"Are We There Yet"???? - On the Road to Recovery

Thank you all for the abundance of love and support!!!  I really do appreciate all of the prayers, positive vibes, care packages, cards, virtual hugs, messages, texts, memes, and GIFs (especially the cat ones 😺)!!!!!

Nathan and Sammy B
January 2020

Also want to take a moment to give credit to Nathan - he is the ultimate partner, there whenever I need him (no ask is too big or too small), my rock, my "hydration police" - I couldn't do this without you!!  LOVE YOU!!!

What I've been up to during the last few weeks:

Overall, I am getting stronger and stronger each day💪!  I am drinking my ensure (goal of 2 a day and I'm averaging about 1.5 to 2 each day) and eating pretty much anything I want.  Just being able to eat food again has made life more enjoyable.  For at least 2 months I had pretty much been on a very limited diet - mostly liquids with very limited solid food.

Just some items from the care packages

I had a video visit with my psychologist, which I had not seen in over a year.  I'm not sure if I have every blogged about this but OSU has an awesome Psychosocial Oncology Program that includes providers that specialize in helping cancer patients deal with all of the emotions that come with a cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship.  I am a huge proponent of utilizing all of the available resources and have found this to be a super valuable one.

More care package items - I love cats!!

My follow-up video visit with the colorectal surgeon went well.  He said the incision is healing well and looks really good (so thankful that there were no incision complications this time around🙌).  He stressed that I need to keep hydrated (especially focusing on electrolyte replacements) and limit my activity (no heavy lifting, pushing, pulling, etc) for at least 8 weeks after surgery.

Art by Ollie & Owen

I've had a few people stop by for some socially distant visits, received some amazing care packages (thanks Carla & Rach and my IDS Phamily), a card from the Coes with some cute pictures from Samuel's baptism and our Florida vacation (ahhh take me back to January), and was able to add some great art pieces to the refrigerator :)

Art by Harper and Maddox

This week I went in for another CT scan that we will use for a baseline for treatment.  I have an appointment next week with my new oncologist to discuss the results and decide on a treatment plan (more to come on that next week).

Well that's all for now folks!!  Make sure to check back next week for another update!

💗🧡💛💚💙💜