Back to chemo daycare after an extra week off to celebrate the Baha’i New Year. That was on March 25. A very uneventful day as all visits to the Chemo Daycare unit are turning into.
The nurse showed up as promised. I had the pleasure of seeing Natalie again. Unplugged in no time. No fuss no muss as they say, though again I have no idea where the expression originates from. Muss is defined in the dictionary as: a state of disorder; muddle. I guess that would explain the expression, but who comes up with these?
The fatigue that set after the chemo is a whole other story. Janet tells me it is normal. I doubt it. I was virtually in bed for what seemed like forever. I would run one errand and retire to recover. I was finally out of bed and doing things on Thursday. What a relief. Kali joined me for coffee on Friday. We got to sit in the park.
A fabulous coffee house has opened around the corner from our house called The Rooster. Great coffee, lovely people and always packed. We bought our stuff and went across the street to enjoy the food, company and conversation. Kali is very well informed about the stuff Ronak Shah is talking about. Made for an interesting afternoon. Maybe once I have digested the information, I will talk about it a bit more. Fetneh also had an opinion. Makes for an interesting conversation.
Friday evening saw us in emergency at the Toronto General Hospital.
I am beginning to think it to be futile to imagine for a second that a normal existence of any kind is possible. Just as you start to relax and start a routine, something falls apart. In this case, I started experience a lot of discomfort in the stomach area to the right of the stoma. This was accompanied by a full day of no activity from the stomach. A bit disconcerting.
A doctor named Hodges looked after us. He actually had the temerity to read my chart and remember what he had read. He was very comforting and well informed about the situation. We did an stomach Xray to see if there was anything blocking the passage. Turns out that blockage of the passage is a definite possibility following operations such as mine. Not just now but essentially for ever. I keep hearing the for ever mantra over and over again. Have to start paying more attention, and come to some sort of understanding of “for ever”.
No obstruction, just stool being stubborn. Lost their way and are hunkering down for the long haul. Nothing some industrial strength Drano would not solve. I was prescribed something called Lactulose, which is over the counter. I have to take 2 tablespoons of this stuff up to four times a day. Makes ExLAx look like a glass of water. My bag floweth over. No really. Literally. Damn thing blew apart spilling its vile content. All I could do was make my way to the washroom to clean things up trying to contain the spillover. Life is nothing short of exciting. The only question I have is when do you know the system is back to normal? I guess I have to wait and see if the stomach pains return or not.
I was very upset yesterday. Mad as hell. How dare my body betray me like this? This is my one good week. The least it could is let me enjoy it. I now have to be careful for a few days waiting for this to pass.
One more item to add to our list of stuff to watch out for.
And one more: The skin around the stoma has turned black. Not sure if it is because of the trauma it is going through or something to be really worried about. I have written to the wonderful Dr Kennedy, my surgeon for clarification. I am going to see her next Tuesday anyways. It would be nice to have some sort of clarification before that.
I have been in great spirits until yesterday, when my bag did the spilling over scene. Yesterday was not a good day, spiritually, nor physically, I guess.
Today is already better. Gita is supposed to join me for coffee. I might go to her place just for a change of scenery.
