I’ve turned the corner.
Recovery from bowel resection three months after RC/prostate and neobladder surgery was painful and the associated diarrhea/constipation cycle made life miserable. I was beginning to wonder if this was as good as life would be from now on. It wasn’t a comforting thought.
I’d gotten tired of people telling me how good I looked when I was in pain and generally feeling rotten. I got off the pain pills and tried to walk some every day. I had lost most of my upper body strength and had very little stamina. I tried to go back to work but could only work a few hours a day before becoming exhausted.
The company I worked for terminated me because I’d run out of sick leave and vacation time. My savings were running low so I had to start drawing Social Security and go on Medicare.
The worse part of being retired and recovering from major surgery is the boredom. I wasn’t physically able to do much except read, watch TV and nap. I'm pretty good at napping.
But the downtime must have been what I needed because around Thanksgiving I was feeling well enough to visit my brother and his family for the holiday. My appetite didn’t let me do justice to the feast but being with family brightened my spirits.
Bring low on funds I was dreading Christmas until I had a talk with my son. I got an idea for gifts he and his wife and my daughter and her husband would enjoy and I could afford. (A photo on canvas of the four of them standing inside a redwood tree in Yosemite National Park.)
I picked up “stocking stuffers” that I thought each of them would enjoy and that made me feel like I’d done all I could do considering the circumstances.
I don’t know exactly when it happened but one day I awoke with a different attitude. There were no nagging aches and pains and a trip to the bathroom was non-dramatic.
A few more days like that and I realized I was going to have something that resembles a normal life. I’m still battling the nighttime continence problem and sometimes feel a pull in my abdomen as I gain weight and I don’t do well climbing stairs. I know I can live a long happy life with those minor annoyances. I’m a cancer survivor and we’re a tough bunch.
The final piece in my future fell into place when I accepted an invitation to the company Christmas party (the company that terminated me.) I was surrounded by friends I’d made and who prayed for my recovery. Then a VP asked me when I was coming back to work. I told him I was willing to work four hours a day three days a week. We’re still negotiating salary but I expect to start in a week or so.
I’m making plans for my dream trip next spring. I’m heading west with destination and return date unknown. I have confidence I can make the trip through the southwest to Las Vegas (daughter’s home), Los Angeles (older brother) and San Jose (son’s home).
After that it’s on to Washington State to visit some long lost cousins and a trip to Vancouver to see friends from college. I’ll swing through the Canadian Rockies and come back to he USA to see Mt. Rushmore and then to the headwaters of the Mississippi River before heading home to Louisville.
I want to see Yosemite again and Yellowstone, of course. Glacier National Park in Montana. I don’t know where else I want to visit and welcome suggestions from other members of the forum who have been so helpful to me and many others battling this disease.
