Chapter One Has Ended,

Well, I built me a raft and she's ready for floatin'
Ol' Mississippi, she's callin' my name
Catfish are jumpin'
That paddle wheel thumpin'
Black water keeps rollin' on past just the same
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon, won't you keep on shinin' on me...........

Yeah, keep on shinin' your light
Gonna make everything, pretty mama
Gonna make everything all right
And I ain't got no worries
'Cause I ain't in no hurry at all

I'd like to hear some funky Dixieland
Pretty mama come and take me by the hand
By the hand, take me by the hand pretty mama
Come and dance with your daddy all night long
I want to honky tonk, honky tonk, honky tonk
With you all night long
(Black Water  The Doobie Brothers)

Thanks you for all the well wishes and prayers......
I'M GOIN HOME!

So.. What went wrong? (warning.. Post operation image included)

Where do I start?  Short answer seems to be nothing.

For example, the surgery.  The surgery was supposed to be done laporscopicly.  Five Incisions, three for tools and a camera.  Then two to take out my stomach and to connect my new plumbing. Easy, Peasy.

However, once the got my stomach removed they found that the connection of the intestine to my esophagus could not be done laporscopicly.  Too much tissue and stuff in the way to pull it off. So the decision was made to open me up.  One cut center of my stomach, seven inches or so and the rest of the work was completed there. I can remember waking up in recovery and arguing with the doctors that they had not done that and they were wrong. I lost that argument. At the end of the day all it does is increase my healing time, but I really didn't want that scar messing up the six pack I planned to put there. 

So what happened during gutless days three and four? 

As I mentioned in my last post I was moving on to puréed food and to be honest the puréed pancakes were fine.  Dr Kendrick came in to check on me and I mentioned to him that I was sweating all the time even after a shower.  His concern was that sweats after this type of surgery can be a signal of a leak.  So off for a C.T. Scan I went.  Worst experience ever. I won't go into the details here, but there are folks here at Mayo having "conversations" about how bad it went. 

Th results from the scan showed a leak.  So what we did not want to see. All my blood work was fine but the leak was there and everything had to change.  No food, no water could be ingested for at least 48 hours.  Drugs could only go in via the I.V.  Then, another C.T. Scan and the we start the whole thing over.  The flooded me with antibiotics and hope that it would fix it or it would be another round of surgery.  I so did not want to have another C.T. Scan.

The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday were about managing pain and trying to keep me from drinking anything. Even without a stomach you still get thirsty.  The pain medication made me sick to my stomach (which I no longer have).  And yes,when someone is eating something nummy you still want to take it from them. Hunger pains or no hunger pains. 

This morning at our second round of doctor check ins, Dr. Kendrick came in and said that something wasn't right.  If I had a leak, then my blood work should show signs of the infection.  So he looked at the C.T. scans again and feels that the "leak" was just a staple used to hook up my new plumbing.  At least he is going to treat it that way until my blood work tells him something different.  

Bottom line is that I am back to having clear liquids and might be cleared to go home on Wednesday.

Yea Me!

But I had no way of knowing

Just how hard this journey could be 

Cause the valleys are deeper
And the mountains are steeper than I ever would have dreamed

But I know we're gonna make it
And I know we're gonna get there soon 

And I know sometimes it feels like we're going the wrong way 
But its just the long way home
(Long Way Home  Steven Curtis Chapman)

So I'm not dead yet, I don't want to go on the cart

Day 3 and 4 gutless.
Yesterday they moved me from a clear liquid diet to a purée diet.  Meaning I can have mashed potatoes and gravy. I have not tried the soup and broths yet, but after yesterday's adventures with food  they seem like a natural switch. I am trying the puréed pancakes for breakfast this morning so I will let you know how that goes.
I woke up yesterday feeling bloated and the pain was intense  they had me on  dilaudid pump for pain that I could push every ten minutes.  I just could never tell the difference and sine I cannot leave the hospital while still using it, I had them take it out. My sister Melanie and her husband Jim came back down to see me, but I hurt so bad I couldn't stay awake.  Sorry guys.
Next thing I knew it was a few hours later and I awoke to find my cousin Kathy sitting next to me.  Wasn't expecting that and it sent me into a coughing fit.  The good news is that it released the gas that was trapped inside.  Hurt like hell but afterwards I felt a lot better.
We topped off yesterday by getting moved into a private room .

Today has started off ok. Dr Kendrick came in and said that if I have a good day today with no pain the there is a possibility that I can go home tomorrow.  So much for that.
They sent me down for C.T.'s and that is where things went backwards real fast.
Now it's three steps backwards. Nothing to eat or drink for a few days  They are trying to get a hold of Dr Kendrick but it looks like I have sprung a leak. Not what I wanteted to hear.  No food or drink until they find out if it will heal itself
Today was by far the worst day here..
Some days suck.

Day 2 Gutless

Well I am up and moving some more. Still on a clear liquid diet though. May try some purée tomorrow though.  Not sure what they will purée, but I will be sure to share it with you all through the fabulous world of the Internet.
Slept a lot yesterday and had some guests.  Maddie drove down to see me as did Mel, Cody and Jim.
I find Myself getting tired really fast.


Had a pretty tough night last night as first I got a roommate who didn't know the meaning of its fricken 2:30 in the morning and I don't care what the republicans are doing.
Second I got dehydrated and had to have a catheter put in around 3am. So forgot how much fun they were to install.

This morning they took off the bandage covering my new scar 6-8" of fun.  I will need help coming up with a new story for that one.

There is nothing that is wrong

In wanting you to stay here with me.
I know you've got somewhere to go. 
(Lay down Sally. Eric Clapton)

Officially gutless

I am back, kind of anyway.  I just wanted to say hi and thanks for the support.

I am still on a liquid diet due to the fact that they ended up having to open me up to do the surgery.  The original plan was make 5 small two inch incisions and remove my stomach through one of them.

I wifi be in the hospital another day longer, but all in all am glad for the procedure to be over and for strong drugs

Until later..

Roger...Table for 1.. Your reservation is waiting

Good evening.
It is 8:20 pm Rochester time and I have received my time for surgery tomorrow.  My surgery is set for 9:30 am tomorrow at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester.


I will be the second operation that Dr. Kendrick does so hopefully he gets the kinks and bugs out of his system during the first one.  Those were his words not mine! Needless to say he has a great sense of humor and took sarcasm extremely well when we met this afternoon.
I can tell you that I do not have to start my fasting until after midnight, so I am having a beer.  They said that it was OK..  At least a couple of them, but not too many.  Please define for me the words "not to many"..


I may not be posting anything for a day or so, so thank you all for your support.

Edie will post on Facebook when I am out of surgery and OK.

Other than that...  I will talk to you all on the flip side.

Time is wasting, Time is walking
You ain't no friend of mine
I don't know where i'm goin'
I think I'm out of my mind 

(Time  Hootie and the Blowfish)

And then there were none...

No more events.
Today is a day of rest and off to the Mayo Clinic tomorrow.  The month of Roger has came and left with the Hanover Harvest Festival and the fireworks of last night.  An amazing day filled with friends, food, fireworks and a roaring bonfire.  Thank you to all who were here and those who were here in spirit. It was an amazing day!

This isn't going to be a long post.  As you can probably imagine, the stress of the situation has taken control. Our plan for today is to just sit back and relax today. Tonight, the pizza light gets turned on for the last time, for at least until I can learn to eat pizza again.  I hope that we can start to turn it back on sooner than later.

I still do not know what time on Tuesday the surgery is. We will find that out tomorrow and I will post it here.

Have a great Sunday everyone.

"in a lunch pail town in a one horse way
you can live like King and Queen.
Let's steal away in the noon day sun
It's time for a summertime dream"
(Summertime Dream  Gordon Lightfoot)