Flying Solo...

After the excitement of checking out of Hospital, the inevitable reality of my operation set in. It didn't take long. When the sun goes down something seems to happen, and once again it is the long nights that get me at my most vulnerable.

Last night I had almost nothing to eat for dinner, but somehow ended up having my first experience of post operation reflux. How exciting. I was also under cooked on pain relief and it ended up quite an ordinary night. I used some or the sleepless time researching on my iPad post operative issues. I found endless amounts of information and reassurance that this was merely a part of the next part of my journey.

Black Beauty 2, my amazing adjustable chair (thanks again Bill for fast tracking that life saviour Posture Care Chair for me) had its first real work out last night. Sylvia was very patient with me too....xxx.

It looks like it realistically takes around two years to get to the new "normal", but only a few months to be on top of things. The other really clear message is how different we all are, and when it comes to healing, how varied the time and complications are.

The morning was all about re-establishing a post Hospital pain strategy as I was underdone. Conversations with Jeff (coordinator for Progessor Watson) were useful and the day ended up well.

Tonight we made a really big effort to eat dinner early, and we failed miserably. Trying to have at least Suz, Sylv and I eat together is almost impossible. The game plan is to get my evening meal eaten prior to 6pm to allow 4 to 5 hours for digestion before going to bed. 

Given I now rely on gravity for the food to get into the small intestine, I need to be upright while the stomach processes things. Of course the body is very confused right now and is trying to work out what the hell we have done to it. The nerve that tells the brain that I have food in the stomach and when it is full is well gone and was a casualty of the op. Along with this went the cap on the top of the stomach....so it is a whole new ball game.

Today was about learning, getting prepared for the long haul and setting up some new norms. 

I got a personal letter/card from the Premier today which was nice and unexpected and lots more email and SMS messages, thank you.