Now that I'm home

Well, I came home on Thursday, June 30 - thanks to Carrie.  The reason that John couldn't bring me home was that by the time I got discharged he was already at Junction Motor Speedway, McCool Junction where GOTRA was going to race that night.  I took a pain pill before we left the hospital so that the ride home wouldn't be so long and bumpy - and it really did the trick.  I remembered that I was a little drugged up when we got to the front steps and my legs felt like they were moving on their own when I went up them.  I spent the rest of the night and overnight on the couch - I didn't even hear John come in when he got home.  Friday was spent resting too - although going back and forth to the kitchen and to the bathroom constituted as major exercise.  On Saturday the home health care nurse came to take my temp, my blood pressure and my heart rate - she thought I was pretty boring (believe me that would change).  Saturday night Jeff & Jill & Brody & Brant came to town, in tow with some fireworks for Dad to help Brody with.  He did some snappers, smoke balls, then a boat, a motorcycle and a car.  I went outside to partake in the festivities and after about half an hour had decided that I better get back inside.  So when it got dark and Jeff lit off the fireworks I watched them from inside the house! John, Carrie & Justin and Jeff & Kathy Rehder all went to the races at Harlan, IA where GOTRA was racing.  Sunday and Monday were resting days.  Then we come to Tuesday - the home health care nurse came to change out my ileostomy bag, which she did.  That has been a continuing issue I'm afraid - and that week I had a home health care nurse here every single day!  Thank God for home health care nurses!  Not only did we have ileostomy bag issues to deal with - but I was also dealing with some lightheadedness, that we weren't sure was a blood pressure issue or a blood sugar issue.  The blood sugar issue was checked out and it was good - the blood pressure on the other hand was pretty low - so our task was to make sure that I was getting enough protein, and drinking enough water (5-16 oz bottles a day!)  So that was the regimen we started on.  Unfortunately, Thursday was when this all was happening, and John had to to go US30 Speedway to take care of what he needed to do for GOTRA and I wasn't feeling well, and didn't want to stay home by myself - so my favorite son-in-law Justin came and stayed with me.   Carrie had gone to Minneapolis with a friend to a Brittney Spears concert (with front row seats and a meet and greet with B herself!), but she wasn't planning to be home until later on that night.  Friday was a better day!
The next week went a little better - I was making my main job taking care of me - eating three meals a day, and the protein thing and the water, plus some snacks and also drinking some ensure.  GOTRA went to Albion, NE for the fair races at Boone County Raceway on Monday, July 11. 
This last week has been pretty good too - I am feeling stronger every day.  This week proved to be a real roller coaster for me though - on Monday I went back for a post op checkup with Dr. H with my chauffeur John.  He hit me out of left field with the news that he wanted to do six more months of chemo on me - my reaction was "you're kidding - right".  Unfortunately he was not kidding.  Which led me to my next appointment on Wednesday with Dr. L to look at my port, with my chauffeur Carrie.  His recommendation was that we need to take the port out and then put another one back in.  At this point, I was afraid I wouldn't be up to having surgery to take one port out and put another one back in all at the same time - so we will do it in two separate steps.  So then I had a pre-op physical with Dr. S on Thursday - hadn't seen him since my normal checkup in January (before all of this "stuff" started).  The scale gave me some good news on that day - I have lost 20 pounds since that January visit!  (Although I would not recommend this diet plan to anyone.)  I had an appt set up with Dr. S on the 7th of July - but I cancelled it, which was a good thing the way that week turned out.
On Friday Jeff came to town, not only to help John get the #31 racecar ready to take to Riviera Raceway in Norfolk that night (this has only been abut the second or third time this year that he's had the car out!), but to also help put the dining room back together.  Remember the whole house makeover that we did before my surgery - new carpet in the living room and flip flopping the family room and the dining room around?  Well we did get the living room pretty well put back together (and me working on the bookcases to put things back a little at a time, before and after surgery).  But the dining room was still a major mess - but we put a big dent in putting it back together.  It was nice having a little mother-son time, we don't get to do that very often. 
Then on Saturday Justin threw a 30th birthday party for Carrie - her actual birthday is TODAY!  And I went out and got to spend some time with friends and family.  It turned out to be a lovely night, there was a nice breeze and so it didn't feel as hot as they said it was!  Besides Justin & Carrie of course and John, Jeff & Jill, Brody, Brant (so I got my grandkid fix), Pat & Denise, Breanna, Donovan, Chrissy & Rich, Emylie, Izabell, Richard & Donna, Jake & Rachel, Katie & Ty, Jeff & Kathy - just to name a few.

Surgery and Beyond

Well, they wheeled me off to surgery at approximately 9:15 a.m. on the morning of the 20th - the next thing I remember is seeing a clock (I think it was in recovery) that said 3:10 p.m.  After four hours of surgery and approximately two hours in recovery I ended up in Room 631 bed 2 at Methodist Hospital.  Everyone associated with racing wanted to know how I ended up with a room number with John's car number in it (31) - pure luck is my guess!  Methodist has 2 bed rooms (hence the bed 2) - so I had four roommates during my 10 day stay - let's just say, some were more interesting than others!  The first night there was a high wind warning - and so all of the patients were put out into the hallway because of it - luckily they let me stay in bed and just rolled me out into the hall.  (That was the same night that Fremont had a lot of tree and wind damage.)  John and all of the kids were there during my surgery - John also had Tuesday off work, so he spent both days with me.  My sister Denise came and spent Wednesday & Thursday with me.  On Wednesday they were concerned about some pneumonia - so they took me down for a chest x-ray, they also were concerned about my high heart rate, so I had an EKG done and then wore a heart monitor throughout my stay.  I was having trouble with some nausea too (that was a sign that the organs weren't waking up).  Friday was kind of a bad day - I was still feeling nauseous - they took the catheter out, did a bladder scan, and ended up putting a catheter back in (the bladder was not quite ready to start working on its own yet).  I knew they were going to access my port to put the iv in - that was good timing, as where they had placed the iv in my arm had started to infiltrate.  At this point Dr. B took any sort of food or water away - all I'd really had up to that point was jello and apple juice.  On Sunday, the 26th I had another chest x-ray to see what the pneumonia was doing - there was still a little bit there, and also I was running a fever, so they did some lab work.  (I was on an antibiotic via iv during my whole hospital stay.)  Whenever I had started running a temp, the nurses prompted me to blow into the spirometer and that usually took it right down.  This was my second experience with a spirometer - they sent me home with one after my hysterectomy surgery too.  On Monday, Dr. B wanted me to try some food again - so I worked almost all day on an instant breakfast - then I ordered an Ensure to try.  Well, by that evening I was feeling nauseous again - and had lost all of the instant breakfast and the Ensure.  On Wednesday they took the catheter out and I also had a CT scan (Dr. B wanted to make sure it looked like everything was working like it should be) and yes I had to drink that awful tasting stuff.  For the first time since I'd come into the hospital I could order up some real food - scrambled eggs & toast & apple juice for breakfast and a tuna croissant for lunch - can't remember what I got for supper.  I also got the IV out then.  Each day that I was in the hospital, they wanted me to walk at least three times a day and get up and sit in the chair at least three times a day.  There was a flurry of activity Thursday afternoon - they were planning to discharge me, because they weren't sure that insurance would pay for another day's stay.  So I made a call to Carrie to see if she could come and pick up me - which she did - I took a percocet for the ride home and about 5:45 p.m. we headed for Fremont.  It was great to be home!
Thanks to everyone for the cards, flowers, calls & visits - these people stopped by to see me or called me:  John, Jeff & Jill, Brody & Brant, Carrie & Justin, Dr. Bill, Tracy Kindler, Marianne Simmons, Joy Jensen, Lyle & Ginny Nelson, Denise Miller, Tim & Odetta Wacker, Carol Stohlmann, Joe Gasper, Mollie Brown, Peggy Iverson.