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Fighting Cancer Isn't Sexy - Part 5: HICCUP HICCUP HICCUP

This was it. The day had finally come......again. I was ready for my liver surgery. My sisters and my Mom accompanied me to the hospital & before I knew it, I was in the pre-op area again. This time I had no tooth pain, no problems. I met my surgeon. I told him that I trusted him and liked him. I told him I needed him to keep me alive for my Mom. They jabbed by arms with ivs, asked me a billion questions and I was off to the operating room. I think the meds kicked in on the way there. I don't remember anything until waking up with some pain across my chest and stomach area. I was alive. I survived again.

I learned that the surgeon was pleased with the surgery. They were able to remove a large portion of my liver and the portion that was left was cancer free. Hopefully the good part of the liver will continue to grow. I had my cell phone with me and I wanted to check in with my friends and let them know that I was alive. As before, the pain meds were giving me blurry vision. My sister was kind enough to text my friends and send out a tweet for me letting people know I was ok.

The pain was indeed an issue. But considering everything, it wasn't as bad as I feared. They gave me pain meds and it helped quite a bit. The pain meds did affect my vision and made me feel a bit loopy. It's amazing that I didn't start tweeting that I wanted to fly!

The biggest problem with this surgery was my hiccups. Yes. Hiccups. I woke up from surgery with a bad case of the hiccups. They gave me some evil medicine to stop the hiccups, which just ended up giving me psycho dreams. More on that later... So the drug wasn't working. I kept hiccuping 24 hours a day. Let me tell you, under normal circumstances, that would suck. In a hospital after major surgery? Oh dear Lord. Each hiccup made my liver area hurt. I sounded like a seal. I somehow slept some during the night. But I hiccuped all the way through. My sister looked up remedies on the net. I tried the sugar cure. I tried breathing into a paper bag. I tried the peanut butter one. Which actually worked for a bit! I tried several more, but still...hiccup....hiccup....hiccup.....

They tried another drug, it didn't work and worse, it gave me psycho dreams as well as the first drug. The worst part was when I closed my eyes, I felt the sensation that my hospital bed was being pushed very quickly. I could feel wind in my hair. I had faceless people looking over into my bed. I would open my eyes and get grounded, but when I closed them, the crazy stuff started immediately. Kids. Don't do drugs.

So I stopped taking all the hiccup drugs. I basically was being held in the hospital because of the hiccups. Everything else was "fine". I was in pain, I was weak, I was exhausted, but I was relatively ok. Finally on Day 8, the hiccups were gone. I shaved, put on my robe and put on my best face for the doctors. Oh man, I wanted to go home!!!!!! I did. The docs were happy with my progress, and the fucking hiccups were gone. YAY!!!!! Fuck you cancer!! Fuck you hiccups!!!!!

I had great docs in the hospital, but I'd like to especially thank the nurses. I had my favorites for sure. They were all wonderful. Some were extra special. They took time to reassure me, gave me good advice and gave me support. Nurses kick ass.

I have to give a special thanks to my Mother and sisters. They supported me as usual as I was in the hospital and my Mom lost a lot of sleep as she looked over me. I'm 44 and I love my Mom more than anything. I am so proud to be her son.

I got home and was exhausted. The previous two nights had been tough. I hadn't slept at all. I was loopy. I was determined to take a shower. The shower seemed like it wasn't the right size, everything looked like a Dr. Seuss book to me. I was able to shower, eat and lie down. Sleep came over the next few nights. It's far from perfect. I'm still very sore and it's hard to get comfortable in bed. I'm constantly exhausted. I'm trying hard to get my strength back. But I am SOOOOOO HAPPY to be home!!! I'm weak as anything, I force myself to shave and shower every day to make myself feel good. There's no candy coating it, I'm in rough shape. But I am so happy to be alive and healing!!

Thanks to Martha, Melody, JOE O'LEARY and all my friends who kept tabs on me in the hospital and kept me smiling! A very special thank you to Bianca Kajlich. I talked with her on the night of my operation and it really lifted my spirits! And she even agreed to appear at a charity event for me. I know, hours after the operation and I was already promoting charity stuff. I have no shame!!

My oncologist visited me in the hospital. I have an appointment with him in a couple of weeks. We will discuss my next round of chemo visits, which will hopefully be my last ones. The summer is a time of fun, not exactly the time you want to go through chemo, but I'll do anything to be done! I am so anxious to have a period of rest, of happiness and of being 100% healthy. I see it. I feel it. I can't wait.

Links:
Fighting Cancer Isn't Sexy
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

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