I had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon today. Being that I've gone more than a week without need of the catheter or anti-spasmodic medicine, and that my stoma has shrunk in diameter, he said I'm on the road of recovery and just need to concentrate on getting my weight back to where it was.

Yes, yesterday when I went to change my wafer I re-measured the diameter of my stoma and it has gone down to 1¼" which it was around 1½" the last time I measured it. In fact, I could have gone a little smaller but didn't want to choke the base of the stoma (which you can do) so I opted for the slightly larger opening. What this means is soon I can drop down in wafer size!

He looked at the big lump on my arm. The one that keeps throbbing and swelling that was caused by an IV site all the way back from July 4th. When he saw it he said, "Are you sure that isn't a spider bite?" and I said no, that's where an IV was. He was astounded it wasn't a spider bite, but he said, "That's going to have to be lanced." Which I wasn't surprised because it felt like it needed to be drained.

Let's just say that they inject numbing medicine in the skin sort of like they tell you that your seat is a floatation device in case of an emergency when you fly on a plane. He said that the lump had a nice puss pocket inside of it actually doing a bit subcutaneously and that the wound will remain open so it can drain and my mission is to squeeze it while in the shower to make sure all hidden puss pockets expel their goodness. Just what I needed: another scar on my body.

Why is it I get to have open flesh wounds? Why can't I have something that gets stitched? I hate looking into my own meat and have to watch it slowly and painfully heal! My second ileostomy wound was an open flesh wound and I had to deal with that. I had a rectal abcess that was also large and meaty. These are not fun things to deal with.

At least my arm feels better because the pressure has been released, but there is smarting now and an increased tenderness that is different. By tomorrow I imagine it should not hurt as much and by Saturday I'm thinking all twinges should be minimal.

Spider bite indeed!

Dr. S said I could come back in a month if necessary, but if my health is good I can skip the appointment. He was a bit concerned about my stoma sticking out so much, saying I shouldn't have prolapsing because I scarred so much, but he said to keep an eye on it. If my stoma sticks out more (he indicated the stoma can push out 6 inches!) then he might need to go and trim it back. Right now it just flops over and I can push it up and it puckers up. It's not a problem at this time, but I will be keeping watch on it. The stoma looks like a clam neck poking out. Not a happy visual because I'm not fond of clams in their natural state!

Otherwise I sleep soundly through the night! My gosh how pleasant it is to sleep solidly! This is what I wanted from the surgery: full night's sleep and no more rectal pain. I have accomplished that and more! I no longer need the antibiotics! Soon I'll be off the medications—well maybe stay on the antidepressant for a bit because that is making me feel "happy".

I figure by the end of the year I'll be where I want to be as far as stomal size, stomal output, and general stoma functioning. I will do the stoma dance of joy!

Post-Script

I was craving a pizza so much that I decided to take the risk and drive! I haven't driven since the surgery and it was WEIRD! I figured my blood level of fentanyl had to be pretty low since I hadn't put the new patch on, and I drove carefully. I did this while Pooky slept so he wouldn't give me the evil eye and say I shouldn't go. I suppose now I can drive a bit in town—definitely not up to freeway drives or long hauls, but I should be able to go do things like get my hair cut and trips to Wally World.