beginning of the end

It is so good to be home! I was unable to sketch at first with an IV on my right hand and blood oxygen monitor on my left, but eventually the IV was moved to my port. The above sketch was begun in pencil as I waited for pre-op nurses to prep me for surgery in the wee hours of Monday morning, and I later added ink and watercolor.

I wasn’t real motivated but I did manage to sketch some random things gathered on my bedside tray one morning after breakfast. I saved that muffin for last — it was very good! Except I had to pick out those walnuts that I love because they are not on my temporary diet. Later on I included a portion of the wall’s communication board to record those tasks I completed each day.

Surgery went very well, though the expected 7 hours turned into 11 hours. But the cancer is totally gone and the end is in sight. Reversing a colostomy is a slow 3 or 4 month process as a new temporary ileostomy was placed to allow the colo-rectal area to fully heal. Sometime in May or June, that will also be removed (eventually the chemo port will also be removed), and I will be done. There will be occasional tests to keep an eye on things for a few years but for me, as M. D. Anderson’s slogan says, cancer is history!

I implore anyone who finds my personal journaling of this past year to please take care of yourself! Get that colonoscopy test when advised to; don’t ignore it or put it off like I did.