Gator Pam

Not late, freesia. Isn't Lunar New Year a two week celebration?

Had a follow up to my hospital stay for the upper GI bleeding with my primary care provider. He combined the visit with my 6 month diabetes check up, so he ran another A1C. It came back at 4.2, so he is lowering my metformin from 1000 mg twice a day to 850 mg twice a day. woo-hoo! He wasn't comfortable with lowering me to 500 mg twice a day in one go, but he'll check me again in 6 months. Keto on!

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

I'm getting to go home today! I need to make all sorts of calls to schedule follow ups tomorrow, and I have additional medications to work in to my daily regimen. Plus, I'll probably still have some discomfort as my stomach and upper GI system heals. But, I get to be in my own bed tonight, woo-hoo! Thank you all for your support, spiritually and emotionally. It is massively appreciated!

Back and alert from the EGD scope. They did find a slightly bleeding ulcer in the duodenal loop below the stomach, as well as nonbleeding gastric ulcers in the stomach. It is believed the bleeding ulcer is healing on its own, with the stoppage of the naproxen yesterday. I am going to have more blood draws overnight, and see if my blood counts stabilize. Another blood tranfusion may be needed today, but it is hoped after that I will stabilize and be able to go home tomorrow afternoon.

My phone battery is dying, but I'll post a quick update. Yesterday I had my 10 day follow up with the reconstructive surgeon. Things had not been going too well at home, i.e., nauseau, weakness, lack of appetite, etc. By the time I finished showering before my visit, I was wiped out. We drove in for my 1:40 appointment, and I managed to walk from car to patient room, but the medical assistant was worried about how pale I was, and my first blood pressure, taken with an oversize cuff, which is what I always use, was 87/58. My surgeon was happy with my healing from surgery, but sent for a wheelchair to take me to emergency. I could barely sit in it; I just wanted to lie down. Long story short, they think I have an upper GI ulcer from one of the medications they prescribed. I was given a blood tranfusion, and brought up to the leukemia ward from emergency at 2:00 am. I'll have an upper GI scope at noon, and hopefully the bleed will be found. Another blood tranfusion is expected, based on current blood draws. Prayers and good thoughts appreciated.

Thank you all!

Looks like a quiet day of further recuperation for my birthday. Hopefully I'll be up to celebrating joyously next year for my 60th. But, 59 will go down as a quiet day. George and I had picked out a keto red velvet cake recipe to try for my birthday cake tonight. I had hoped to be up to at least supervising the making of it, but I'm going to trust he'll come to me with any questions instead. I haven't been really eating since I've been home; my tummy has been continuously gassy, and I had a bout of vomiting last night. But I woke up feeling much better this morning, so here's hoping I'll be able to appreciate George's efforts tonight.

Discharge orders have been received! I'll be highly dependent on my caregivers for the next four weeks, at least, unless I do some rapid healing. But, I get to have uninterrupted sleep in my own bed. Reconstructive surgeon stopped by. Follow up surgery to repair issues not addressed this time will most likely be three months out. But, she says that's same day procedure and not nearly as an intense recuperation.

Dreams, even drug induced ones, can come true, nu?

Am being moved out of ICU. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a full night's sleep without being woken every hour.

Surgical team just came in to do an assessment. All is looking good, and I should be able to start clear fluids this morning. If that goes well, I'll be helped in to a chair, with the plan of eating food for dinner tonight. Another night stay in ICU, and then hopefully moved to a normal room tomorrow, to begin moving around and true recovery.

Thank you, all! Today's surgery day. Please keep me in your thoughts. See ya on the flip side!

For those following my cancer recuperation journey... After a long day (8:30 to 3:30) at the University of Washington Medical Center, my presurgical consultations and CAT scans are completed, and I am good to go for my DIEP FLAP reconstructive surgery on Monday. Plan, as of now, is to report at 5:30 am on Monday, and to expect to be on the table from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm. A couple of days stay in ICU, to be sure my flaps don't develop necrosis, followed by a couple of days stay in a standard hospital room. Expected recuperation at home is then four to six weeks. A long haul, but it will be nice to have a superior body than the one I started with before the bilateral mastectomy in June. Prayers and good thoughts for the surgeon's task, as well as my own healing, will be appreciated.

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit Happy New Year!

And the bonus video from Six13. This is my favorite out of all of them. Six13 out did themselves this year.

Since each group currently has nine Hanukkah videos, here's a bonus video from The Maccabeats for the last day. A few years ago, The Maccabeats put out a video of the Passover classic, Dayenu, which used different music styles to sing the song. It was very well received. This year they followed the same concept with I Have a Little Dreidel.

Whereas, last year Six13 threw it back to the Boy Band era.

For the eighth night, last year The Maccabeats parodied Ed Sheeran for their 10th anniversary.

Again, 2016 was the year of Hamilton parodies. Here's Six13's tribute for the seventh night.

2016 was the year of Hamilton parodies. Here's The Maccabeats tribute, for the seventh night.

While Six13 parody Silento for the sixth night.

For the sixth night of Hanukkah, The Maccabeats parody Walk the Moon.

So, I'll post updates regarding my cancer recovery journey here, rather than in the off-topic forum, unless I'm told otherwise. Yesterday was my follow up presurgical consultation with my reconstructive surgeon. She wouldn't put me on the operating table unless I weighed less than 200 lbs. I decided to go for 190 before going back, so I would be certain to be somewhere in the 190s when I went clothed in to her office. I'm glad I did, as my appointment wasn't until 4:00, and I wasn't going to fast until that late in the day. On the scale at UW reconstructive surgery, I weighed 192. When my doctor walked in, she looked at me with a big grin, and the first thing she said to me was, "Give the girl a goal, and have her blow it out of the water!" She was of the mindset that I lost 40 lbs since she saw me in June, and I didn't remind her that 11 of those pounds were dropped overnight after the bilateral masectomy (bye-bye boobies). I felt just fine basking in her effusive praise. But, I'm still going to keto on. I have a lot of weight yet to lose. For now, it looks like surgery will be scheduled for March. But, there is a chance another patient may cancel next month around my birthday. Not the happiest of birthdays with the plan of spending four days in ICU. But, if it is offered, I'll jump at the chance anyway.

While for the fifth night, Six13 satires Taylor Swift.