Did you even notice I was gone? I get it, you are used to listening to someone and also know they go on vacation now and then but if they disappear completely you really don't think much about it. Well, I'm still here at NOW 1051 and my absence wasn't much fun (if you care). I was actually hoping that I could tell you I made the next season of Survivor. Not so much. Here's my story....
Earlier in the summer Dr's found a growth in my stomach, not cancerous yet but would have become. September 27th a surgeon removed 1/3 of my stomach, of course I'm "lucky" and things didn't heal properly so I had a leak and that led to an emergency surgery that was fairly aggressive a week later (I have a sweet scar on my tummy now, so much for my modeling and MMA career). After a week in the hospital I left with tubes including a feeding tube, a drain tube out of my stomach and a surgical drain plus orders of nothing by mouth for about 3.5 weeks (that includes water). I still had a fistula (leak) but the Dr cleared me for water, ice, apple juice and sorbet around the end of October. To be honest, I'm not sure if that was a good or bad move because after I would eat or drink my stomach would start screaming at me "Hey dummy, where's the rest of it?".
In for Xrays every couple of weeks just to find out there's still a leak. Thursday, November 30th was better than I could have expected. After the dye test they said it didn't appear there was a leak so they pulled the drain tube under my arm and then removed the G-tube which was a drain out of my stomach. Best of all, I was cleared for regular diet.....just short of 2 months without solid food. It's was pretty interesting. You never really think about how many Red Robin and Arby's commercials are on TV until you can't eat anything.
I'm 2 weeks out after the procedure and at time's i'm still a bit nervous to eat in case the Dr just missed the leak and it's still there....
Here's may "POTTY" talk... as you get a bit older PLEASE pay attention to "YOUR BUSINESS" in the little boys or girls room. It'll tell you more than you think. I wasn't watching mine and I should have been.
Now that you know the story, take care of yourself and stay on top of your health. Now as we head into Xmas and the family meal I hope I can find the 15 pounds I've lost.
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If you want to see after the 2nd surgery scroll down. Lots of staples and tubes.
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You really are a twisted individual to scroll all the way down to check out this photo! Here's what you are looking at. The Tube with Orange is called a "J" tube and it's how I was given my liquid nutrition for around 8 weeks.
The tube sticking straight up was called a "G" tube and some people are fed through that into their stomach, mine was used as a drain to keep the stomach acids to a minimum so my stomach could heal. Then you can see a blue tube, that was a surgical drain. I'm not going to lie, the scar I'm rockin' is pretty sweet.....
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