at pretty much normal speed today. A shave and a shower went well, too. I may hit the sheets again for a nap, though. By the way, I saw the entire incision today. It runs from just beneath my navel to the top of my pubic bone, so it's a fairly long one. Staples seem to be holding, though.

Well, done. Glad you're getting around. What meds do they have you on?

Great news Ed. Sounds like you have a high threshold to pain. Thats a good thing many times.

They gave me a prescription for oxycodone, but I didn't get any. I have no been on any pain meds for the third day now. I don't know how high my pain threshold is, but I am not really in pain so much now. It's tight around my abdomen, but on the 1 to 10 scale, I'd have to say it's a 1 to 1.5 at the worst.

I was given a script for Oxycodone also. Didn't get it. I'm just taking Ibuprofen. Also, Keppra, an anti-siezure and Decadron, which is a steroid.

Ed is a tough mother.

Well, a 6 year old could whip my ass with ease right now!

LMAO

Oddly, I had to make my own follow up appointment with the surgeon. It is set for Friday and I don't have to go to the main hospital but the cancer center instead, so I am glad about that. I want the staples out of me now, though. The bottom few are bugging me a lot. I must be healing well since now the staples are the worst of it. I don't really have much pain now and few twinges if any. I do have a strange numb spot where my left leg starts and across my thigh, about 3 or 4 inches around. It has been that way since after surgery, so I wonder if there was a nerve or two cut when they opened me up.

Ed, glad to hear that the pain has subsided. No doubt the worst is over as per your surgery. Now, get those damn staples outa there and go chainsaw something!

My sphincter tightened considerably whist reading this.

In any event, I'll continue to pray for your speedy recovery, friend.

Well, there still is the matter of me not being advised to lift over 10 lbs. until about October 1st, but I am fine with that. Most of the firewood I needed to take the chainsaw to is done. I have a lot that I am going to need a log splitter to handle, though. I have two options for that, and October was when I was planning to do it anyway. It's hot, sweaty work and cool fall days are best for that sort of thing.

Thanks! Be glad I never posted a pic of my incision, or your butt would get all cramped up!

Yeah, dudes in the shop want to show me their sliced hands, and I'm like a 5 year-old.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

:thumb: I LITERALLY Laughed Out Loud at that.

My cousin keeps wanting to show me the scar from her surgery...I'm the same way - "NOOOOOO!"

It took me about a week before I inspected my own. Not a fan of the scars especially while the stiches or staples are still in them!

Prayers up for a good guy who is going to beat this thing.

Hey, Ed. What Chemo did they give you?

I was on three kinds at once: Avastin, oxaliplatin, and 5-FU, but the doc took me off of the oxaplilatin back in either February or March since it was causing me to have neuropathy, and I still have it, so that could be permanent. I feel like my fingertips are being pinched lightly and I always feel like I have sand in my socks even if I am bare footed. I may be on the avastin and 5-FU again once treatments resume on Sept. 1st, but the doc was concerned about the neuropathy so there could be a change or addition to the plan because of it.

Still praying for you two.

If it is not one thing, it's another. Sheesh!

Thanks for the info. I was informed Tuesday I'd probably be getting Avastin this time. I had a pill last time, Temodar.

They gave you five FUs?? Well that's just a rude thing to say to somebody not at their best! LMAOLMAOLMAOLMAO

Stay strong my friend, and give them a few FUs right back!

Still praying...

Thanks and I have thought the same about the 5-FU many times. That one is the kind that is administered via a pump over 2 days, so I have that thing hooked up to me and carry it around in a fanny pack. I don't like having a needle stuck in my chest for two days and I have to be very careful with the tubes and pump. But it sure beats the alternative which would be staying in the hospital for 2 days watching an IV slowly drip.

The good thing about 5FU is that it doesn't generally cause the severe side effects that other chemotherapies do. And portable pumps are far better than a 2 day stay in the hospital.

I don't know if you are up to speed on everything yet, but the worst of it so far has been three incidents: One, back in November, my port got infected and I was in the hospital for 5 days and could have died if the infection had settled on my heart valves. The wound from the infection was 2.5 inches deep and had to be packed every 2 days with hydrafera blue and that was no fun since the nurse had to tamp it in there like I was a musket. Pulling it out was not fun, either. It took 10 weeks for the wound to finally close. Two, I had a blood clot show up on a CT scan in March and was in the hospital for one night. A filter was inserted into my vena cava. Later, I learned the clot was massive, starting at my right hip and going to just under my breastbone. The docs were baffled that I was able to function and do things like breathe and walk with that clot in me. I never felt a difference. Three, in February, I got a new chemo side effect, tongue ulcers. I'd wake up with a savage jolt at night from moving my tongue and hitting an ulcer on a tooth. It felt like biting the tip of my tongue off every time. Luckily, they went away and came back just once but without the pain of the first go-round. I was taken off of oxaliplatin then and my cold sensitivity went away as well. I remember happily chugging that first glass of cold orange juice after so many months of having to avoid it and all other things cold.

Keep knocking the shit out of it Ed.

Here I sit in a very full lobby, 3 minutes past my appointment time, so far. I want these staples out already! Come on, Doc, let's get to it.

The staples are out! I just got home, poured some hydrogen peroxide on the incision and watched it foam up, winced a little, and that was that.

I should have added that I asked my surgeon how much of my colon he hacked out. Initially, I was told it would be 10 cm, but he said he took out 22 cm in all, about 9 inches.

Hope you're feeling better, Ed.

WOW.

I start up treatments again tomorrow, Sept. 1st. My liver doc is not sure if we will keep going with the same chemo, different ones, or other options like radiation but that will depend on how I respond. My primary doc seems very optimistic because now that the colon cancer is gone, my body only has one battle front and my immune system can focus on the liver now and not both my colon and liver. My abdomen is still sore from being gutted like a halibut, in particular at the bottom of the incision where the skin has pulled apart some. I can't tell much difference from day to day now, so once my incision itself is better, I am sure I will feel much closer to my normal self. Hmm, do I even remember what that feels like now? They've been pumping chemo into me for over a year now. Treatment number 20 coming up...

Hang tough.. We're with ya. Let us know if we can help.

While being in the hospital and the surgery was FAR from a picnic, the one thing I did like during that time was being off of the chemo. It has never made me sick to the point of throwing up, but it sure beats me down and makes me weak and tired. I don't look forward to that starting again. Plus, I can't or shouldn't drink any beer during chemo week. Luckily, my class reunion is on the 11th, so I will be in the clear to have a few pints then.

If it has pulled apart some make a doctor look at it before you start the chemo. You don't want to nuke your immune system with a hole in your guts and fight the staph like you had to with the port.

Best of luck big man. Be sure to sharpen that Viking battle axe.

The surgeon who took out my staples was not concerned by it and told me to use Neosporin. I will see the liver doc before treatment so I am sure she will have a look, too. My immune system has not taken a big hit from the chemo like most do. My white cells have been either within the normal range or close to it.

Thanks, all!

Keep us updated Lonewolf you're truly a fighter. My grandma had cancer but die before it even spread.

I will and thanks. Sorry about your grandma. If you have to go, it is best not to have a long, drawn out ordeal. A woman who was like a second mother to me died from cancer in 2008 and she hung on for a year more than the doctors said she would and it was horrible to see her decline so badly. When this all started for me a bit over a year ago, I thought about what she went through and how the chemo was so hard on her. I remember hoping to die in my sleep rather than suffer like she did. I was terrified going for my first treatment, not knowing what was ahead for me.

Good. I'd just hate to see staph get in there.

Stay tough, mang!

Joo got eet, ese!

I am not getting chemo today after all. My doc said they are going to check for something in the tumor they removed as there could be a gene in there that may have been sent into my bloodstream and if so, they can synthesize a medication to specifically attack it. I am getting more blood drawn, but after that, the needle comes out of my chest and I can go home! In 2 weeks, I will have a CT scan then 2 days after that, I will see the doctor again.

Man, that's some Star Trek shit, right there. In any event, your determination is pretty damned inspiring. I get tired just reading about your schedule. ;)

Doc McCoy would just scan me, mutter under his breath about 21st century medicine, give me a hypospray and a pill and send me on my way all cured!

That's the coolest thing about ST; the medicine and the transporter.

Man, That is great news. You're gonna be around to watch us win the Superbowl, even if it happens 10 years from now!!!!!!

I bet Star Trek dentistry is the best.

And the green chicks! *drool*

Aaaawwwwwww yeeeah!

http://www.ranker.com/list/star-trek...IDESHOW&page=2

Yeah she pass away in her sleep and that same month 2 weeks later by brother was gun down tough year for me in HS back in 04.

Keep plugging away Ed.:thumb:

Reminds me of my circumcision.

Keep up the good fight Ed. On to the liver!

I thought I would post an update since someone usurped my thread title here. My incision is still sore, but has been filling in more at the bottom where my skin came apart, so that is a good sign. I have been able to use the riding mower with no additional discomfort and even pruned some branches today with the lopper. The cutting motion did make me use core muscles, and I broke a hell of a sweat, but I didn't feel too much pain from it, just a minor twinge here and there. And since I am not back on chemo yet, I can have a FEW pints tomorrow night at my class mini-reunion.

Enjoy those pints and keep knocking the hell out of her Ed.