Jackson-Pratt Drain

I still wear the Jackson-Pratt (JP) Drain.  Another weird medical thing.  I keep it tucked inside my Hugh Hefner leisure pants so the kids won't see it.  I thought the hose entered my pelvis through the incision but it took me a whole week to work up the nerve to actually look south of my belly button.  I see they drilled another hole through my abdomen and the hose enters my pelvis a few inches to the side of the incision.  Yuck.



I'll be done with the JP Drain when it starts collecting 30ml
or less of waste fluid per day.  So far, I'm double that.  Maybe
only two more weeks and I won't need it anymore.  Fingers crossed.

I lost another four pounds this week while at home.  That's surprising cause I no longer exercise.  I can stand so I still walk twice a day and I guess that's pushing it because I'm faint when I walk and I have to lie down when I get back.  Maybe that's exercise in itself after big surgery like this but it sure isn't anything that would burn any calories.  I definitely have noticed that my legs and arms have shrunk dramatically and so have my love handles. 

I think I'm losing weight because I'm eating less.  In the hospital, I got recalibrated on portion control.  When I graduated from ice chips and jello, I was fascinated with the meals I got.  They were small but all measured and itemized on the menu receipt that came with the meal.  250 ml of tomato soup, two crackers, one pepper packet, 125 ml of milk, etc.  I thought the meals were small but it took me 90 minutes to eat one.  I remember reading in a National Geographic how our portions in North America have strayed from the standard.  A steak should be the size of a deck of cards.  One serving of fruit is the size of a baseball.  Wow, try and open a restaurant based on those standards and you'd be out of business in a year!

I'm down 10 lbs since the surgery but that's just getting rid of the fattening up I did to prepare for chemo and radiation.  Also, surgery sliced 5 lbs out of me.  Funny, I bulked up for chemo and radiation but I didn't lose a single pound during that period.  Now, I'm just my usual 10 lbs overweight instead of 20 lbs.  I'll try and lose another 10 lbs. 

I still feel stronger every day.  I mark that by how easy it is to get out of bed and get off the couch/lazy-boy.  I still can't sit so I spend a lot of time reading or watching TV or playing Playstation.  Pretty sedentary lifestyle.  I look forward to sitting so I can be on the computer without kneeling on the floor.  It's funny, when I get off the lazy-boy and walk upstairs or to the next room, I almost always have a headrush and then I think that maybe I'm spending too much time laying down.

I also look forward to when I can tie my own shoes.  Right now Erinn has to put my socks on me and tie my shoes for my walks.  Before the surgery, I could touch my hands flat on the floor.  It's amazing how abdominal slicing changes things.  I was also told I can't do dishes or load the dishwasher due to twisting motions.  And I can't lift or sit so folding laundry is out too.  I can watch TV,  read and ask Erinn to do things for me.  She's a trooper.  She does everything for me and serves me my meals on the couch.  What a saint!  I'd buy her something for Mother's Day but she hasn't given me any money and I can't go anywhere that I can't walk to.  Oh well, next time...