So after almost a couple of weeks of being in hospital I was back home (it really is a great feeling being back home, as amazing and friendly and helpful as the hospital staff were making my stay as comfortable as possible, being home is great). In this section I will break things down into sub-sections rather than give you a day to day breakdown of my life since I have been home (I have started writing this out on 21st October, I’ve been home a while).
Walking/General Movement – this is where I have noticed the biggest improvement in myself, the first day I was home my wife walked behind me upstairs as I looked frail and then checked I could get into the shower (and helped me out of the shower) as well as making me keep the bathroom door open to check I didn’t fall. I then started walking in the garden to stretch my legs daily, again at first my wife came outside with me to check on me and make sure I was ok walking around outside. In the evenings as my wife cooked dinner, I would then do the exercises I was given in hospital whilst leaning on the back of a chair from the dining table.
After a week of being at home, I was now having showers with the door shut and we went for the first walk round the block where we live, then slowly increased this to two laps and then walked a bit further down the road as the week went on. I also noticed my movement getting up the stairs was getting a bit quicker and normal.
As the weeks have gone on, it’s noticeable that I am better at moving around the house, I have also started doing a bit of washing up and drying up for dishes and using the kettle to make drinks, for a few months I will have to be careful how much weight I try and lift up, plus I don’t want to overdo things in terms of how much I do, but it definitely makes me feel better within myself to be able to do things. Walking wise I have this week gone for a couple of walks that are just over a mile in length, which also have made me feel really good, so at some point it would be nice to hit the 1.5 mile mark.
Eating and Weight – at first when I got home for dinner I was largely eating just half a ready meal and then managing to snack really throughout the rest of the day. Currently I am still snacking a little bit, but am eating whole ready meals to myself and at lunch am now eating sandwiches with crisps. I may also be having a very much enjoyed small glass of wine with my dinner, as it adds calories to my intake, but also makes me more likely to snack in the evening. Hopefully soon I will progress to eating full meals again.
In terms of weight, I was advised when I was discharged that I could lose weight at home as I may not be able to take onboard the calories I needed due to eating less. Thankfully I have managed to maintain my weight at home, I weighed myself on the day I got home at 10st 4lbs and I have stayed at this weight. I do realise at some point I will need to just try and increase this slightly, but I am happy it’s not going down.
Medication – I have thrown this section in to say what I had to do with all the medication I was sent home with. I thankfully did not need to use the anti-sickness tablets, but did use all of the liquid painkiller (slowly reducing my dose as time went on), had the tablets to protect my stomach and somehow managed to get through the 30 days of injections, some days I was ok injecting my leg and others it was a right old faff and I had to sit and psych myself up to have a second attempt.
At time of writing, I am still having paracetamol when I go to bed, as I am having difficulty sleeping, where I can’t get comfortable as it feels like my bowels are moving round and they are preparing for the morning and going to the toilet (it is unusual trust me). Apparently this is natural, as I have lost fat around the bowel and lots of bowel, my body is getting used to less things around and they are trying to find the most comfortable places to rest.
Due to the chemotherapy treatment I have been under this year I was eligible to get the covid booster jab and flu vaccine, so I made sure I got both of these as soon as I hit the 6 month window on the covid vaccine (had to wait 6 months since my second dose). So I had both done on October 18th, booster in the left arm (numb for a couple of days) and flu in the right (not as numb as the booster thankfully).
Bowel Movements – are still erratic, but dare I say less so than initially after the operation. Some days I can go to the toilet 2 or 3 times, but it be normal, other days can be 2 or 3 times and it not be good at all, but then I have had days where I’ve just been once and it’s been normal. I have been warned that this could go on for several months, so for anyone reading and going through this, I’m sorry to say it is normal, the thing I have been told that if you are still eating ok and able to go to the toilet then it is good.
Operation Site – my operation site has mainly healed very well, however I do have a slight issue at the top of the site, which has started weeping. I have been to see the nurses at my local GP surgery, where they are happy the site is not infected, but the issue appears to be it isn’t realising it just needs to form a new layer of skin. On my first visit the nurse tried iodine on the wound with some padded plasters for me to go home with, however the following week it was still weeping, so I went with trying the softly softly approach (how the nurse described it) of having some rolled up medical material (I think it is called gauze) which I need to change every 4 days (again under a padded plaster). If this doesn’t work I will have to go with another method. But I am glad I phoned and got an appointment with the nurse as it put my mind at ease that there wasn’t an infection.
Returning To Work – on Monday (25th October) I will be returning to work, as I have a lot of holiday left I am using this to ease myself back in gently, I will be working half days (mornings) on this week and there after I plan to book full day holidays, so I work full days as well, but shorter weeks throughout November. I am looking forward to going back to work (yes you can say I’m a fruitcake if you like) but having the normality in my life again will be great. However I will be working from home for a while, what with it being normal cold and flu season, plus covid is still very much lurking; I am not fancying a trip to the office just yet.
