"Colons are Overrated"

Hello from the homestead! It's been awhile since I have posted but to be honest, today was the first day I felt up to it. A "mix of a emotions" doesn't even accurately describe what I'm feeling...maybe a tsunami of emotions. So you will have to excuse me if this post seems flooded with random feelings.

It's been one week and three days since the surgery but it feels so much longer. In the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, December 2, my parents and I arrived at University of Chicago hospital. I didn't sleep the night before and actually was sending out work emails up until about 4:30 am. I'm sure my boss and coworkers thought this was ridiculous but I had to preoccupy myself with something to ease my anxiety. Once we arrived the hospital staff quickly took me under their care, made me feel comfortable, and then performed the surgery while I took a nice long nap. Anesthesiologist: "You are doing great." Me: "I am?" <Fade to Black> 

I awoke to find myself in the surgery recovery area and the nurse there said I was "the best patient" for whatever reason...maybe because the guy across from me was yelling and irritating all who interacted with him. The nurse reminded me exactly of Dr. Kerry Weaver from E.R., this realization lead me to believe I was still under anesthesia. I told the nurse she needed to eat Pequod's pizza, and she promised me she would order one that night.  At one point, my parents and Dave appeared and told me that I was "doing great". Everything else after that is very blurry but I remember the nurses saying "Hooray! You got a room!" as if I had just booked a suite at the Bellagio on New Year's Eve or something. Although UIC is nothing like Sin City, I soon discovered that lady luck was definitely on my side to a good recovery.   

I arrived in my hospital room, Room TS376. The next few days were difficult and filled with little sleep and little food. The nurses on my floor were really, very nice except when they gave me burning Heparin shots three times a day or came into my room at 4:30 am to check my vitals, which were just a few of the necessary evils. I did my best to make sure I walked around the hospital floor a lot to get the digestive system to "wake up" as they say and give the recovery process of a jump start. Plus I wanted to show off my sweet "Urban Outfitter sale-rack-esque" hospital gown, skills at maneuvering the i.v. pole, and get in some cardio.  Before I knew it, I was eating a low-residue diet that would make Atkins followers weep, learning all my ostomy skills with the stoma nurse, and then finally signing the paper work to head home earlier than expected! Jackpot.


So here I am...home but not alone. My parents have been helping me through coming to terms with this new body and honestly I really do not know what I would do without them.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed because I don't think they'll ever know how much I appreciate what they have done and continually do for me to get through this.


There are moments where I am on top of the world and there are moments where I sob because I don't know what to feel or do. It's strange at times but whatever the moment is - I'm determined to get through the tough ones and live in the good ones. My Aunt Rose sent me this awesome t-shirt that read "Colons are Overrated" and you know...they really are. Tonight I'm getting ready to go to sleep without pain or having to wake up multiple times to use the bathroom. It's the moments like this where you realize it was all worth it.  I took a picture of the hospital room number on my phone because I wanted a reminder of the challenges I faced in the hospital and how I survived. There are more challenges to come. However, I have discovered that there's nothing I can't do without family, friends, and God... and there's more that I can do without a colon.