15 June 2007

 

I'm an idiot

This morning, after dropping the kids off at school, I did what I've been dreading all week. I cleared out my bowels in preparation for a rectal ultrasound exam at 11:15 at St. Paul's Hospital. That meant that I gave myself a chemical enema from the drugstore that, well, flushed out my system.

I've done it before a couple of times, and that wasn't too bad. But this time was while I'm still having radiation side effects. Everything's very sensitive and inflamed in there. It was excruciating. I was in the bathroom for an hour, either on the toilet or in the bathtub or on the floor—at least when I wasn't marching around our house trying to promote some additional movement in my intestines, and snapping at my wife not to talk to me because I was in so much pain. Awful.

And then we got down to the Ultrasound clinic (the half hour car ride sure was fun) and discovered I had written down the date wrong. I was supposed to be there two days ago—I'd mistranscribed it as the 15th instead of the 13th. We had to reschedule to June 27, when I get to do it all again!

Nothing like torturing yourself for no reason at all, I always say.

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Comments:

Doh! Derek, that is terrible. Hopefully, things down there will be a little less sensitive by the 27th.
 
Hi Derek: My husband was diagnosed with stage iv metastatic colon and rectal cancer in 2002. After having part of his colon removed, radiation, two rounds of chemo with Avastin, two liver resections and a lung resection, he is cancer free. It's been a rough ride, but he has survived much longer than predicted, and he is feeling great. The doctors say that occasionally, they can cut out enough of the cancer that the body's immune system can take over and the cancer never comes back. That's what we're praying for. Don't give up...our thoughts and prayers are with you. Jenny