The tube is OUT!!

Again warning for the squeamish, blada, blada, blada.... Here are the pics of the doc pulling the tube out. He told me it was going to smart a little. I was pretty nervous, wishing I would've taken that Valium to calm me down. Too late now. So here is the picture of him pulling it out...

So you see the look on my face, I hadn't even realized it was out yet. Getting a catheter removed hurt more than that. Olivia went with me to take pictures, for moral support and for the gross factor. She was disappointed that wasn't any goo hanging off the end or squirting out like a fountain or something. You'll also notice it's a better looking belly button than my real one. With my real belly button, you can see all the loose stretchy skin from the twins.

The picture above was taken at the Doctor's office, a huge hole still. So that was a Friday and Alex and I had a date night planned for a while. I hadn't been out since Alex Birthday Celebration which was like the end of May and before that was Olivia's Birthday Celebration in the beginning of April before the cancer was diagnosed. So I was real excited about this date night with Alex. He said I need to stay on a liquid diet for the next few hours, but by dinner time I can go ahead and eat and enjoy our date. By the size of the hole I couldn't imagine how this would be possible.

So by the evening it had closed down to about the size of a pin hole. We went to Firebird Grill and I had a Pina Colada, frozen drink felt good on my throat. For dinner I had surf and turf, a really nice cut of filet wrapped in bacon and shrimp grilled on a skewer with a loaded baked potato. Of course I couldn't finish it all, but took it to go. I wasn't going to let one bite go to waste. (You know, it feels very wrong talking about this great meal with the hole glaring at me as I write) It was just a perfect date.

So let's see that was almost 2 weeks ago and I took a current picture and now there is no hole what-so-ever.  The doctor said I would have a 2nd belly button forever, so this is about as good as it gets.

The Tube is coming out Tomorrow!!!!

WARNING: For the squeamish, you may want to avoid today's blog. But you and I both know that curiosity will get the better of you, so save the time debating it and just read it.

So today are before pictures in all of it's nastiness. Once it's taken out I will post some after pictures, but you'll have to wait until Saturday for that.

If you'll notice the pictures that are close to the skin, they have an ooze around it. I was convinced that meant it was infected. It took all the doctors on my team to convince me that it is normal and not infected. You'll also notice in the first two pictures how red and irritated the skin is. The third picture, you can see all the crud or gunk inside the tube. It absolutely disgusts me. I asked the doctor how to clean it out. They said something carbonated, like ginger ale or a coke, or maybe baking soda mixed with water. Tried it all, nothing worked, unless you count vomiting as working. That last picture is after I drank a milkshake, again more ooze. Everything I eat would come up the tube and I could see partially digested food in the morning.

Some times it would be really bad. I take Ambien at night to sleep, so I would take it at night long with Thorazine. Thorazine is a very strong  (and sometimes it backs into the tube and the next morning when I flush the tube, it will knock me as if I just took the medicine!)

The twins are into everything, I'll post more later...

WOULD YOU PLEASE BLOG ALREADY!!!

For those of you who Facebook, someone posted that on my wall.  There have been a lot of reasons (or as some might read, excuses) why I haven't blogged lately. One of which is I rarely get my hands on the netbook when there is quiet in the house so I can think. Right now I am actually on Alex's work computer. I probably should not be writing right now anyway, I'm just so freaking irritable. It's like someone who just slammed a 12 pack of beer, handing them the keys and telling them to drive across town.
I have been pretty irritable a lot lately, to the point I don't want to be around myself. Luckily I have an appt. with my Oncologist tomorrow. He normally draws blood to check on blood counts related to the chemotherapy. I am going to ask him to check my thyroid levels while I'm there. The cool thing about his office that is unlike any other doctor I've ever been to, is their lab is attached (yes seen that before) BUT you get the results of the blood work back in 15-20 minutes! How cool is that? So if my thyroid function comes back normal, I'm going to have him prescribe something for anger.
I saw the Radiologist last Thursday and he said I have thrush way back near the tumor (or what is left of it). He prescribed something for it and I think it almost knocked it out. My opinion is the thrush has been masking my taste buds. I can't believe how much has changed taste-wise in 1 week. It's fantastic. I'm going to see if the Oncologist can prescribe one more round to completely knock it out.
Another major change is I'm not spitting up the dead tumor anymore. It was so disgusting and nasty. Most of them were small little bits or slivers the size of a sunflower seed. One night, I woke up choking. I was coughing up part of the tumor and it was the size of my largest molar. Bleh! I am so glad that is over. I can swallow food and water now without fear of choking.
Ok, so I have completely lost my train of thought, finally called it quits and put the kids to bed.