Hard to believe that it is exactly 1 year, 366 days ago, when, on that wintery afternoon, of 24th June 2015, Doctor Sandroussi (aka God) that’s him to the right 🙂
and his team relieved me of the stomach which had done some stirling service over the preceding 80 years and a couple of months.
The last little bit of info I received from him, was that he thought there was a possibility that the cancer had spread to my liver, so instead of going inside me from north to south, he was going to go from east to west, and if it had spread he’d just sow me back up and start me on chemo.
What a happy thought to be knocked out on. 😀
Well lucky for me, it hadn’t and everything went smoothly and I knew no more until several hours later when I came around in the, middle of a very large, very dark, very quite room, with one young lady sitting quietly at a console, monitoring what was going on.
No, I was not at the gates of heaven or hell, but in the Intensive Care Unit, where I was told to expect to spend the next two days, probably in excruciating pain. On seeing me come to, the nurse came to me and asked how I was feeling, and I told her fine.
She then asked me the question that I was to hear many times, each day, over the next several days; “On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest how bad is the pain?” I told her about 1.25, and that it really wasn’t pain just discomfort. Anyway she made a note and then we had a chat for a while.
This went on for some time, until she was relieved and the process went on the same for the next several hours with me always saying that the pain was .75 or 2.33 recurring (being a complete idiot of course, but I wasn’t in any pain, like I was told I would be,so why not make light of my discomfort?).
Thankfully, they decided that I was not having them on, and that I really wasn’t in any pain per se, so they released me from the ICU and transferred me to W9-W2 to complete my treatment!
Just for the fun/hell of it I thought I’d add a few pictures taken whilst I was in W9 – W2, (perhaps I should have this reclassified “R”
😈 
Pic 1, was taken on Friday,26th .
Pic2 some 10 days later.
Pic 3 was just before those staples were removed, you can see here the East West slicing and the abdomen still swollen to billyo; 😀 ;
Pic 4 these are some of the things that were plugged into, hanging off or attached to what was left of the cadaver. There were actually 3 of those big things with the canisters at the top. Don’t ask me what they were for, I have no idea.
By the bye; that thing stuck up my nose in pic 1, was feeding me. I had to go more than a week without food or water passing my lips; I did get grumpy on day 7. I might tell about that another time. 😉
LordBeariOfBow 
Brian,
that scar is worse than George Wubble U’s.
Neill.
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That’s not the scar Neill thats the cut with the staples still in,I was going to post a pic of the site with the staples removed but I thought one pic of my bloated abdomen was more than enough forthe average bear to put up with. I was told that the length of the incision whatever was 43cm, but I think they meant 34cm. Pretty neat bit of work don’t you think?
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Brian,
I think it is an ugly but necessary scar and it won’t matter, because you won’t be posing your bronzed body on Bondi Beach next summer, I expect, or taking part in body building competitions..
Neill.
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Neill 😀
Actually the scar has faded considerably, the photo shows the wound with the staples they use instead of stiches, I’d say in another 12 months it will barely be noticable and I can go parade my pasty pectoral on Manly Beach; you forget I’m a Northern Beaches Boy 😈
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If anyone told me I’d have to spend some days in excruciating pain, they’d have to just shoot me right there. The thought alone would probably kill me. But look at you. Look at that smile. Amazing.
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They not only told me I’d be in excrutiating pain I got it in writing too! XD
As for the smile I keep telling everyone that I’m an idiot 😈 ;
Doc Sandroussi came around shortly after pic 1 was taken and called me ‘miracle man’, I should have asked why. Might be cos I wasn’t in any pain perhaps.
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Happy gastro-intestinal divorce anniversary.
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Thank you XD, I was wondering what to name this day!
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Great day to see you smiling, Beari!!!
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Yes indeed GP; amazed myself that I’m still here still going strong XD Thanks GP 🙂
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That sort of stamina is built-in to your character!
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It sounds like you had great doctors, and excellent care! And of course, an amazing attitude. Maybe that’s what makes the difference. So glad you have your health back!
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Yes indeed I did, they inspired confidence from the first moment we met, I’d have published pictures of them all however, Dr Sandroussi,aka God, is the only one who’s pic is in the public domain, where there are several of him, (but I doubt he’d know or be bothered) but not of the other doctors that I can find
Thank you for popping by and the good wishes. XD
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Well, what a great anniversary to celebrate. On a scale of 1 to 10 how do you feel now.
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Probably 8.966, recurring, I’m definitely eating better and more; though I’m not putting on weight, so I’ll be in strife, again, when I go to see Michelle the Dietition in a couple of weeks time.
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In this post, does your use of the word “stomach” mean the same as “entire stomach”? My brain is rattling…
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I had what is known in the medical profession as a ‘Total Gastrectomy”. my entire stomach was removed and part of the bowel was stretched up and joined to the oesophagus, as a consequence, I no longer have a stomach in which to shove food, which I used to love, I now eat 3 small meals a day and have 3 small snacks in between, and I have to take my Pig Pills, (made from the pancreas of pigs) each time otherwise the food just keeps going through the bowels and out.
This link might interest you; tomorrow I’ll be going for my B12 shot and if you read the link you’ll know why. XD (Isn’t that being nasty 👿 )
https://www.nostomachforcancer.org/about/life-without-a-stomach/gastrectomy
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No sugar . . . man, I don’t know if I could do that.
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Didn’t know about that, Michelle my dietitian tells me to eat lots of sweet stuff so I suppose it’s okay, I eat chocolate and cakes and jam and ice cream, cos I can bowel that ( was going to say stomach that. and I remembered…) I’d book a one way ticket to Oregon without my sugar.
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I read that in the link you provided . . . did you not read it? They suggest low sugar.
Perhaps I read it wrong . . . I’m like that in my old age.
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I never read stuff that concerns my health, life wouldn’t be worth living doing what they suggest. Michelle tells me to eat fatty foods and have sweet stuff like ice cream, cakes, biscuits and buns, anyhing to put on weight and keep it on. So bugger the books XD XD XD
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Well, heck, I certainly was not interested in reading it, but you gave us the link.
I guess from now on I can safely ignore any link you provide since you would not have read it anyway. Better yet, I can reference stuff I made up, and you’ll never know.
. . . should be fun . . .
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see reply below addressed to Garrulous Gwen XD.
Actually I read just about everything except stuff where blood guts and gore are concerned, that really puts a damper on things for me, I never ever read stuff like that.
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All that ado, related to a particular gene, which science have given a name in the form of an acroynm.
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Your scar is bigger than my scar!
I’m so so SO glad you beat Cancer!
You are such an inspiration to so many of us!
(I had my cancer surgery in September of 2015.)
(((HUGS)))
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Actually I’ve beaten it twice now. I had prostate cancer diagnosed in 2005, had what is called Brachytherapy 😛
🙄 in 2006 and my surgeon gave me a guarantee of another 6 to 8 years. He was way off I’ve had 12 then the stomach cancer and I’m still going. My doc now is thinking that I may have bowel cancer but as I told her, if I have then I’m just going to let life take it’s course. 😀
You never mentioned where cancer got you, I believe our friend Susan (PiedType) went through breast cancer a short while ago. There seems so much of that of late. My sister in law has had a double mastectomy, well 1 one year then the other went.
And as for my scar, it’s just about faded away. Either that or it’s buried amongst all my empty skin 😀 😈 🐻 🐱
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You are such an inspiration to me, Lord 🐻 !
I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through so many cancer battles! But, you are indeed a winner! 🙂
My love, prayers, best wishes, and healing thoughts for you. Take one day at a time. And keep up your amazing spirit and optimism! 🙂
My cancer was endometrial cancer. They did surgery. Said they got it all. Said it hadn’t spread. So I didn’t have to have any treatments. I’ve had rechecks every 3 months for 2 years. And now when I was suppose to be able to go every 6 months in between checks I’ve had this “slightly abnormal” test result.
My ❤ prayers and (((HUGS))) to those you mentioned…your SIL and friend Susan.
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Reblogged this on LordBeariOfBow and commented:
And one year later, on the 24th June 2016 I posted this one, I do not recommend viewing if you are about to sit down to a decent meal or a SPAM cardigan, as the pictures will more than likely ruin any appetite you may have, however if it’s a SPAM cardigan you should be right……
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You look happy enough, Brian. I’m pleased you didn’t have the promised pain. It took me a while to understand that I was underrating my score on that 1-10 scale. It was only listening to the 8s others were quoting when I was on 3, that I realised.
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I was actually over scoring mine, I don’t feel pain very much, but they wanted a figure so I gave them one, of sorts, always low with a decimal point, and a string of numbers after. I was just uncomfortable. I thought it amusing at the time. As you can see by the pics. 😀
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