I have a sneaking feeling that I don’t want to know what that is.
Glad you are home! Enjoy the downtime -- even forced downtime is still downtime!
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trollssays
Do what I did last night, and get an extra hour’s sleep compared to the previous few days. I’m sure the menagerie will also sleep better, with mutual support, etc., and you will definitely feel better too.
Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaidensays
I’m glad you can be back at home. Be good to yourself, Caine.
jazzletsays
Good that you are home, everyone will be more relaxed. Sleep well.
Oh, I slept and slept, and it was beyond nice to be able to sleep without interruptions. Hospitals are not good places to rest.
Marcus, that’s an ostomy bag, or in plainer terms, a shit bag.
Ice Swimmersays
Caine @ 14
Nice to hear you got good sleep at last.
Hospitals are not good places to rest.
That seems to be almost universal. My experience 13 years ago also.
The picture on the Wikipedia page isn’t a typical “clinical”/”medical” picture. I think it could break some stereotypes or at least provoke some thoughts.
kestrelsays
Hooray for being able to sleep in your own bed. Now that’s the way to get better.
The picture on the Wikipedia page isn’t a typical “clinical”/”medical” picture. I think it could break some stereotypes or at least provoke some thoughts.
There’s a lot of stigma attached to having an ostomy of any type, people find them disgusting for a number of reasons (open wound, shit in a bag, etc.) which can make it difficult for a person who has one to come out of the ostomy closet.
Hopefully, mine will be a temporary one, but even if it is, putting it all back together will be the very last step in my treatment, which is: 1) radiation therapy 2) surgery to remove tumour 3) chemo 4) surgery to put me back together. I don’t start radiation until the third week of January. That should be enough time for all the swelling to go down. Right now, my stoma (colon end) is still sticking out about 2 inches.
kestrelsays
@Caine, you are so right about the stigma… my aunt was so terrified of possibly having an ostomy bag that she never once went to get a colonoscopy done… until it was way, way too late, and there was not one thing they could do for her. Even sitting in the office hearing there was nothing they could do and they would try and keep her comfortable as she died, her only question was, “So do I have to wear an ostomy bag?” :-( That fear was so strong it was stronger than being told she was dying.
My family member is just finishing up radiation therapy and they say it’s not bad at all. They did follow the directions, using the supplied cream when supposed to and abstaining when not; treatment ends Jan. 5th. So here is to hoping. And to education.
jazzletsays
My SIL was a specialist ostomy nurse visiting eople in their homes to help them through any problems. I hope it is only tempory.
Yay for lots of healing sleep. I hope the swelling goes down quickly and that you are not too uncomfortable in the meantime, although I guess that much swelling isn’t pleasant.
Kestrel, oh your poor aunt. That’s a very common attitude towards an ostomy though, “I’d rather die.” I’d rather not die. I don’t think an ostomy would be anyone’s first choice, but even when they are permanent, they don’t interfere with your life at all, you can keep doing all the things you like, eat what you like, etc.
Jazzlet, it’s mostly my stomach muscles and back muscles which are screaming right now. But they’ll get stronger and less sore as time passes.
Raucous Indignationsays
Hrrmm … I have a little drama playing out in my head about your distal bowel. I don’t know if I should share it. It’s pretty silly for such an innternal topic.
Anyway, just rest and eat what you can, whenever you can, however much you can.
Although I was mostly on chicken soup and bread after the craniectomy.
Ice Swimmer, yeah, more or less. I’m still in a lot of pain, the swelling hasn’t gone down at all, blah, blah, blah. I just really don’t feel like getting into any sort of normal routine, and when Rick went to pick up my stuff yesterday, there were just bags -- no wipes, powder, measuring template, none of the other shit I need to keep everything nice and tidy. So, irritated on top of everything else.
Thanks for asking, and letting me whine.
jazzletsays
Sorry the swelling isn’t going down yet, hope it starts to jolly soon. That is very poor of them not to have everything ready and waiting for Rick to pick up, it really isn’t on making a difficult situation worse by such inadequte, careless ‘care’. I hope you start to feel at least a little better.
I don’t think you need to wait for an excuse to whine, it’s your blog, you are going through an intensly painful experience both emotionally and physically, if you want or need to whine, winge, grouch, kvetch, bitch, howl or do anything else you should go right ahead and do it, it is your space.
Ice Swimmersays
Caine @ 24
Also hoping for your swelling go down and the medical supply people actually supplying the stuff they’re supposed to.
I thought there’s a good chance you’re tired and pissed off, still couldn’t bear not to ask as I wasn’t sure what’s the new “normal way of things”.
I just got a post up about the “normal way of things”. Please, don’t ever be afraid of asking; there’s always the chance of being able to help someone else by talking about it all, and it won’t do any good to just withdraw from daily life, that’s something I really cannot afford to do.
chigau (違う) says
Good, then.
Merry happy to all of you.
Ice Swimmer says
Merry happy and a good rest!
kestrel says
Happy merry Monday and a good sleep to all!
Giliell, professional cynic -Ilk- says
Glad you are back home.
I hope Jayne is happy now.
voyager says
Merry, merry. Glad to hear that you are safe and home.
Marcus Ranum says
I have a sneaking feeling that I don’t want to know what that is.
Glad you are home! Enjoy the downtime -- even forced downtime is still downtime!
Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls says
Do what I did last night, and get an extra hour’s sleep compared to the previous few days. I’m sure the menagerie will also sleep better, with mutual support, etc., and you will definitely feel better too.
Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says
I’m glad you can be back at home. Be good to yourself, Caine.
jazzlet says
Good that you are home, everyone will be more relaxed. Sleep well.
Anne, Cranky Cat Lady says
Glad you’re home, rest and feel better soon.
Raucous Indignation says
Glad you’re home. Hugs
chigau (違う) says
Caine
I don’t recall your feelings on the Scrooge story, but this:
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2017/12/18/neil-gaiman-reads-christmas-carol-rebroadcast-nypl-podcast-ep-195
is marvelous
Lofty says
Home is good, sleep well and come back fighting.
Caine says
Oh, I slept and slept, and it was beyond nice to be able to sleep without interruptions. Hospitals are not good places to rest.
Marcus, that’s an ostomy bag, or in plainer terms, a shit bag.
Ice Swimmer says
Caine @ 14
Nice to hear you got good sleep at last.
That seems to be almost universal. My experience 13 years ago also.
The picture on the Wikipedia page isn’t a typical “clinical”/”medical” picture. I think it could break some stereotypes or at least provoke some thoughts.
kestrel says
Hooray for being able to sleep in your own bed. Now that’s the way to get better.
Onamission5 says
I’m glad you are home. Rest well, heal well.
Caine says
Ice Swimmer:
There’s a lot of stigma attached to having an ostomy of any type, people find them disgusting for a number of reasons (open wound, shit in a bag, etc.) which can make it difficult for a person who has one to come out of the ostomy closet.
Hopefully, mine will be a temporary one, but even if it is, putting it all back together will be the very last step in my treatment, which is: 1) radiation therapy 2) surgery to remove tumour 3) chemo 4) surgery to put me back together. I don’t start radiation until the third week of January. That should be enough time for all the swelling to go down. Right now, my stoma (colon end) is still sticking out about 2 inches.
kestrel says
@Caine, you are so right about the stigma… my aunt was so terrified of possibly having an ostomy bag that she never once went to get a colonoscopy done… until it was way, way too late, and there was not one thing they could do for her. Even sitting in the office hearing there was nothing they could do and they would try and keep her comfortable as she died, her only question was, “So do I have to wear an ostomy bag?” :-( That fear was so strong it was stronger than being told she was dying.
My family member is just finishing up radiation therapy and they say it’s not bad at all. They did follow the directions, using the supplied cream when supposed to and abstaining when not; treatment ends Jan. 5th. So here is to hoping. And to education.
jazzlet says
My SIL was a specialist ostomy nurse visiting eople in their homes to help them through any problems. I hope it is only tempory.
Yay for lots of healing sleep. I hope the swelling goes down quickly and that you are not too uncomfortable in the meantime, although I guess that much swelling isn’t pleasant.
Caine says
Kestrel, oh your poor aunt. That’s a very common attitude towards an ostomy though, “I’d rather die.” I’d rather not die. I don’t think an ostomy would be anyone’s first choice, but even when they are permanent, they don’t interfere with your life at all, you can keep doing all the things you like, eat what you like, etc.
Jazzlet, it’s mostly my stomach muscles and back muscles which are screaming right now. But they’ll get stronger and less sore as time passes.
Raucous Indignation says
Hrrmm … I have a little drama playing out in my head about your distal bowel. I don’t know if I should share it. It’s pretty silly for such an innternal topic.
Anyway, just rest and eat what you can, whenever you can, however much you can.
Although I was mostly on chicken soup and bread after the craniectomy.
Ice Swimmer says
Caine, is everything allright?
Caine says
Ice Swimmer, yeah, more or less. I’m still in a lot of pain, the swelling hasn’t gone down at all, blah, blah, blah. I just really don’t feel like getting into any sort of normal routine, and when Rick went to pick up my stuff yesterday, there were just bags -- no wipes, powder, measuring template, none of the other shit I need to keep everything nice and tidy. So, irritated on top of everything else.
Thanks for asking, and letting me whine.
jazzlet says
Sorry the swelling isn’t going down yet, hope it starts to jolly soon. That is very poor of them not to have everything ready and waiting for Rick to pick up, it really isn’t on making a difficult situation worse by such inadequte, careless ‘care’. I hope you start to feel at least a little better.
I don’t think you need to wait for an excuse to whine, it’s your blog, you are going through an intensly painful experience both emotionally and physically, if you want or need to whine, winge, grouch, kvetch, bitch, howl or do anything else you should go right ahead and do it, it is your space.
Ice Swimmer says
Caine @ 24
Also hoping for your swelling go down and the medical supply people actually supplying the stuff they’re supposed to.
I thought there’s a good chance you’re tired and pissed off, still couldn’t bear not to ask as I wasn’t sure what’s the new “normal way of things”.
Caine says
Ice Swimmer:
I just got a post up about the “normal way of things”. Please, don’t ever be afraid of asking; there’s always the chance of being able to help someone else by talking about it all, and it won’t do any good to just withdraw from daily life, that’s something I really cannot afford to do.