Surgery questions

Tomorrow I’ll be set free.  Unless I collapse tonight, all wounds open up or my reconstituted gut ruptures, I’ll walk out of the hospital tomorrow by 10.  This matches exactly the prediction made by the doctors right after the operation.  The nurses and carers have done a great job getting me there.  I’m grateful to them and glad that I’ve met their expectations.  What was extremely tough at the beginning has now turned into a cruise, as if I were rolling towards the easy finish of a difficult mountain stage, well behind the leaders but safely ahead of the broom wagon.

My belly, sliced open and stitched back together.

Before they let me go, a surgeon will update me on how things will continue, when I’ll have to come back, what I’ll have to look out for.  It’s good to receive advice.  It’s better yet to have questions ready and not think of them later and regret not having asked.  This is what I’d like to know:

• When can I go back to work?  Will I be held back in any way?  This is really the most important question to me.  Without deluding myself that this is possible, I’d like to have the life back that I had before.  Work is an important aspect.  I don’t want to waste time at home when no one else is there.
  → The doctor was rather suspicious about my going back to work.  Worse, she hinted at an extension of the sick note beyond the two weeks given.
• Can I travel for work?  How would it be perceived if I tried to reschedule consultations and appointments to be able to travel?  Travel is an important part of my work, and one that I like.  It keeps me fresh.  Treatment comes first, but how flexible can I be?
  → We didn't get to talk about treatment flexibility.  When the doctor grounded me for six weeks after the operation, there was no need to say more.
• Should I make changes to my diet?  What should and should I not eat?
  → Before the surgeon came, a nutritionist educated me about a diet rich in protein and energy.  I need to gain weight and am supposed to eat as richly as I can.  This will require dramatic adjustments.
• Can I expect my digestion to go back to normal?  When will this happen?
  → With time.  It all depends…
• How is my gut microbiome?  Has it suffered during the operation or the past week?  How can I get it back to its full beneficial diversity?
  → A good question, but I forgot to ask it.
• Should I make changes to my lifestyle?  When can I go running again?  When ride my bicycle?  Is there a limit to physical exercise, such as climbing the stairs to the ruin above Baden?
  → Physical activity is good, but I need to take it easy.  No bicycle for the moment.
• When can I expect to be as physically fit as I was before the operation?
  → A pointless question that I didn't ask.
• When will I regain my weight?  Since shortly before the diagnosis, I’ve dropped a good ten per cent.  This might be all right were I fully fit, but to fight cancer, I might need a bit more beef.
  → These were exactly the nutritionist's concerns.
• What might happen that should worry me?  Are there warning signals if further recuperation stalls?
  → Pain, fever, the usual.
• Do the stitches holding the cut in my belly need to be removed?  When will this be done?  How do I care for the scar lest it morph into something resembling an ugly zipper?
  → The stitches will dissolve.  I forgot to ask about how to care for the scar.

This post will be adapted as I get answers.  The oncology questions might go into their own post at some later point.  This blog is fluid.