Home Again

I took a couple days, but I am standing at my keyboard typing (it's more comfortable that way.

Things went great. The doctor was able to do the surgery with nerve sparing which means great prognosis for the removal of the cancer and one aspect of life with less possibility of changes in the long run. Final results will be the biopsy results in about a week from surgery.

It's been three days since surgery. I'm sour but not in pain. The meds help, but I'm on half doses and it is doing the job.

Laying and sleeping is the easiest, but even that gets uncomfortable. Plenty of other things to do. I am actually liking getting up and walking around.

Surgery was scheduled for 1:00 but I think it started closer to 2:00 I didn't get to my room until after 7:00. I needed to be up walking before they would send me home. I tried to get up and walk after midnight, but couldn't get past the nausea. "Slept" for 5 hours and tried again before 6:00. And got the get out of jail free card.

The hospital is a great place to spend the night if you have complications. Not great if you are trying to get some rest. I was OK with them checking vitals, changing bags, etc. What was tough was every 20 minutes more or less a set of loud tones would play "Mary Had a Little Lamb". (I am not making this up.) Sometimes it played longer and sometimes shorter. It wasn't until I talking to my daughter Katherine that she figured out it was likely a bed alarm to alert the hospital staff someone was trying to escape from their bed. (It wasn't me. I was happy where I was.) It sounded like the staff was getting a full workout that night. No wonder the nurse was happy that I could get up and walk.

Doing good and feeling better all the time.

Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement.

Jeff

Ready to Roll

I check in tommorow at 11:00. Guess the good news is I get to sleep in. Having a quiet evening at home. I'm ready for the wait to be over. Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts.

A Sigh of Relief

Got the results back from my stress test today and things look good. So all things are go for surgery on Friday. Spent a nice quiet evening out with Karen. Peace.

Less than a Week

Thursday was the pre-op meeting with the doctors and the hospital. Not a lot of new information, but a bit more detail.

The one surprise was when I was moving from my doctor's office to meet with the anesthesiology folks I was informed that I needed to have a cardiac stress test before the surgery. (Actually not surprising given my family history. A prudent thing to do.) The nurse got me in for the following day, Friday. The actual treadmill test is much shorter in duration than all of the running around and waiting. As far as I could tell things went well, but I'll have to wait until Monday for the final word. (Don't take a medical test late in the day on Friday if you really want the results ASAP.)

So I am back to a waiting mode. Things should be fine, but there is that element of impatience that creeps in.

Important Message to Guys!

Guys,

Make sure you ask your doctor for a digital exam when you go in for your physical. Getting the blood work and the PSA number would never have caught my cancer. If I had relied on blood work alone it may have been years before we knew.

Insist on the digital exam. You can thank me later.

Jeff

More Encouagement from the Brotherhood

I had the chance to talk to a friend who went through my same procedure within the past year. It was good to hear from someone who has been down that road. He also shared with me "the things they don't tell you" which added some new information and confirmed some things I already knew.

One of my biggest fears about recover was allayed somewhat. I'll get more details on Thursday when I go in for pre-op consultation, but several weeks ago when the nurse said not to sit up for more than 30 minutes at a time for 6 weeks, I interpreted that to mean 30 minutes a day. I think I took it further than intended.

Last week the Leadership Team (pastors and deacons) at my church (Faith) prayed over me for healing, recovery, and peace. It is humbling knowing that I cannot do everything on my own and need help both temporally and eternally. Being offered help and having the option of taking it or declining it is easy. Humbling oneself and asking for help is harder. Asking God who knows all things is not intimidating. Asking friends who look you in the eye is humbling. Thanks Team and others for rallying round.

Thursday I get the rundown from the hospital and anesthetist on what I need to do preparing for surgery and recovery. More details on what to expect. Thinks are progressing and I like being there rather than just waiting for calendar pages to turn.

At Last I Get To Do Something

Yesterday I donated a unit of blood for my upcoming surgery. Feels good to be doing something directly related to the surgery.