It’s happened!! I finally got the date!! I’m ON the surgical schedule for 2017.. but the WHY is is a bit more than originally expected.
December 28, 2017. That’s the date I’m going back into Duke Medicine for the surgery that is going to fix my leak, and get me on the road back to wellness. I’m a couple months past the original surgical date.. and it was a bit abrupt. Going in the week before for my pre-op appointments only to be told there was “an anomaly” spotted on my CT scan, and surgery has been postponed until all has been figured out. It was disappointing to say the least.. I was ready to be fixed. I was ready to be done with the pain… and to be told I’m back in the limbo place of waiting. I struggled. But I do want my doctors to be the most aware of what they are getting into before they get into it.. to know what they are dealing with when they open me up.
Another colonoscopy and appointments with new doctors and the result is I have a new Crohn’s diagnosis. The surgery has now become more than just fixing my leak, and now includes removing the section of small intestine affected by the Crohn’s, to put me into Surgical Remission. He will also take the lymph nodes closes to the cancer just to make sure there was nothing else they missed. I have a new surgeon who specializes in Crohn’s and these sorts of resections. I have a new GI specialist who will help me manage the Crohn’s post surgery., and I will continue with my oncologist to monitor for the cancer post surgery.
There’s still a lot of processing that is happening. The Crohn’s diagnosis itself and what that means for my life. And if they happened to find the Crohn’s in the original trauma, they might have not taken the appendix and found the cancer.. and if they found the Crohn’s years ago, would they have also found the cancer? My GI specialist says having NET Cancer, and Crohn’s together in the same body is very rare.. And there is still no real why to where the original sepsis came from… since now they know the fluid leak is actually coming from my small intestine, not my colon. So what that perforation could be is still unknown. I am still so very grateful I went to Duke Medicine, because I’m still ranking pretty high on the WTF chart!!
Timeline wise.. I’m now looking at 7+ days in the hospital.. NG tube, the whole exciting shebang. With surgery 12/28, my New Year Eve should be pretty drugged up. I’ll get to clink my glass of ice chips!! Hopefully the additional infection will be low so I’m out in less than 10.. but I”m bringing plenty of fiber with my espinner, and yarn with my Ashford Samplet loom to keep me occupied for closer to 2 full weeks.
So, that’s the current state of things. Next week I have a handful of X-rays that will give the surgeon clearer map of what’s going on inside of my abdomen. And it’s processing and journaling, mediating, yoga and lots of organizing. Because my anxiety manifests in organization of ALL THE THINGS.
Along with organization, I’ve updated the etsy shop with all the yarn that was left from SAFF. And I’ll update with few more things over the next few weeks. Use code COMMUNITY2017 through 12/1 for 10% off your order.
Tomorrow, 11/28 is “GivingTuesday” YouCaring is giving away a $10,000 award to one of their fundraisers. So 11/28, every donation I receive, even a mighty dollar, with “#YouCaringGives2017” included in the message box, will give me an entry towards the YouCaring award. Your help/post/share could get me the donation that puts me over the edge.. $10,000 is 2 CT scans, and would be a dent in the current $55,000 total that I owe Duke.
Thank you for all your shares, donations, support, love, encouragement, prayers, wishes and vibes. You’ve sent cards, fiber, yarn, visualizations, poems, messages… Every single one was important and helped me stay alive. They helped me stand in the light in my dark days. I know that I will make it through this next surgery, with sun on my face, because you are will be there, pointing me in the right direction. You are my community and my friends, and to you, I am the most thankful.