Chapter 12
The next thing I can remember, I was being wheeled through swinging doors. Sherry was right there walking alongside my bed as she handed me her phone. It was my friend Paul and the first thing I heard was Gretzkyyy. I instantly replied back Fogieee. We have greeted each other the same way for well over thirty years. Although I was still very groggy, I knew it was Paul.
I heard Sherry tell him everything had gone well.
I was wheeled into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where I would spend my next four days. There were lots of nurses, monitors and beeping sounds. I grabbed Sherry’s hand and she told me that Dr. G came out after the big operation and told her everything had gone well.
He told her I was going to be fine.
It was now almost 7:30 pm and the actual surgery had taken just over five hours. Sherry then pulled the sheet down to expose my new reality.
What a fuck’n horror show.
My bag was clear; it looked like a big sandwich bag. It also looked like it was smack dab right in the middle of my stomach. After a slight bed adjustment it was now obvious the bag was on my right side.
I heard Sherry tell him everything had gone well.
I was wheeled into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where I would spend my next four days. There were lots of nurses, monitors and beeping sounds. I grabbed Sherry’s hand and she told me that Dr. G came out after the big operation and told her everything had gone well.
He told her I was going to be fine.
It was now almost 7:30 pm and the actual surgery had taken just over five hours. Sherry then pulled the sheet down to expose my new reality.
What a fuck’n horror show.
My bag was clear; it looked like a big sandwich bag. It also looked like it was smack dab right in the middle of my stomach. After a slight bed adjustment it was now obvious the bag was on my right side.
I had the temporary bag.
My abdomen was stapled together and it looked like the zipper of my hockey bag. There were blood soaked bandages and gauze taped everywhere on my abdomen. My bedding had blood and iodine stains, my T.E.D stockings also had blood and iodine stains on them. My stomach was very swollen, distended and I was in pain, but not as much as you would have expected looking at my abdomen.
My abdomen was stapled together and it looked like the zipper of my hockey bag. There were blood soaked bandages and gauze taped everywhere on my abdomen. My bedding had blood and iodine stains, my T.E.D stockings also had blood and iodine stains on them. My stomach was very swollen, distended and I was in pain, but not as much as you would have expected looking at my abdomen.
It was tolerable for now.
The nurses were making me comfortable, I was very sleepy. I had a catheter inserted and I was now pissing in a bag hooked onto the bed frame. It had now been over forty hours since I had last eaten anything. I was not starving anymore, I was not even hungry.
Sherry left and she was exhausted after spending the whole day at the hospital by my side. I thanked her for being there and I kissed her goodbye. We had both made it through my big operation.
The nurses were making me comfortable, I was very sleepy. I had a catheter inserted and I was now pissing in a bag hooked onto the bed frame. It had now been over forty hours since I had last eaten anything. I was not starving anymore, I was not even hungry.
Sherry left and she was exhausted after spending the whole day at the hospital by my side. I thanked her for being there and I kissed her goodbye. We had both made it through my big operation.
I was so lucky to have her in my life.
I thanked Jehovah and I fell back asleep.
The next few days I was pretty well confined to my bed in ICU. Sherry came to visit every day after work. She relayed many messages from friends who had called about how I was doing. I told her to tell everyone that I would update them when I got home in a week or so.
Dr. G dropped by daily and was happy with my progress. I was vomiting quite a bit of a gross green liquid while in the ICU. The same green liquid was also filling up my bag also known as an ileostomy pouch. The pouch needed to be emptied many times each day.
While I was in the ICU I had a few visitors, but I was so weak and I could hardly talk much louder than a whisper. I have always been considered a loud talker, but now I was silenced. I was expecting a much more agonizing pain, but whatever pain management was being used was definitely working for me.
For the most part the four days I spent in the ICU I just lay in bed and slept a lot. I was given Heparin injections twice daily to prevent blood clots. After a couple days I was now starving again. I was given crushed ice to munch on, gross grape Jell-O and broth.
Mmm, how yummy is that?
I had also begun to do a bit of hospital corridor walking. I would walk maybe a hundred or so feet while holding on to my IV pole stand for support. It was all I could do for now. Although I walked multiple times each day, it was exhausting each time.
It was now March 3rd, my sixth day in the hospital. I was now being transferred upstairs to the maternity unit. I would now have my own room with a bathroom. My catheter was gone and I could now piss again in the toilet.
I finally had access to a big screen television which was in a lounge right across the hallway. I never saw anyone else in the lounge so I had the remote all to myself.
My corridor walks were now longer as I began to stroll all over the upper floor. Amazingly, while I was up in the maternity ward I never heard one baby cry.
I thanked Jehovah and I fell back asleep.
The next few days I was pretty well confined to my bed in ICU. Sherry came to visit every day after work. She relayed many messages from friends who had called about how I was doing. I told her to tell everyone that I would update them when I got home in a week or so.
Dr. G dropped by daily and was happy with my progress. I was vomiting quite a bit of a gross green liquid while in the ICU. The same green liquid was also filling up my bag also known as an ileostomy pouch. The pouch needed to be emptied many times each day.
While I was in the ICU I had a few visitors, but I was so weak and I could hardly talk much louder than a whisper. I have always been considered a loud talker, but now I was silenced. I was expecting a much more agonizing pain, but whatever pain management was being used was definitely working for me.
For the most part the four days I spent in the ICU I just lay in bed and slept a lot. I was given Heparin injections twice daily to prevent blood clots. After a couple days I was now starving again. I was given crushed ice to munch on, gross grape Jell-O and broth.
Mmm, how yummy is that?
I had also begun to do a bit of hospital corridor walking. I would walk maybe a hundred or so feet while holding on to my IV pole stand for support. It was all I could do for now. Although I walked multiple times each day, it was exhausting each time.
It was now March 3rd, my sixth day in the hospital. I was now being transferred upstairs to the maternity unit. I would now have my own room with a bathroom. My catheter was gone and I could now piss again in the toilet.
I finally had access to a big screen television which was in a lounge right across the hallway. I never saw anyone else in the lounge so I had the remote all to myself.
My corridor walks were now longer as I began to stroll all over the upper floor. Amazingly, while I was up in the maternity ward I never heard one baby cry.
I thought that was very strange.
Since my surgery, every time my ileostomy bag needed emptying the nurses would pour the contents into a container and measure the volume. I was now emptying my own bag into the container for the nurses to record. I don’t know where all the green liquid in the bag was coming from, but it sure as hell wasn’t from my new diet that I had been restricted to.
My stomach was still mildly distended.
I got a visit from an ostomy nurse that afternoon. She showed up with an empty clear 2 litre pop bottle and began to teach me how to change my bag. The bottle was a prop used to resemble my abdomen.
Seriously?
She explained the hospital bag was clear so the nurses can see the colour of the contents and the volume. Apparently the colour green is good. I was given a starter kit with opaque flesh coloured bags for when I left the hospital. My Homecare nurse would be supplying what I needed on her weekly visits going forward and I would be using the two piece pouch system.
It basically works like this.
The stoma is the area that the surgeon created outside my abdomen to eliminate feces until I heal internally. The discharge or feces seeps from the stoma, sometimes slowly sometimes rapidly and you have no idea when it happens. Sometimes you feel a trickle, but for the most part you just look down and notice the bag is full. A full bag would be about a pint. The stoma area must be kept clean to prevent any nasty infections or rash. The last thing you want is the stoma area to become infected. I had read many stories on the Colon Talk site about infected stomas and nasty rashes.
It was definitely not a road I wanted to go down.
An adhesive flange is stuck over the stoma after you cut the proper size hole with special curved scissors for the stoma to poke through. It must be snug. My stoma was a bit larger than a quarter so that was the size I would cut the hole in the flange. It took many tries and I ruined many flanges before I got it right. The flange has a plastic ring; your pouch/bag has the same size ring that locks onto the flange ring with a simple turn.
At the bottom of the pouch/bag is a clip. It locks all the contents in the bag and prevents any leaking. When the bag fills up you simply release the clip and empty the contents. Sometimes the contents are just a liquid and empties easily, but other times it is a thick green sludge and literally has to be squeezed out. It smells awful. Once the bag is emptied you clean the opening, the clip and then reapply the clip.
Sounds pretty easy, but it’s not. I was soon going to find out it would be a fuck’n nightmare.
After the ostomy nurse left I was finally able to clean myself up. I had not showered in seven days. Sherry helped me when she arrived later that afternoon. I was already getting sick of the hospital and I just wanted to go home.
It was March 4th my second and last day in the maternity ward. However I was not being transferred, I was going home. I did not know it that morning that I was leaving, but at 5:30 pm I would be discharged after Dr. G reluctantly gave his permission.
Up to this day the best news I had received in my cancer journey was the day after diagnosis when my CT scan showed no spread. My negative bone scan was also some pretty good news. Today’s news would be the best news by a longshot. Around noon Dr. G came to my room for his daily visit and he had a brown envelope in his hand. He told me that my pathology report was inside.
“I have some great news,” he said.
All specimens removed during surgery are analyzed by a pathologist. A pathologist is a trained doctor who examines in detail the entire specimen or organ that has been removed during a surgical procedure. He then writes a detailed report based on his expert examination.
The average adult has a colon or large bowel approx. five to six feet long. It starts where the small intestine ends or basically where my stoma is. It extends up the right side and then crosses over above the stomach to the left side. From there it drops down to the rectum. The colon is very flexible and about three inches in diameter. The colon absorbs water from waste creating stool. The stool is stored in the rectum until removal by a bowel movement.
My surgery was called a Low Anterior Resection (LAR) with a TME (Total Mesorectal Excision) I had about twelve inches including my complete rectum removed. It would be this foot long specimen that the pathologist would cut up and examine in great detail. The rectum is a bit wider than the actual colon. Looking at pictures, it resembles pork tenderloin and contains many lymph nodes within. The pathologist also examines every lymph node in the specimen under a microscope for any traces of cancer. With TME surgery it is hoped that the surgeon retrieves a minimum dozen nodes and the more the better.
With the pathologist report finished, you receive your true cancer stage either I, II, III or IV based on his findings within the report.
“All twenty-four lymph nodes I removed were all cancer free” Dr. G said as he handed me the report.
That was good news, but the great news was yet to come.
Since my surgery, every time my ileostomy bag needed emptying the nurses would pour the contents into a container and measure the volume. I was now emptying my own bag into the container for the nurses to record. I don’t know where all the green liquid in the bag was coming from, but it sure as hell wasn’t from my new diet that I had been restricted to.
My stomach was still mildly distended.
I got a visit from an ostomy nurse that afternoon. She showed up with an empty clear 2 litre pop bottle and began to teach me how to change my bag. The bottle was a prop used to resemble my abdomen.
Seriously?
She explained the hospital bag was clear so the nurses can see the colour of the contents and the volume. Apparently the colour green is good. I was given a starter kit with opaque flesh coloured bags for when I left the hospital. My Homecare nurse would be supplying what I needed on her weekly visits going forward and I would be using the two piece pouch system.
It basically works like this.
The stoma is the area that the surgeon created outside my abdomen to eliminate feces until I heal internally. The discharge or feces seeps from the stoma, sometimes slowly sometimes rapidly and you have no idea when it happens. Sometimes you feel a trickle, but for the most part you just look down and notice the bag is full. A full bag would be about a pint. The stoma area must be kept clean to prevent any nasty infections or rash. The last thing you want is the stoma area to become infected. I had read many stories on the Colon Talk site about infected stomas and nasty rashes.
It was definitely not a road I wanted to go down.
An adhesive flange is stuck over the stoma after you cut the proper size hole with special curved scissors for the stoma to poke through. It must be snug. My stoma was a bit larger than a quarter so that was the size I would cut the hole in the flange. It took many tries and I ruined many flanges before I got it right. The flange has a plastic ring; your pouch/bag has the same size ring that locks onto the flange ring with a simple turn.
At the bottom of the pouch/bag is a clip. It locks all the contents in the bag and prevents any leaking. When the bag fills up you simply release the clip and empty the contents. Sometimes the contents are just a liquid and empties easily, but other times it is a thick green sludge and literally has to be squeezed out. It smells awful. Once the bag is emptied you clean the opening, the clip and then reapply the clip.
Sounds pretty easy, but it’s not. I was soon going to find out it would be a fuck’n nightmare.
After the ostomy nurse left I was finally able to clean myself up. I had not showered in seven days. Sherry helped me when she arrived later that afternoon. I was already getting sick of the hospital and I just wanted to go home.
It was March 4th my second and last day in the maternity ward. However I was not being transferred, I was going home. I did not know it that morning that I was leaving, but at 5:30 pm I would be discharged after Dr. G reluctantly gave his permission.
Up to this day the best news I had received in my cancer journey was the day after diagnosis when my CT scan showed no spread. My negative bone scan was also some pretty good news. Today’s news would be the best news by a longshot. Around noon Dr. G came to my room for his daily visit and he had a brown envelope in his hand. He told me that my pathology report was inside.
“I have some great news,” he said.
All specimens removed during surgery are analyzed by a pathologist. A pathologist is a trained doctor who examines in detail the entire specimen or organ that has been removed during a surgical procedure. He then writes a detailed report based on his expert examination.
The average adult has a colon or large bowel approx. five to six feet long. It starts where the small intestine ends or basically where my stoma is. It extends up the right side and then crosses over above the stomach to the left side. From there it drops down to the rectum. The colon is very flexible and about three inches in diameter. The colon absorbs water from waste creating stool. The stool is stored in the rectum until removal by a bowel movement.
My surgery was called a Low Anterior Resection (LAR) with a TME (Total Mesorectal Excision) I had about twelve inches including my complete rectum removed. It would be this foot long specimen that the pathologist would cut up and examine in great detail. The rectum is a bit wider than the actual colon. Looking at pictures, it resembles pork tenderloin and contains many lymph nodes within. The pathologist also examines every lymph node in the specimen under a microscope for any traces of cancer. With TME surgery it is hoped that the surgeon retrieves a minimum dozen nodes and the more the better.
With the pathologist report finished, you receive your true cancer stage either I, II, III or IV based on his findings within the report.
“All twenty-four lymph nodes I removed were all cancer free” Dr. G said as he handed me the report.
That was good news, but the great news was yet to come.
He proceeded to explain that I had a complete response from my chemo/rad treatments. There was no tumour left, it had been obliterated and there was nothing but scar tissue where the tumour had once been in the specimen.
A Complete Pathological Response (pCR) truly is the best outcome any cancer patient can hope for. With rectal cancer it happens in about 20% of patients who actually do the chemo/rad treatments (neoadjuvant therapy) before surgery.
I was still too weak, too tired to celebrate this great news.
Dr. G came back to my room around 5 pm. He knew I was antsy to go home, but he wanted me to stay at least one more day. After seeing Sherry in my room he knew I was in good hands and agreed to discharge me. I was emotionally drained, I was sore and I was very happy.
I was now cancer free.
I was now going home.
I tried to muster enough strength to walk out of the hospital that evening without any help. I sure as hell did not want Dr. G second guessing his decision to discharge me. I was positive he would be watching me leave as I gingerly took baby steps. It had now been eight days since I ate any real food.
I was absolutely starving as I exited the front doors.
A Complete Pathological Response (pCR) truly is the best outcome any cancer patient can hope for. With rectal cancer it happens in about 20% of patients who actually do the chemo/rad treatments (neoadjuvant therapy) before surgery.
I was still too weak, too tired to celebrate this great news.
Dr. G came back to my room around 5 pm. He knew I was antsy to go home, but he wanted me to stay at least one more day. After seeing Sherry in my room he knew I was in good hands and agreed to discharge me. I was emotionally drained, I was sore and I was very happy.
I was now cancer free.
I was now going home.
I tried to muster enough strength to walk out of the hospital that evening without any help. I sure as hell did not want Dr. G second guessing his decision to discharge me. I was positive he would be watching me leave as I gingerly took baby steps. It had now been eight days since I ate any real food.
I was absolutely starving as I exited the front doors.