SIEA Flap!

Hello, I'm back!

This blog is coming to you courtesy of these darn drain bottles which are becoming very irritating and kept me up most of the night last night. By 6:30 this morning, there was nothing to do but get up and see if the computer could distract me from the discomfort for a while.

Going back in time to Tuesday, June 20, the day of my surgery............. I awoke at 4:30 AM to prepare for going to the hospital at 5:30 AM. I was forbidden to eat anything so had to satisfy myself with a shower, some last minute packing (what do you pack to go to the hospital for surgery? - nothing but a soft surgical bra to go home in) and some last minute cleaning - why not?

The time was quickly approaching and I was nervous. Dad drove me over to the hospital and vowed to stay there through the whole surgery (which he did - God Bless Him!) On the way, we had a very large scare. We missed the turn off and had to exit at the next one to come back on the freeway. As we made our way down the exit ramp, our light was green - very green. Dad was going very slowly and I remember wondering why. Just as we arrived at the intersection, a car came speeding through it from the cross street - right through a light that had been red for a very long time - no slow down, no look, no stop, no notice of the car in the lane next to him that was stopped at the red light. Dad slammed on the breaks and we stopped at the green light. A second faster and we would have been in the intersection and been hit - surely with some fatality due to the speed of the other driver. The light turned red and we sat there catching our breaths and our hearts. My mind was off the surgery for a minute. Thank goodness we were all right.

The light turned green again and we cautiously entered the intersection and made our way back to the freeway and to the hospital. At the hospital, I was quickly tagged and soon speaking with the anesthesiologist who ran an IV into my left arm and started my fluids. The nurse tending me told me that she had the same operation done by my Dr., Dr. W in August the year before and she was thrilled with the results. I was then walked into the OR. I climbed up on the bed as the various nurses and attendants introduced themselves - and, of course, I remember all of them right? ;) Dr. W was there looking at what I quickly recognized were pictures of the MRI on my left breast on the computer. She invited me to sit up and have a look, too. Then she showed me the lump in my left breast that she intended to remove before doing the mastopexy (lift) on my left breast which would take place if all went well with the procedure to rebuild my right breast and if I didn't lose too much blood. The lump was a fibroadenoma that Dr. K and I had found earlier - not expected to be cancerous but would be biopsied nevertheless.

I don't remember anything after that until the recovery people calling my name as I came out of a nightmare - can't remember what it was about - just remember it being a nightmare and asking what was wrong and why we weren't going to proceed with the surgery. They said it was done and that it was 5:00PM. The whole day had gone by!

And, then.....the agonizing pain! No, not along any of the incision points or surgical areas. A nurse was flexing my right arm and I had the worst pain in the crook of my elbow - agonizing! The tears were flowing uncontrolled from my eyes in big floods. You cannot imagine the pain. "Did you stick a needle in that arm?", I cried? My biggest fear. As a mastectomy patient, with nodes removed, no blood pressure can be taken, no finger sticks or needles in my right arm for the rest of my life or I risk a situation called lymphodema in which the arm fills with fluid and remains swollen, sore and semi useless and cannot be correted. Why was my right arm hurting so? They said no needles had gone in and that the muscle just needed to be worked to get it to stretch out again as they administered pain killers and Zofram for the nausea.

Through all of this, Dr. W came up and told me that they had been able to remove the lump and lift the other breast. She also delivered the most wonderful news of all.

As The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook puts it, "In a small percentage of women, the dominant blood supply to the lower abdomen is the Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery (SIEA), rather than the DIEP. For these women the SIEA flap is performed. This procedure is similar and the cosmetic result is essentially the same a DIEP flap. But because the SIEA runs through the fatty tissue just beneath the skin, the blood vessels required for the flap can be accessed without dissecting the muscle."

I was one of those few women listed above and I had a SIEA flap! No muscle was touched - the kindest surgery of all for the donor site (abdomen). The surgery went quickly - about 7 hours and everything was accomplished. A minimum of blood was lost and no transfusion required.

This was all wonderful news! Despite the extreme pain in my arm, I had a big smile pasted on my face through the tears and couldn't wait to tell everyone my great news.

Dad came in soon after and I told him. I was proud of myself that, despite the anesthesia, I could remember things that had just happened and even come up with words like fibroadenoma. It meant that my brain function was doing well. And of course, the news was wonderful.

They were soon moving me up to the TCU (transitional care unit).

What the heck is going on at Safeway at 10:00 on a Saturday night

Why is everyone at Safeway at 10:00PM on a Saturday night? Don't they have better things to do and places to go? I went over there tonight and was surprised that the parking lot was full! I had to wait for parking. This is the grocery store, not a dance club!

Why was I there? Well, I have been so busy trying to get everything done before the surgery that I worked straight through until 9:30. Tomorrow is Father's Day and I wanted to make him a treat. I needed a few items for the baking. After collecting everything, I went in search of the Kraft Caramels. They were not in their usual place in the candy aisle, nor were they with the fresh apples, nor with the cooking stuff. At a loss, I went in search of someone to help me. There was no one around and the lines were so long at all of the registers that I couldn't ask a clerk. I tried and a blond (not so nice - think B...) lady yelled at me that she was in line. I finally found a stocker and when I asked where the Kraft Caramels were, he said, "kkkk ummmm karafa? What do you want?" I said, Caramels. He said what are those. Ugh! I was starting to get frustrated. Then he told me that Safeway had never carried them as long as he was there. I know for a fact that that is not true.

I tracked down some other checkers and they did not know either. Finally, someone got the manager. He said, "oh, those little individually wrapped, square caramels in the bag" Bingo. At least he knew what they were. Aisle 7. Back to candy. Not there. No tag even or empty spot where they might have been. I had to give up. I handed my items back to the girl and said goodbye and walked out of that Saturday night madhouse. Ugh!

Sorry Dad. I tried. Will just have to be happy with the card I got you.

Talking to Myself - pre-surgery work and 3 doctors appts - one scare

Once again, I find that almost another week has gone by without my blogging. I have been busy at all of the many mundane and physical tasks required to prepare for this surgery. These are probably not of interest to anyone but me. However, I feel compelled to blog them for my own reading pleasure in the future when I look back and think "what was I doing?"

Well, this is what I have done since Monday, June 12. Shopped for film, photos, dog gravel and iron tablets (more on that one later), saw my breast surgeon, Dr. K (always a pleasure and once again a pleasure today - got to look at the MRI pictures of my breasts - lots of different views - big, small and one that could be rotated in 3D - very cool!), went to two different Michael's stores to buy plaster molds for the bust cast of my current breast profile, Petco for doggie pack (they had no idea what I was talking about, even though I had purchased one there before), Painting class where I completed a painting for use on the new El Camino Hospital Thanksgiving cards, painted the kitchen, cleaned mini-blinds and vacuumed top of kitchen cupboards. And that was all just on Tuesday!

On to Wednesday. Quigong class, got the car washed (Wednesday - ladies day - $2 cheaper - besides, it was sunny), over to Susan's to sew the border on my wall hanging and the seam on the window curtain, have artistic photos taken of my current breast profile. Had the chance to sit and chat with Susan and look at the pre-mastectomy photos from last year and the new ones she just took. I must say that she did an excellent job - very artistic! The photos were beautiful and I am very proud of them. Thanks Susan! Can't wait to do the final set with my new breasts! Then, it was off to see Joan (since Melissa moved to Idaho) for the all important eyebrow design (waxing, trimming, shaping) so that I can look good for my surgery, back home for more cleaning (a never ending task).

Thursday - Started off with Weight Watchers - still 2 lbs from maintenance - darn - so close, yet so far. Really wanted to get there before surgery. Next, stopped off at the Post Office and Grocery Store. Home to walk the dogs, mow and edge my lawn and the neighbors (since she will be so kind as to do this over the next 6 weeks when I can't), some more gardening, cleaned the dogs yard and spread clean gravel and then hop in the shower to go see my Plastic Surgeon.

Bad news! My anemia from giving blood will prevent me from surgery, Dr W said. My hemoglobin was at 9.3 and needed to be at least 10.5. What devastation! To have come this far and have it canceled. Ugh! I had one more chance at a blood test on Friday. Fortunately, my guardian angel was looking after me earlier in the week and prompted my to buy iron tablets on Monday. I had been taking one a day and hoping that was enough to bring me back. My weight was good although still 1 lb - yes 1 lb overweight! Darn! I really wanted to go into surgery at a normal BMI and not overweight. 1 lb! So close.

Stopped in to get my EKG before heading off to see Suzanne, my healer. Had a very nice session of Reiki and Pranic Healing where she focused on treating the anemia. Called in all of my patrons - St. Jude (Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes), Mother Mary and all of the strong spiritual powers of the West, East and above as well as Father Aloyisius of my trip to San Gabriel Mission in May. I was very tired but felt relaxed and energized after the session. I finally arrived back home about 9:30PM and just relaxed the rest of the evening, feeling like I needed rest and sleep to help my body recover from the devastating effects of all of the testing and blood loss of the last few months.

Friday morning, I awoke with trepidation. Please let me pass this blood test. I don't think I ever wanted to pass a test so badly in my life. I went to the hospital early to have my blood drawn in order to get the results as soon as possible. As usual, I had a red sticker (STAT) on my blood form - go straight to the head of the line - makes other people mad but, hey, they probably don't have to go in as often as I do. The blood was drawn and I headed off to OB/GYN for my trans-vaginal ultrasound to look at the cyst on my ovary.

I told my GYN, Dr. N about the blood problem and she said there was something that we could do about it, even in 3 days. All the time we were talking, she was lubing up this huge probe - about the size of a golf ball - as I looked on in bland fascination. My mind was on the blood and not really on what she was doing until she reached down and said, "Just a little push here" and I realized that huge thing was going up inside me! She moved up and showed me my bladder and then went in search of my uterous. "There it is", she said. I couldn't really see anything but a shadowy dent. Then, she said, "There is the cyst". It looked HUGE. But apparently, it was magnified. She measured it - 1.768cm (less than 1 in). She said it was soft and definitely a simple cyst which "never turns into cancer". Don't worry about it. However, she told me that I am not very photogenic - meaning my insides and not my face - I hope so anyway. She suggested I go down to radiology where they have a better ultrasound and can get a better picture. An appointment was scheduled for August (after surgery and recovery).

Back to the blood. My blood work came back in an amazing 45 minutes. The hemoglobin was 10.7! Yeah! I was so relieved and excited. The surgery was on. My GYN said that she would still like to see it higher and asked about the iron I was taking. I told her I didn't know at which point she said, you have been through enough and gave me her private line to call her and read the label off the bottle. I did that when I got home. Turns out I had bought the right iron after all. She upped the dosage for the weekend and said my Hg should be even higher by Tuesday.

After all of that, I headed off to Target to buy a tub to do the plaster cast in and headed home. My friend, Cathy, came over and we had lunch, Starbuck's, did some shopping (books and beads for my recovery period) and then came back to the messy work of doing a plaster mold of my chest/breast. After she left, I changed the motion detector, thief lights outside the garage that have been burned out for over a year, hung my wall hanging up in the dining room, did some more cleaning and retired to bed at about 1:00AM.

This morning, it is sunny and hot. After opening all the windows and doors, the dogs and I headed off for a walk. Coming back, I read the meters for PG&E before I forget with all of the other preparations. Now is the time for some more cleaning, painting and gardening. I am going to need the 10 hours they put me out in surgery just to rest!

Don't know if there will be another post before surgery or not............. Only 3 more days!

And another week gone by

The time is passing so quickly now. What happened between last week and this week? Well......

On Tuesday, I worked hard most of the day in the yard until my bin was filled. In between, I paid my bills and worked on the ATW close (paying more bills). Then, I ran off to painting class which was somewhat disastrous - my painting was just not coming together for me. It is the first time in a long time that my teacher helped me out a lot to try to get it more together. And then I dropped the brushes on the floor and then my painting, face down, fell on the floor. By that time I gave up, cleaned up and left to head off to the theater to see Hairspray. I completely enjoyed the show and it was a wonderful escape for the evening. The expressions on the face of the main character were just so crazy - very well done. All of it.

Wednesday morning I headed off to Quigong which I really needed. Then I went to Marshall's to return some ugly thing I bought there when I wasn't in my right mind. Can you say pink? With sequins? Have you ever seen me wear pink? or sequins? What was I thinking. Well, because it was more than 7 days ago that I purchased it, they wanted to only give me a store credit. Now what will I do with that? I never shop in Marshall's and needed the money more than the credit. I kept insisting and, embarassingly, made a bit of a scene, then asked for the manager which they denied me the right to see. At last, the girl left the counter and soon the phone rang, the other girl picked it up and then gave me a credit back on my credit card. Yeah! for persistence.

From there, I went to Kelly Moore to buy paint. They didn't have some of the stuff I needed but called over to the other Kelly Moore store and they had it. Since I had to go to the other store, the guy gave me 25% off on the paint I bought there. That was completely unsolicited and a nice surprise. Good going Kelly Moore.

Then, it was off to Long's to get my film developed. Yes, I am one of those folks who still uses film! Then, on to the other Kelly Moore to get the rest of the paint. By that time, I was exhausted and headed home without finishing the rest of my errands.

At home, I painted the dining room (3 coats - including faux finishing), sanded and varathaned the wood window ledge, cleaned the big, dog-drool laden window, vacuumed and steam cleaned the dining room rug. By that time, it was 2:00AM and time for bed.

And we are only up to Thursday. I went on my usual trip to WW where I found that I was up 2.5 lbs but that was still less than the total I had actually gone up on my trip to LA. Then, my friend came over and we walked the dogs to Starbuck's for a coffee and sandwich. Afterword, he helped me to re-install the drapery rods which usually takes two hands and two sets of eyes. I put several more coats of varathane on the ledge for a total of 8 coats and washed, ironed and patched the shears. That took me up to 9:00PM where I just had to eat something and rest.

Friday morning dawned with a dog walk followed by breakfast. Afterword, I installed the hooks so that the swags could be used on the drapes. Then, it was off to the tile place to purchase the tiles for the shower. This took most of the afternoon. A stop by Costco got me my new glasses which had finally come in and a couple of bottles of wine for the evening event.

At around 4:00, my NP called to talk about my bone density results. Hips and Femur are fine but the spine is far into Osteopoenia and close to Osteoporosis. We talked about options for managing this and then went on to discuss my blood tests and anemia. I told her they were taking too much blood from me. :) and that was the reason for the anemia. The real reason is probably the pint I had to give for my surgery. Anyway, I have to take another blood test this week to follow up on it. Finally, we discussed the cyst on my right ovary. I told her that my ObGyn was doing a vaginal ultrasound this Friday to check on it. She was pleased with that.

Finally, I headed off to Redwood City to go to the reunion of models from the CBHP fashion show. It was so much fun - a potluck with good food and wine. We watched the DVD from the fashion show and laughed a lot. The subject of my earrings came up and so I pulled them out to show someone. Soon, everyone jumped in and wanted a pair. I sold 11 pairs of the Breast Cancer Earrings. Everyone loved them.

Saturday morning, I got up and walked the dogs, then went to OSH to take advantage of their no tax sale. Brother Jim came over to work on the shower and Eric helped me tape and paint the hallway - eight doorways, what a pain. It took a long time. Eric and Jim left and, by the time I finished, it was 8:30 and I rushed off to haircut night for some R&R with the family.

Sunday was another full day with a return to OSH to buy paint, partial painting of the kitchen, cleaning the electronics in the living room (a very tedious process) and waxing/cleaning living room.

Monday, today, I woke up late - tired! Ate my breakfast and vacuumed the house. Then, Dad came over and worked on the doors so now I have two new doors in my house to replace the dog-damaged ones - yeah! Looks so much better. Debbie and I worked on the frame around the mirror in the guest room and did a pretty good job if I must say so myself. These two projects took the rest of the day up until my typing this. Whew! What a week and still so much more to do...........

MUGA

My fun for today is to have my once every 3-month MUGA scan. This is the event where I start out at the infusion room to get my port accessed. Then, tubes hanging, I traipse across the hospital campus and up the elevator to nuclear medicine where a tech draws some blood, puts in some radioactive stuff, processes it and then injects it back into me. Next, I lay down on a bed and a couple of camera/scan devices are moved close to me to record my heart beat for a short time, especially the left ventricle. The idea is to check the strength of the muscle by how well the left venticle is ejecting the blood moving through it. The resulting number is the LVEF - Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction. A number below 50 is definitely not good and will cause Herceptin infusions to be stopped. My LVEF got dangerously close after my Adriamycin/Cytoxin/Taxol chemotherapy when it hit 50. After 3 months, it recovered back to near its starting point - much to my relief.

Needless to say, this is yet one more test that will take up most of my day, leaving little time for anything else. Except for a few blood tests though, this should be the last major test I have before my reconstruction surgery.

15 days and counting. Can't believe how fast it is passing!

Whoa!

That's about all I can say - Whoa! Things are sooo busy and coming at me at a whirlwind pace.

Friday, my friend, M. came over and we walked the dogs. They sure were glad to get out after a week of me being gone to LA and then to doctor's appts. I was feeling a bit testy myself and it was good for me to get out too. We took them the long route and stopped at Starbuck's where they quietly laid under the table while we drank coffee, hot chocolate and ate muffin sandwiches and talked. It was so nice and always my dream to do that. No incidences. Walking back, Thomas did still have some nasty reactions to any dogs that he saw except for the one that we walked right by because the dog was so calm that Thomas didn't even notice him. The socialization is something to continue working on.

Friday eve, I went down to San Juan Batista to pick up some more beads and then over to my friend Cathy's house for some visiting, food and Scrabble. Had to get my game fix on. In between, we made jewelry and chatted. I made the pink ribbon Breast Cancer earrings that I was hoping to sell the next day at the Relay for Life walk.

Sat, it was a little tough getting up. The sun was out and that helped. It was shaping up to be a very sunny day. I headed over to Cuesta Park for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life event. The opening ceremonies were at 10:00AM and I was pleased to walk the Survivor's Lap with my friends from Creative Expressions. We wore our purple survivor's t-shirts along with the funky Miss America sashes that read "Survivor" and that no one, including me, knew how to properly wear. I finally saw someone that had it on right and quickly fixed mine and my other pals' sashes.

I was so pleased and honored that my Dad came and he walked the second lap with me before heading off to his daily duties. I donned the special shirt designed by my teacher for the rest of the laps. After a couple of more laps, I headed over to the luminarias' tent to decorate bags for the evenings luminarias' walk. Some of my friends from Creative Expressions came and we chatted and decorated together. It was loads of fun. My SIL, Debbie showed up about then and joined us in decorating the bags. I was so pleased to see her.

Debbie and I walked two laps together and sold some Breast Cancer earrings along the way. I sold 5 pairs that day. Would have liked to sell a few more but am not to aggressive about it. It makes me happy to see the people who buy them happy.

After all of the walking and decorating, 3:00 had come very quickly. It was time to go over to Susan and Bill's for Bill's birthday and the twins' delayed birthday. Great barbecue. Great company. Awesome birthday cakes! Loved those and I am not even a cake eater. It continued to be sunny and warm and we all got a little red or tanned.

Before I knew it, it was 7:30 and time to go back to Cuesta Park for the luminarias ceremony. It was so beautiful and emotional to hear the names of honored survivors and memorials for those who have passed on. Our group once again walked together and took photos of the beautiful lights in the night. I was just about to go home when I saw my sister, Susan walking up with her two "angels", the twins. They were pushing their babies in their new baby strollers and looked so cute.

They brought along light bracelets - a whole box of them. After meeting my teacher, Tehila and petting her greyhounds, Bogart and Mia, we all headed off to walk a lap. Riley and Samantha enjoyed stopping and looking in each bag at the candles. They also enjoyed sharing the light bracelets with other people along the path. Some people, out of kindness, thinking they might be taking the twins toys away, tried to give the bracelets back which only made the twins cry. We managed to explain that these were theirs to give and they were learning to share at which point the people took them and walked away. It was really nice to see all of the little lights shining from people's wrists as they walked in the dark night.

I have to say once more how honored and pleased I was and am to have had my Father, SIL Debbie and sister Susan with her girls Samantha and Riley come and walk laps with me at this important event. They have been a huge support to me in the past year and a half and it was wonderful to have them share this with me.

I wish my dogs could have come too since there were other dogs there but Thomas would have to become much more settled before we can do that.

Whoa! Maybe now you can imagine why I can only say that. 16 days and counting until surgery. And so much to do. Today, I am working on wall repair and was hoping to paint also but looks like I won't be able to do that. Will try to do some more decluttering of the study and some of the other million things that need to be done before this surgery. Please give me the energy to make it through the next 2 weeks and get everything (or a good bit of it anyway) done!

Bizarre Dog Experience

Tonight when I got home, the dogs were waiting there to greet me as usual. I went back to the bedroom to change and do laundry and Smokey followed me as usual. That is when things got funny. I noticed he had crawled under the bedside table and could hear the sounds of chewing bone which sound like rocks since the bones I buy them are extra hard. How strange I thought. He doesn't usually do that. He scooted out and started chewing on the table leg while I could still hear the sound of the bone and he was snorting funny like he couldn't breathe. This was all bizarre since he never chews on the furniture. I made him stop and he laid there with his head at a funny angle. I started to get really worried and called him over. He got up and walked over and laid down on his rug. Again I heard the bone sounds and he started snorting again and gagging. I couldn't figure out what was going on and where were those bone sounds coming from. I couldn't see any bone.

I opened his mouth and realized that he had one of his hard bones wedged crosswise across the roof of his mouth and stuck between his back teeth. It was stuck in there good. I reached in and tried to pull it out but was hampered by two things. One, it was really wedged in good and two, it was so far back that my hand was causing a gag reflex which was causing him to bite down on my hand. No blood was drawn but still it was uncomfortable for me and must have been for him too. I tried several times but just could not get it free. He was really rubbing his nose on everything and snorting and I was getting worried.

Even though it was 11:30 at night, I thought I have to get this dog to the emergency room to get this thing out so I hustled him into the car where he started rubbing on the seats and window. I told him to stop and was driving as fast as I safely could to get to the vet. Suddenly I heard something drop and was hoping it was the bone. I turned into a gas station and sure enough, he had finally gotten it loose and dropped it. He wouldn't touch or go near it. I am guessing it was as much a scare for him as it was for me. That bone will be going into the garbage.

And that is what I do for excitement. How about you?

Colonoscopy

Today, I had the pleasure of getting a colonoscopy. This is a procedure that is usually recommended for folks once they hit the age of 50. For breast cancer patients, it is recommended to get this done immediately and not wait until you are 50 so there I was, in my backless gown having little cameras sent up my backside.

How does it all work? Well, it started yesterday. I was not allowed to eat anything from the time that I got up. I was allowed to drink water, apple juice, clear bouillion or eat jello. For me, this meant water all day long. At 4:00PM, I started on the colytes which would clean out my system. These are basically heavy doses of salts with water which cause your bowels to clear out. I started drinking at 4:00 and had to drink 8 oz (1 cup) every 10 minutes until I finished the whole 4 liters. The whole process took about 2 1/2 hours. I would drink the cup of foul, salty tasting mixture (picture drinking swamp water) and then wait 10 minutes and drink the next cup. After 1 hour of this, I would drink the mixture, sit on the toilet for 10 minutes and then get up and drink the next cup. I was pretty much on the toilet until about 9:30PM.

This morning, I got up and was not allowed anything, even water, to drink. I was pretty dehydrated and had a headache and just wanted the whole thing over with. My Dad arrived to take me to the hospital. You are not even allowed to sign in without a ride home since you will be on sedatives for the procedure and your judgement becomes impaired.

After arriving at the hospital, I donned the oh so beautiful backless gown. Next, the nurse stuck a needle in my port for the sedative to go in. Thank goodness, he was eligible to do this and I didn't have to use the veins in my arm for an IV. Next, I went into the procedure room where I rolled over on my side so that the doctor could find the "entry". Just in case you were wondering, yes, this is humiliating no matter how much you try to think otherwise. Electrodes were attached to my chest to monitor my heart during the procedure since I was on anesthetic. The screen was right in front of me so that I could watch everything being done.

The nurse started the sedative slowly as the doctor flushed my insides and then pumped them with air and inserted the camera up my back door. Does this all sound uncomfortable? Are you queasy yet? Let me just say that it was uncomfortable - especially the air and entry of the camera. I felt an overwhelming urge to go to the bathroom and the nurse just kept saying "its okay, let it go". Somehow that is easier said than done. Once the camera was fully inside and moving up the colon, it was much better. The whole process was very quick since my colon was clean. No polyps were found - yeah! There was also only the smallest amount of what could be diverticulosis - one or two small pockets and not what they would call diverticulosis at all. The doctor said that my colon was very clean and in very good shape. Boy was I happy to hear that. Don't need another colonoscopy for 10 years now. I was even happier to hear that.

After the procedure, they wheeled me out to a resting area where they took my blood pressure a couple of times, removed the electrodes and encouraged me to flatulate. I did... and did... and did... as they cheered each time. Never thought people would be so glad to hear me farting. It was embarassing but I did try. Had to get all of the air out. Finally, I was allowed to dress and go home. The nurses and doctor all told me that I did very good and had a good colon.

I was feeling fine since I didn't have too much anesthetic and Dad drove me home. Now I am ordered not to drive for 24 hours or work. The anesthetic can affect my judgement they say. So I will just do some more filing and hope I don't throw away anything of importance.

So glad this is done. One more step to completion of all of these tests and moving on to a more doctor-free lifestyle.