The Thankful Semicolon Update

My 1st attempt at adult coloring
to help me focus and distract from
the pain

This will probably go down in my 65-year history as my most gratitude-filled Thanksgivings ever.  I'm just happy to be here! One month ago today I underwent emergency surgery for a twisted/blocked bowel.  (See the October 31 Not All Adventures are Fun post for details). Following eight days in the hospital, nine at home, a second trip to the ER, four more nights in the hospital, and a trip to the ER two nights ago, I can say I have turned the corner!

My energy, appetite, and mental cognition are finally back, but my normal weight and body fat need to go up, way up. The incision site looks good.  I still have constant abdominal pain and the swelling, but they are a fraction of what they were a month ago, and less than one week ago.  It is so good to be off the two different antibiotics, each with their food restrictions and different schedules all of hours of the day and night.  And the post-opiod  mental fog and withdrawal symptoms are finally gone.

Quite a difference from a month ago!

My midnight visit to the ER two nights ago was for left arm tingling and numbness, a suspected serious side effect from one of the antibiotics.  Fortunately that wasn't the case and my EKG was just fine. (Turned out to be a pinched nerve).

I'm back at work part-time, and the surgeon gave me the green light to drive, ride a stationary bike easy and swim gentle laps in the pool. She thinks I can resume my normal workouts in about a month.  She also showed me the CT scan from just before the surgery.  We caught it just an hour or two before my lower bowel burst and really bad things could have happened. Apparently I have had symptoms of this in the past few months, but I just passed them off as gas pains and they went away.

Our upcoming Thanksgiving feast

Needless to say, I have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving:  our abundance, family, friends, freedom, and above all,  health.  I'm even more grateful for every single day, my blessings, and the people in my life.  I know it’s a cliché, but it only takes something like this to drive the point home.  Finally, even though it seems like the world is falling apart, it’s great to be alive in the 21st Century with its modern medicine.  My stocking cap goes off to the caring medical team at Salem Hospital.

Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and inquiries, and an extra special thanks  go to my wife, Kathy, and to my amazing coworkers at The H Group, Inc.  

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!  Kathy and I are celebrating with friends Bob and Lisa Martinsson, fellow adult Thanksgiving orphans in Lake Oswego.  They're experimenting with a mail order dinner that arrived yesterday.

Yours,
; Ron