This week was great since I am now wireless again! Yea, no more having to wheel around my spinal epidural painkiller. I am still trying to break my mental conditioning of looking for wires whenever I have to get up and feeling tethered to something. I am finally only on oral painkillers and have been feeling much better about moving out and about (stairs still make me tired like an old man).
Monday was the day my epidural was removed so I walked with Connie to the nearby "kaufland" market which was a great workout for me and the short lived rainstorm at the nearby food stand (German speaking Asian guy making Asian foods) was a great bonus. This was also my first non-hospital meal since my surgery (mmm grilled veggies with sauce and white rice). My pain levels were very low and only spiked occasionally (mainly when I stretch/move too much). Jussi also flew back to Finland this morning and has to fly to Vancouver, Canada in 2 weeks for cryoablation removal of more tumors. I might also have to do this in the future, we will see how far a consistent aggressive anticancer diet will take me before the cancer makes the next move
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Here's a pic of my delicious scar after they removed my bandages:
Tuesday (July 31st, 2012) was the first day since surgery where I left the hospital area and forgot about my giant cut.
Here is a pic which sums it up ( Yes, beer is a great painkiller!) Bier von Fass!:
Our ICU nurse friend Markus took us to see Moritzburg Castle which was about a 15 minute drive from the hospital. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moritzburg_Castle
This castle was the real house Baratheon (if you get the Game of Thrones reference). It was completely themed out with stag heads (with different metal designs wrapping around the heads) and it was an epic hunting lodge for Augustus the Strong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_II_the_Strong
Here are a few pics of the day, I can't post many since bandwidth is freaking expensive:
It's comforting hanging out with an ICU nurse, he can resuscitate me if I fall or something.
Connie found a doggy.
Epic street shot from the Castle.
Connie running through the epic garden before the hunting grounds.
iiiiiiii'ts Connie!
The castle is surrounded by a large moat.
The castle is also surrounded by great pubs.
A description for tourists. (Wikipedia is better)
Connie and I sitting, Markus took the pic.
9PM Sunset view from my hospital room.
The doc told me today that he is discharging me this Friday! Which is great since we can enjoy a bit more of Germany and I can finish my recovery outside of the hospital. Painkillers to-go please...aaand after one of the head nurses adjusted my wound with her finger and patched it up, she told me that I can take a real SHOWER!!!!!! Which I am excited to do after this post.
Thanks again to everyone who has posted comments and useful information. I am also honored to have Ivan (ASPS patient #1) and Olga posting on this blog. They have experienced this procedure/hospital experience multiple times and their posts on the cureasps.org forum have given me much hope when I was feeling down about the scary Thoracotomy.
Non-hospital food, yay :) Glad to hear you'll be out of hospital soon.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures of you and Connie! And Hooray for Friday discharge! So happy to hear you'll be outta there soon =)
ReplyDelete~sarah hoist
Kevin, thanks for the kind words...While you are still at the hospital - have you guys noticed their amazing bell clocks at the top of the admin building (I hope they still work)? It take awhile to get used to it but after you got the system, the watch is not needed - they beat every 15 min and there are few special bell tones for minutes and hours - when they are about to start beating hours, they would even give a few alarming smaller beats means "be prepared to start the count"...When you look out of your window further away you can see that there are churches on the hills far away and they all have these bell clocks as well, you can hear them from a distance at 12 or 3 or 6 pm when they all beat at once, it gives a very distinct feeling to that Coswig's traditional pace of life.
ReplyDeleteBack to reality - if you need less pain killers than they give you, just save a few for the stay in Dresden, and do not forget that when checking in in Dresden aiport you can request an assistance at the Frankfurt airport when changing flights, there is a lot of walking involved, just do not tell them that you have a lung surgery, say the surgery, they won't ask. There is actually some rule that patient's can not flight in about 2 weeks after the last airleak detected (a new bubble in the draining tube), as the small airleaks are going on and off for some time after the surgery and they do not want you on board with it.
sweet Kev!!! glad you are doing amazing! btw... the cut on your side does not look like it's stitched... the close up looks gnarly! and while you're there i heard that the trappist beer called Westvleteren is the best in the world. You should see if you can get some! See you soon man!
ReplyDeleteCongrats. Did they let you go on the stationary bike in the physiotherapy room?
ReplyDeleteHow does your current lung volume compare to before the surgery on the breathing device?
So glad to see you are dong well! Looks like you and Connie can now start enjoying yourselves in Germany! =)
ReplyDeleteThose are some epic battle wounds to show off!