Recovery and Fundraising

Since my last entry, I had my surgery which went very well. There were no complications and the surgeon was able to remove all the aforementioned organs without “going open”. He did have to make the main incision a little larger which extends about three inches straight up from my belly button and curves around the belly button. There are three visible scars one up and to my left from the main incision and the other two flanking the main incision, which were used to insert the instruments during the laparoscopic surgery. The only two surprises were the need to remove 18 inches of small intestine vs. the 8 that were originally planned, and the degree of disease in my gall bladder. The larger amount of small intestine removed was solely to eradicate the entire affected portion, which appeared to be larger than originally thought. The gall bladder was swollen and slightly adhered to my liver due to inflammation, but the pathology tests were negative so there was nothing else fishy going on.

My recovery was long; in all I was out of work for five weeks. I at first thought I would return after four weeks but an unexpected sharp pain popped up at the end of the fourth week which prompted me to take it easy and stay away from the office. I was assured by the surgeon at my post-op appointment that the sharp pain was likely some slight tearing of the mesentery tissue, and not a hernia or something more serious. The pain medication that was given, Percocet, was very effective at not only relieving pain but also making me quite loopy. I definitely understand why people become addicted to that stuff!

Now I have recovered almost completely, although I am still not doing any sit-ups or other abdominal exercises because of some occasional lingering pain. I have decided to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society by participating in a fundraiser called “Climb to Conquer Cancer”. It is a fairly simple hike around Castlewood Canyon but the main purpose it to accumulate sponsors to raise funds. I hope I am successful in reaching my goal of $1000, and I hope to participate in this and other fundraisers in the future. My fundraising page is:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=17953