Day 1

Good morning everyone.

   Today is my first full day out of surgery. It is honestly crazy how good I already feel.

   It is still difficult to do some things. For example, I'm only able to type this with one hand. My stomach is still in a bit of pain; I'm also very weak and dizzy. By my bedside, I have a small button than I'm able to press every now and then, and pumps Morphine into my body. I'm stuck on a clear liquid diet, at least until tomorrow. They will start me on soft foods, such as oatmeal, and breads.
   The ostomy bag isn't all too bad. I'm recovering quite quickly, and already producing waste through my stoma. Ive also noticed that I pass gas through the stoma, so its quite funny when it happens. I just make light of it. If you feel that it is embarrassing, just know that you have just been though a surgery. When it happens in public, just explain to people what you have recently been though a surgery, and that you don't have control over your gas. People are more understanding than you may think.
   I met the doctor that will be helping me learn how to use and care for my bag. Her name Irma Rivera. She is a very sweet lady, who helped make the current situation and learning experience enjoyable. She provided me with a small booklet, that explains how to do things, as well as helpful tips provided by other people that have had the surgery as well. I will talk about some of the stuff in the booklet another time, only because I'm a little dizzy while typing this.
   Some things I'm learning right off the bat, are pretty important. I was able to get out of bed for the first time, and I noticed I was extremely weak, dizzy,  and achey. I took my time, sat up, and just sat there for awhile; this helped immensely. Take your time walking. I was able to walk to the bathroom on my own, which was very satisfying for me. My nurse told me not to drink too much, it may cause my to puke, and we obviously don't want that. Its actually quite interesting. They made several different small openings in my stomach for the removal. They didn't stitch the holes back up, they actually used a form of medical super glue.
   With a little luck, I will be out of here by Saturday. These are Dr. Greenstein's words. I'm am very excited! I would like to thank him and his cohorts for doing a wonderful job on my stomach and taking great care of me.
   Dr. Rivera has told me about some awesome ostomy bags, that I think I'm going to invest in. They are called Sensor Mio bags. This is a new type of bag, that are supposed to make living with a bag a lot easier. The coolest part about them is that water bounces right off of them. I really wanna give them a try. After I measure my stoma, I'm also going to invest in some fabric ostomy pouch holders. If you'd like to check them out, I'll leave the link for you right here!
ostomybagholder.com
   I'm very excited for this experience, and looking forward to it. Thank you all for the support, and please, if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask them. Now I'm going to continue enjoying Shark Week.

Be Well
Johnny