2 weeks on

Two weeks on from the op and I'd say I feel pretty good, or at least much better than I thought I'd feel at this stage.  The wound is healing well, the pain's under control, I'm keeping all my food down and most important of all.....I'm going to the loo! I'm much better on my feet and can have short walks although most activity knackers me out.  Unfortunately I've lost a stone in weight and it's going to be a battle to put some or all of that back on.

The diet plan is quite simple.  I eat all main meals with Nic and Mikey, albeit smaller portions (often less than Mikey and he's 2, how sad!)  This is working well, I'm eating a wide range of food from healthy home made stuff to frozen convenience food, all of which goes down well but does often cause discomfort for a while afterwards.  I've only had one instance where I was in a lot of pain after eating and dam it hurt like hell.  Between main meals I snack every couple of hours and drink full fat milk based drinks.  So, to my work colleagues reading this, I fully intend maintaining my reputation as the 'human dustbin'!  The hardest part is stopping eating when you really want to carry on and not guzzling loads of water (or wine or beer) especially not whilst eating.  I'm getting used to it though, although I am developing a thirst for a pint of Yorkshire's finest real ale (or half!).

Mentally I'm up for the challenge of the road ahead, it's a massive change to my life and has had a big affect on Nic and Mikey too.  Mikey tells everyone that Daddy's had an operation to take his tummy out, but soon forgets and jumps on me in the hope we can wrestle.  Won't be long and we'll be back to trashing the living room shouting 'Submit!'  I'm working on some new moves!  It's certainly not been a breeze so far, and I'm under no illusions that at times it will get really tough, but I'm over the moon with my recovery so far.  I can't thank everyone enough for their support, none less than Nic and my Mum an Dad, they've been through more than enough this last year without having to worry about me.   On target for another half marathon next year?  I'll answer that after Christmas!

Food at Last!

A good day today! The surgeon visited this morning and said Paul and I could start eating and if all goes well we can go home tomorrow (tuesday), no pressure then! Taking on board all the advice i'd been given, i've successfully eaten 2 small meals without discomfort! So home it is then, really can't wait to see my son, missed him so much. My wife tells me he's telling everyone to 'rub my daddys tummy better'. The staff here at the Royal Hallamshire have been amazing throughout, i'm a lucky guy.

The tubes are out!

5 full days after the op and all the tubes are out, what a relief, they were driving me crazy. We're told by the surgeon and other docs that we are on schedule for a speedy recovery. We're on free fluids so can drink more water and the occassional cup of tea. Our pain relief is in tablet form and although i was unsure about how my new system would deal with them, all seems ok though. There's some really strange pains and feeling in my gut but i'm told these are normal. Tomorrow's another step closer!

I'm now stomachless

Well i had the op on Monday morning and i reckon i'm in good enough shape now to battle with my phone in trying to update my blog. To be honest i've felt good the whole time, the waiting around on Sunday was the hardest part, boredem and being surrounded by very ill people does nothing for pre-op nerves! Uncle Paul and I were the sole focus of the surgeon Mr Whyman and his team the whole day and both ops went well without complication (other than my epidural not working but was soon fixed). After a short spell in the HDU we returned to the ward piped up to several machines for drips and monitoring 'stuff'. Pain is controlled by epidural which is doing the trick although we are being weened off it slowly. We are now 3 full days on and hopefully we will start reducing the number of tubes soon and start introducing some soft foods (we're starving!) A big thank you to all you amazing people that got in touch with words of encouragment and best wishes, you really did give me the boost i needed to drag myself to the hospital last Sunday. I'll provide better updates when i have my laptop and a real keyboard rather than a miniture Nokia one!