Wow, what a day!

It's quiet here now. Reese and Eli spent the day visiting family, and Eric is off gathering them up to bring them back home. So I'll try to bang this out before they get back!

After we dropped the children off at about 9:30ish this morning, Eric and I made our way to the hospital. Parking was a bitch, what the heck, hospital? We were a little early though, so no big deal. I checked in, filled out some papers, and we went up to take care of the tests. Blood draw, no big deal, and what do you know? A relative happened to be one of the many lovely nurses I met today! That was nice. So I drank some more stuff for the CT Scan, but it tasted WAY better than the colonoscopy cocktail. And I was thirsty (nothing by mouth after midnight, yo). The chest x-ray was fast, and turned out great. This is a good thing, as one of my biggest (secret) fears was discovering that I'm riddled with cancer, which at this point does not seem to be the case. So yay!

After some waiting (CT cocktail takes an hour to settle), I went in the tube, listened to the strange manly voice telling me when to breathe and when to hold my breath, and it was done fast.

Then the scariest part for me, the sedation and the surgical stuff. We had to go to another part of the hospital for all that business. The nurses and staff were soooooo nice. Everyone was all, "Your doctor is great! He'll take good care of you! Do you need another warm blanket?" Yes, they hand out warm blankets like candy and rightfully so. It was freaking cold in that place.

Now I've never had a panic attack. I don't have anxiety issues generally. But that little ride on the rolling bed to the surgical unit is panic inducing. I didn't panic, but I totally see how people would. You're laying there, you look like a sick person, and if you've never done this before...SCARY. The surgical room was cold, but it didn't matter because before I knew it I was fast asleep. The very funny anesthesiologist (sp? I should look that up) asked me to tell him when I started feeling sleepy, but I don't think I made it. I remember nothing before waking up in the recovery room with a creepy port under my skin.

That's right, I said it. UNDER MY SKIN. I thought it was on top of my skin covered with some bandage. It's totally something out of Alien. I'll have Eric, my professional photographer, take some pictures. Maybe I'll keep wearing tank tops for a few more days so we can all play Find the Port. We also got some nice shots of my colon (and the cancer). I think Eric plans to do some scanning and posting of those.

So at this point, we don't know a whole heck of a lot more than we did before. My colon looks good (yay colon!). The chest x-ray looked good.

I was more than ready to book it out of the surgical center, and I was starving. Eric stopped at Taco Bell and let me tell you, a bean burrito (no cheese) never tasted so good. And then when I arrived at home, there was a package on my front stoop. Know what was in that package?? A freakton of vegan treats from Cousin Jenny!! She lives near Whole Foods in Milwaukee and hooked me up. Perfect timing too, since I am ready for food. It was such a great surprise!

Eric left me at home to rest, and so he could be with the kids. My afternoon was spent crashed on the couch watching Degrassi Goes Hollywood (hey, you shut it. Degrassi is good TV) and drinking water because I'm soooooo thirsty. I cooked some squash, and before anyone gets all excited, cooking squash is very easy, it took me about a minute of prep time. The oven does all the work.

My only complaint? My neck feels tight because of the Alien Port. I guess if you shove something under your skin that's going to happen. Don't worry, the doc hooked me up with Dr. House's favorite, vicodin. I'm not sure I'll take any, I feel pretty okay right now.

Anyway, the thoughts and prayers and messages really made my day. It's easier to be brave when I know people are thinking about me.