Ok, Ok, I realize my title is not very original but it fits more than anything else. :) Also, forewarning to those who are squeamish or do not like to see the names for bodily fluids because I will be mentioning these to some extent in this blog post.
A friend of mine reminded me(thanks Anita) that I had not posted any updates on David's illness/surgery for awhile so I figured I would take a few minutes and post something. I did send updates via email and Facebook almost daily for the 40 days he was in the hospital but it was just too much trouble to do those two and this blog, too. We got home on the 20th of Oct...Boy was it a long stay...I was tempted to apply for a change of address we were there so long. David and I had our ups and downs, mentally, while there but that's to be expected I guess. The surgery was a success and David probably will not require any further cancer treatments. The tumor was successfully removed and there is only a t-niny islet cell left, which his oncologist says will grow so slowly it may be years before it does anything. PRAISE GOD! Just imagine...a year ago July I was planning a funeral...now we have many years ahead to celebrate life and to hopefully impact others who need encouragement. We certainly have received plenty of that plus some. David still has a feeding tube through which he receives liquid nourishment. I also have to flush it w/100ml of water every 4 hours and if he needs any medication (hypertension, pain, nausea, etc) it must be crushed and mixed w/water and put into his feeding tube via syringe. He also still has a drain tube coming from his stomach from which yucky green bile comes out into a bag that I have to drain every so often. See, they removed his gall bladder and the bile duct was reattached to his stomach and it is suppose to pass on thru but since his stomach is still asleep it has to be drained or he will get sick and vomit. His doc says this tube has to be clamped off a few minutes per day to re-train his tummy to tolerate this vile bile and increase the time five minutes or so a day until he can tolerate it being clamped for 6 hours after which he could then have the tube removed. This could take a long time. I found out today that I will have to go back to work on 11/9 so I hope all this gets worked out before then.
David and I have learned a lot about each other the last month or so. Some of it not so good...LOL I found out that I can do some yucky stuff I never thought I could and that I can live on little sleep and less food. I lost about 10-15 lbs during this time but it didn't hurt me. :) David has lost about 18lbs but he is receiving all the nutrients he needs although he misses getting to place food in his mouth and chewing it. but he has learned he can tolerate lots of pain and nausea and to lose control of his life, basically. But we are home now and he has a little more freedom although he still has an IV pole and feeding pump and bag attached to him. He can be disconnected for a short time such as when he takes a shower or goes to church. We are sure looking forward to being back with our church family this Sunday. We have not been to church since before his surgery so we are looking forward to some spiritual recharging.
Well, I can see this is getting rather long so I better go for now. If you have any ?'s just ask
We are both off work and it will probably will be awhile before David will be able to work again but God has provided so far and I know we can do without a lot of things that we thought we needed. Thanks to everyone for your prayers, love, concern and support
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