My wife had her surgery on Friday which made for a very, very long day. I ended up working late Thursday because I knew I was going to be out on Friday as well as probably Monday so I wanted to get some things done. Thus, I didn't get to bed until 12:30 Thursday night. I then had to get up at 3:30am so that I could get my wife to the hospital by 5am (she wanted to be early, she didn't need to be there until 5:30 but this is her way of making me be on time). They processed the paperwork, took some blood, and eventually got her to the prep area. They took her in at around 7 but didn't actually start the operation until 7:30. At that time they sent me on my way, so back across the pond I go to make sure that my kids are up, eating breakfast and on to their activities. I kept getting periodic updates on her conditions and eventually went back to the hospital but ended up waiting two hours because she didn't go into the recovery room until about 3pm. I didn't get to see her until 5:30 that afternoon. Between running back and forth to take my son to football practice, making sure that he had food and everything else I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day.

 

Saturday didn't make it any better because I had to get up at 6 to get my son to football practice at 7, where upon I went to work out myself. Then picking him up at 9, getting something to eat and then onto a baseball tryout for next years select team for the next three hours, mean while calling the hosptial every so many hours just to see how my wife was doing.  Eventually I got the word to come and pick her up. So the tryout ends and it's time to take my son home, and go and pick up my wife. By the time I get there it's 4 and I have to wait until all the paperwork is done and the medicine that they are sending her home with is ready. We get home, I get her in the house and I'm ready to crash, no it's time to get food and she wants to relax and chases us out of the house so she can rest (sleep) and I end up taking the kids out to eat and end up doing some errands so that she has some time without interruptions.

 

Sunday isn't much better because end up getting up 6:30 this time so that I can catch church with my son and then take him over to another baseball tryout. This time though it's an all day affair, starting at 9:30 and going until 3:30pm. So, yes it's becomes another marathon. Eventually it ends and I end up taking him for something quick to eat so that he then can go to his fall ball double header which started at 3. He ends up arriving when the first game is half over and is quickly put into the game because some of the kids that were available now have to leave. The double header didn't get over until 8:30 that night. By the time I get home, (we stopped to get some ice cream) it's 9:30, and by the time I get to bed it's 11:30 again.

 

Monday is another early day, I have to get up 5:30 so that I can give my son a ride to his workout session at 6:30. While I'm there I workout myself, after which I come home and am able to work for a while at home on mail and some other stuff for an upcoming assignment. At 1, I have to take my son to the doctor, turns out he has a very nasty sinus infection. After which, I bring him home to change so that he can go to football practice and then take my other son to his councelor. Eventually, I return picking up my son from football practice and stopping to pick up something to eat, where I learn that the power to my home is out because of a fallen tree, so we eat there. I bring the food home only to realize that I forgot to get his medicine that the doctor had prescribed, so out I go to the local pharmacy to pick up the medicine. By the time I come home, I need to jump back onto email and work on that for the next couple of hours, where finally I decide to update my blog.

 

Update on my wife, we'll she's up and about but is still taking lots of pain medicine. Now we wait to get the tox report on the stuff they took out of her.

Can you say tired? Going back to work will be a vacation after this weekend.

 

By the way, I start again at 6 because I have physical therapy at 7, which I haven't done any of for the past 4 days. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Usually I don't talk about family but recently I learned that my wife had stage 1 endometrial cancer and needs a hysterectomy. This hit home how fragile we really are and how at any time we can face something unexpected. My wife met with several doctors for a second opinion and they all concurred. What blows my mind is the type of surgery that they are planning on doing now that we have accepted the fact. Talk about something out of Star Wars. I'm including some text that I was able to find on the internet to explain what she has and the type of surgery so that you can see just how wild things are getting these days in the field of medicine. I've included links below to describe the surgery as reference from other women that have had it done. Here's a link to a short video presentation that I found that describes the surgery. 

Stage 1 endometrial cancer is confined to the corpus, or body, of the uterus. Symptoms may include bleeding between periods or, as is in most cases, spotting in patients after menopause. Stage 1 endometrial cancer is very slow growing and highly curable. A hysterectomy is the preferred method of treatment. Not only is the uterus removed, but the ovaries and fallopian tubes also are removed because ovaries are a possible site for more cancer, or they may secrete hormones that play a synergistic role in the growth of the cancer. Only in rare cases of early endometrial cancers in women who are in their second or early part of the third decade of life are attempts made to preserve the ovaries.

In stage 2 endometrial cancer, the cancer has spread to the cervix. Approximately 12,800 new cases of cervical cancer diagnoses occur annually in the United States (Sawaya, 2001). Symptoms of cervical cancer include bleeding between periods, bleeding postmenopause, or bleeding after sexual intercourse. In some cases, radical hysterectomy (removal of the uterus, cervix, top portion of vagina, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and tissues in the pelvic cavity surrounding cervix) may be the treatment of choice, along with chemotherapy or radiotherapy if needed.

In stage 3A endometrial cancer, the cancer has spread to the ovaries and fallopian tubes. This may be treated with a TAH and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries), along with chemotherapy or radiotherapy if needed. In stage 3B, the cancer has spread to the vagina. In this case, a vaginectomy or radical hysterectomy must be performed, along with chemotherapy or radiotherapy if needed. By stage 3C, the cancer has entered the lymph nodes. In this case, lymph node dissection and hysterectomy is the treatment of choice, along with chemotherapy or radiotherapy if needed.

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3315.htm

The reason that I'm talking about this is that she is having surgery in which a robot is being used. Although she'll probably flatten me for putting this on here, I thought it would be good to share with folks what is available in case they ever face this. The article I'm listing are of folks that have had it done and the articles describe the surgery.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B2BE812BD-BE91-492C-A0B2-65A0C8324430%7D&siteid=google&dist=google

 

http://www.wbir.com/news/health/story.aspx?storyid=36220 

 

 

I'm continuing to rehab but it's been slow going. Today it's been pretty painful, for some reason. I'm now up to using 10 pounds again on my leg but perhaps too much. It really bites though because I've gained weight again. Yuck!

Yesterday while I was at home tending to my wife while she was recovering from her colonscopy and IM'ing folks at work, I got a call that really put life in perspective. A friend of the family had lost his son in a ridiculous accident that shouldn't of happened. Lito was sitting at a traffic light when the driver of a SUV ran the light and plowed into him going 80 miles an hour.

 

To be honest, I heard of the accident on the news especially since it was a police officer that lost his life, but I never paid attention to it. Typical, it didn't effect me so I just heard and didn't pay any more attention to it, until I got the phone call from a friend about it. I didn't really know Lito, but our family is good friends with his dad and younger brother and when my friend called to let us know what happened, it was quite a shock needless to say. What do you say to a family when this happens?

 

Lito rest in peace, may you be in a better place!

 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/281246_robert15.html 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/281267_officer15.html 

This morning the physical therapist added more stuff to my recovery routine. I thought soon he's realize me but he added excerises where I'm going up and down a step as well as a routine where I'm suppose to sit down. I really felt it in my legs, so maybe this is what has been missing. He said soon I'll be where he wants me and I can return to my weight loss program. With all the stress going on in my life, I've gotten lazy and have been eating all the wrong foods again. Damn, it's tough at times.

It's been about a month now, the pain if finally somewhat gone but the weirdness now is that after three weeks of physical therapy it's still somewhat painful to walk. I walked around Costco the other day and by the time I was done I was pretty sore.

 

The latest is that I went to see the doctor on Friday and pointed out the area on my knee that is very sore and he said it was beyond him on what it was. That didn't make me feel very comfortable. He said hopefully with a lot of physical therapy and excerise that the what I'm experiencing will be gone.