“A thought is energy, and as it is transmitted, it is multiplied. Thoughts can either be positive, negative, or neutral, and they may travel all the way around the world as energy, affecting the way other people, and perhaps other beings, think. If I thought negatively, then I would put out negative energy, but if I thought positively, I would put out positive energy, expanding the possibilities of what could happen.” Grayson, by Lynne Cox
I stayed home today playing with my new colon. Takedown surgery is complete and I am home. The new colon is working quite well. There is much less maintenance involved then with “Puffer”. I have passed gas and had about three bowel movements today. Yesterday, in the hospital, I started with liquid food and all went right through me. Trust me, it’s a quite remarkable feeling to drink a cup of warm tea and have it immediately come out the other end (still warm). I resorted to giant diapers and my thoughts on dealing this were quite sobering. Good thing for me, an hour after my first loperamide (Imodium A-D) and a few crackers, everything firmed up just fine. After three hours I shed the damned diaper. Gawd! However, I have an entire package (size large) sitting on my bathroom floor that T and I have contemplated on what to do with. Mew suggested saving one for Halloween next year and going as a lady astronaut. Ha! ha!
I am home from the hospital since late afternoon Saturday. I am so glad to be out of there. I tell you hospitals are just for those who are sick. I am not sick! Far as I am concerned this is just maintenance. I am moving a bit slower than normal. Managing pain with naproxen sodium about every 4 hours. There is a 3 inch incision diagonally across my abdomen, to the right of my belly button, where my stoma, “Puffer” used to be. Three stitches loosely close up the “wound drain” and its covered with gauze and tape. I change the gauze tape after showering. The point is to keep it open and aired out. My right oblique muscles and lower ribs are a bit sore. I wonder if the surgeon was leaning on my ribs or something while operating? They are sore. At night I am taking 5 mg zolpidem for sleep. I think good quality sleep is conducive to healing and the zolpidem helped me last time for a couple days after surgery.
I have tolerated food quite well today. My abdomen is a bit distended and I get a bit gassy while eating, then it subsides. Had oatmeal and hot tea for breakfast, leftover Chinese and rice for lunch and dinner. I am too lazy to cook right now. I can only eat about one third of a serving before I get full. But no stomach aches and I feel hungry.
I’ve been up walking around but no sudden moves or heavy lifting. I spent the day on the sofa reading and napping on and off. I read a really charming book, Grayson by Lynne Cox. At seventeen she swam the English Channel and set some kind of world records. This story is about her experience with a baby gray whale and its return to his mother. Cox literally bumps into the baby while swimming off the shores of a beach early one morning on southern coast of California. I so wanted to be there with her swimming with dolphins, sting rays and this beautiful baby gray whale. It was the perfect book for today.
