Well, as most of you know, Mom has rectal cancer. She had surgery exactly one week ago, she is 70 years old. They removed all of her female organs, her ascending colon, and half of her vagina. They did a skin flap, donor site was her left inner thigh. They talked about using a fatty deposit to 'fill in' the space where her organs used to sit so the remaining organs would have a place to rest. She has a permanent colostomy bag because of the removal of her colon.
She was in surgery 9 or 10 hours. I can't remember which, she went in at 1pm and got to her room at 11:15 pm.
She has been walking in the halls, sitting in the chair, determined to go back to her home instead of a nursing home for skilled nursing care. She is pretty determined, I believe she will go home, barring any complications.
My mother was blessed with 8 children, 5 girls and 3 boys. With such a big group of kids, it can be a blessing. While she is out, the house needed some repainting and minor repair work.
She is going to sleep in her living room, we found a twin bed upstairs that the boys used to sleep on, we brought it down stairs, got a new mattress and box springs for it, she'll be able to sleep there for awhile.
4 of us girls have been there painting and cleaning. There are 2 rooms that needed to have the tile replaced. We were fortunate to find 2 boxes of tiles in the basement to redo one room. My husband has a heat gun that made removing the old tile a piece of cake. Yesterday we removed the tile, took out the old bathroom vanity, finished putting the paint on 2 ceilings, painted the bathroom, cleaned the tub, and then prepped the 2 floors that are going to be tiles. (and didn't get started until 2pm) All this urgency is just in case she gets to go home mid week like the Dr. is talking. We may not be ready, but we are going to work round the clock to get it done so she can.
It has always amazed me how much work can be accomplished with so many people. Sometimes you walk over each other, but it sure makes the job easier and more pleasant, we got to spend the day together just visiting and working towards a common goal. We talked about our memories of our dad while we worked, going over all his little idiosyncrasies, and how he used to do things. We discussed how funny it is that Mom has so many wash cloths when it is just her living in the house. And she buys more all the time. ??????
It has been a fun time, it is also neat watching her be so determined to get back on her feet so she can get home to her house and her cat. We'll definitely be checking on her more often to make sure she has no needs.
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