|
Dear Family, Friends, Coworkers, and Clergy -
It has been awhile since I sent a mass update on the state of my medical affairs, but I feel now is just as good a time as any to send one out.
First a little update for those who have not been keeping track: it has been exactly 10 weeks and 1 day since I had surgery to remove my colon. Since this is not a leap year, and therefore are only 7 days in a week, that means it has been 71 days.
After taking 2 months off of work, I am now in my third week back. The first week was extremely rough energy-wise just getting through the day. Once 1 o'clock would roll around I would feel as if I was one of those Chicago Marathon runners that I watched fall down one after another a couple of days after my original surgery. But, it turns out work has been good for me. After sitting around doing nothing for months, I am finally regaining a lot of strength and energy. Forcing myself to get through a work day has been a large part of regaining that much, much needed strength.
I went back yesterday to see my surgeon, Dr. Brand at Rush University Medical Center. Before seeing Dr. Brand, I had to have a series of x-rays done. They inserted dye and blew air into my surgically created J-pouch to see if it was healed enough for me to have the second surgery. This test was extremely fun as it had been awhile since I had had anything shoved up my butt. They made me wiggle around and hold different positions as they snapped shots with the x-ray. It made me feel like I was doing a porno shoot for the fetish magazine Butt Tubes. They provided me with an initial scare as they could not figure out what this streak was inside my body. It's never a good thing when you have a doctor call in another doctor and say to them, "What do you think that is?" But once consulting with the other doctor, they remembered that during a previous x-ray, barium had been spilt on the table, producing the alien white streak in my body.
After the x-rays, I went up to Dr. Brand's office to see him. I was nervous for this part because I didn't want to hear Dr. Brand say the words that I wasn't healed. Once in his office, he called for the results, and they said that everything looked great, and I was all healed! Everything is a go for my next (and final!) surgery. This made me extremely happy. It was exactly the words that I wanted to hear. He then explained what would happen during the next surgery and told me some success stories of previous patients. One put on 60 pounds of muscle in a few short months after his second surgery. At this point, I'd take sixty pounds of pure fat. I still am waiting to reach the glorious, and much coveted 150 pound mark. But Dr. Brand's words were nothing but encouraging. After we were done with our Q & A he told my mom and I to grab a seat in the lobby and his assistant would then schedule a time for the next surgery. It was while we were waiting in the lobby that I realized that of all the questions that were asked I had forgotten to ask the most important one. I was extremely angry at myself for not posing this question to Dr. Brand, but then I saw him walk down the hallway and I knew this was going to be my last chance to ask. So, I hopped out of my seat, walked as fast as I could without running down the hallway, and when I got to him I said, "Um, Dr. Brand, I, uh, forgot to ask you earlier, but uh, would it be ok maybe if I, uh, say over the holidays, had you know, a, maybe a couple of beers? Would that hurt anything we're trying to do here?" Then it was as if he had had his answer already gift wrapped, with a bow and a name tag that said 'Tom Meersman' on it! He responded by saying, "I don't think that should be a problem." At this point I felt like I was the luckiest man on the planet. It made me so happy. I felt like I was Drew Peterson at speed dating. He told me the only problem I might have is that it might increase my output some. He then said, "Just be careful not to have too much, you don't want to have more output coming out of both ends!" Then the two of us just sat there and laughed and laughed and laughed. I was expecting him to call me later that night and say, "Hey Tom, remember that joke I made about drinking too much beer..." unfortunately no such call was placed.
After returning to the lobby, Lonnie, his assistant took us in the back and set up a date for surgery. January 16, 2008 will be magical surgery #2. This surgery will connect me all back together and I will be a real boy again. So come January 16, you will no longer see me poop in a bag! Although really none of you have seen me poop in a bag up until this point. Although if that is something that interests you, I have set up a website www.tomshits.com where for $19.95 you can have a three day trial of watching me poop in a bag.
That is the great, borderline stupendous! news. Everything from surgery seemed to go exactly as planned with the exception of my hand. As many of you know I have had tingling in my fingers on my left hand since surgery. I had an EMG done on that arm and it is determined that I have Ulnar Nerve Entrapment. This is likely from the positioning of my arm during surgery. I went and saw a Neurosurgeon about what to do with it and he said for right now we'll just wait and see if it corrects itself. I am scheduled to see him again in three months. If it's healed itself then that's great, we'll have to do nothing more about it, but if not, he said we'd have to have exploratory surgery to see if he could correct the problem that way. If that didn't work either, then he said there's a possibility that I may just have to deal with it forever.
Other than the whole hand thing, everything is going great. My strength is coming back, I am becoming much more active, I still need to gain weight, but in general I am feeling much better on a daily basis than before. That proves that the surgery was worth it. It is nice to not wake up everyday feeling lousy, having a fever, and spending 2/3 of the day in the bathroom. So there is light at the end of the tunnel and things are looking up for little Tommy.
Thanks again to everyone who has kept me in their thoughts and prayers. All the kind words, and continued inquiries into my status are appreciated. Every little bit has helped me along the way and for that I truly am eternally grateful.
After this second surgery I will become the 8th continent. Haha get it? God I'm so funny. That's a bit. The writers may be on strike, but I'm here all week!
Thanks again,
Tom Meersman |