Here it is Tuesday evening 7:00 PM. I woke up about noon yesterday but haven’t been up to computing till now. Seven holes and 3 hours is all it took to remove gall bladder (1 hour) and the growth on my right kidney (2 hours). No biopsy results yet so don’t know for sure if it really is cancer. Will know in a day or two.

We learn all sorts of interesting things about our body when we do something like this. First oddity is that the post-op pain is more severe in the shoulders than in the belly. Why do you get sharp pains in the shoulders when nothing was done in that area? Well, they poke the holes then inflate you abdominal cavity like a balloon with air or CO2 or something to give themselves some space to work. It seems that that air migrates up to the shoulder area and causes severe pain until it dissipates. Don’t get me wrong. The belly hurts too but it is a duller constant pain than the sharp shoulder pain that comes in waves.

Another thing is that all that mucking around with your guts gets them confused and the rhythmic contractions that usually keep your food moving in the right direction stop working. Guess what. You can’t have anything to eat till they get their rhythm back. So that is why the doc says no food till you pass gas. Gas passing is the indicator that things are moving in the right direction. Apparently there is no way to educate your intestines to move in the right direction. Everyone is different. Walking the halls with your IV pole is supposed to help. So I’m just starting my “laps” and waiting for my digestive track to relearn it’s duties. Mine must be a slow learners because I have had no sign of gas passing yet. Prior to this I’ve always been pretty well known as a gas passer. I don’t know why I can’t seem live up to my reputation now.

So, here I sit about to ask my friends to pray that my “gas passer” gets back on the job soon.