Sapphires are Girls Best Friend!

12/16/10 – Lions and tigers, and bears, oh my!  Nope, that is just my hungry stomach you hear gurgling, no wild animals here.  It is so loud!

Today wasn’t as good as yesterday, but it was still a good day.  I woke up and felt stiffer than I had the day before. I think all the walking caught up to me.  I was trying to do too much at once.  I had to take things a little slower.  I focused on enjoying my day and managing my pain. 

My manager came by and brought me the best gift ever – a Smoothie King gift card!  I’ve read that you have to envision success and then it will become more attainable.  I now have the gift card, so the smoothie shouldn’t be too far behind.

I had several friends come and visit me and bring tons of Christmas cheer and fun.  I really do enjoy having visitors and being able to talk and see people.  I think that’s why I do this blog – I need an outlet, something fun just for me.  Yes, the socks and gifts and stuff are all fun but the people are the real entertainment.  I love just hanging out.

I was thinking about all the stuff that I’ve done and all the random things I’ve gotten.  The funniest thing I have is probably “colon kitty”!  It makes me happy and just cracks me up.  Theresa came to visit me the other day and she brought a beanie baby kitty cat whose name is “colon kitty”.  She said that her mom had given her “colon kitty” when she was 18 and had had to have a colonoscopy.  I love telling people that come to visit me that I have a “colon kitty”, the reaction is priceless!  It always makes me feel better, which is the whole point.

Since I always have to pick on one parent a day, my parent of choice today is my dad.  I have to walk the halls to make sure I’m stretched out and improve my lung function.  Well, since my stomach was hurting more today I have been keeping a pillow on the area to relieve the pressure.  I get my dad to go on a walk with me and push the machine that my IV is hooked up to since I have to hold the pillow.  I tell him that I want it a little in front of me so I don’t feel like I’m pulling it or its pulling me.  We head down the hall and I say “speed up a little dad”. “Speed up a little more.” “A little faster.”  I finally get him going about the speed I want when all of a sudden a guy down the hall who is walking starts throwing up in the hall.  Dad freezes!  Freezes!  (I am a sympathetic throwerupper - ** new word alert “throwerupper”** – so we need to get out of there fast.  I have also been nauseous, not to mention the fact it would hurt like heck to puke in my current condition.)  I say “come on dad! Come on! Hurry!”  “Speed up!”  Finally he starts to move.  I am booking it as fast as my IV line will allow.  I make it back to the room, sit down on the bed, and try to collect myself.  I tell him if that ever happens again he is supposed to run and I will keep up, but NEVER, I repeat NEVER freeze.  He goes into some mumbo jumbo about that being his first reaction since he was a principal for so long.  He’s supposed to take care of the students.  In this situation, I’m the student.  I’m the one who’s supposed to be taken care of.  Someone else can check on that guy.  The moral of the story, when you are in the hospital and someone throws up do not be attached to an IV line that my dad is holding.  He has good intentions, but it can turn out to be a messy situation.

So, being serious for a second… the surgeon came by to check on me today and after I refused to look at my incision once again, he asked if I had heard the pathology results.  I said no, I hadn’t.  He said that the cancer had spread to some of the lymph nodes.  That was really all he could tell me.  I will be talking with the oncologist tomorrow.  I’m in denial about the whole “could be more cancer” thing.  Well, it could be denial or the peace that surpasses understanding.  Either way, I’m not scared.  I’m doing well for my situation.

I have breaking fashion news to report – the colon cancer ribbon can also be navy blue! Navy, not brown!  I am so loving navy right now.  Sapphires are wonderful! Right?!

Today I got moved to a soft food diet.  The first thing I asked my doctor was if that meant I could have a smoothie.  He said, “yeah, I guess so” and then laughed.  I think my questions make him laugh.  I am proud to report that at 3:26 this afternoon I had a Peach Slice Plus smoothie from Smoothie King.  (I credit Shannon with this accomplishment because she brought me the gift card.)  I also had rice and mash potatoes – kind of bland but for a girl who hasn’t eaten in over a week, it was delish.

My goal for tomorrow is to go home.  I’m not sure if I will be able to swing it and it will probably be later in the day if it does happen.  I’ll keep you posted.

My song of the day is “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus”.  I like the part where it says “Boogieing all my blues away…” Best part!  Since I achieved my food goal today, I think I am back to a good ol’ cheese burger.  I miss Foresters.  I want a good burger and cheese fries – Ooo, Ooo, how about corn nuggets!!! Yes!  I need some of those fo sho!

This is my first night away from Todd and I’m not happy.  I don’t see what the big deal is, I haven’t gotten a good night sleep in awhile, why should he?  Just joking.  I understand why he’s not here, but I seriously doubt I’m going to be holding my mom’s hand all night long – somehow it’s just not the same. Good night, sweet dreams y’all!