Post-operation: Day2

Sixteen Litres.

The equivalent of four 4 Litre jugs of milk.
That's what came out of my wife yesterday. A cyst filled with sixteen litres of clear fluid. A quick imperial to metric conversion tells me that she just lost almost 36 pounds! That's incredible. I've been counting my blessings in the 24 hours since she came out of surgery - everything was a smashing success!

The whole experience has been an emotional rollercoaster - from the anxiety I experienced during the operation, to the joy of seeing her smile when she got out of recovery! Today, while Cat was in a Benadryl-induced sleep, I picked up a pen and did a few 3 minute sketches - it's been a few years since I've done any drawing, so I'm quite rusty! Here's a shot of Cat's hand around her saviour - a Morphine pump!

In the late nineties, Walle Larson (a smooth, saxophone playing, adult contemporary jazz radio personality) used to dedicate no fewer than 50 songs a night on his radio program to Winnipeg's nurses. Up until last week, I thought that he just had a nurse fetish, but now, I'm on the bandwagon. The nurses we've had have been incredibly patient, soothing caregivers who probably don't get enough thanks for the long hours, hard work, and bodily fluids that they have to put up with during their 12 hour shifts. So from the bottom of my heart, to nurses everywhere, thank you. I don't know where we would be without their help during this difficult time.

I also want to thank all the friends and family who have given us words of encouragement, support, love, and money during this time. Okay, so no one has given us money, but the day isn't over yet! Seriously, Cat and I thank you all.

She currently has some "before" pictures on her blog, and in the coming weeks will be posting the "after". I guarantee you'll have trouble recognizing her.

Sixteen litres is a lot.

Currently playing - Autograph - Loud and Clear
Now entering my one-hundred and sixty-seventh Cola free day!

Eviction notice

I haven't posted anything in almost a month - if anyone noticed, I apologize! I've been busy here with the 8th Quintannual Yaciuk Household Renovate-a-Thon. That and spending a lot of time traveling from hospital to hospital, waiting room to doctor's office.

We found out last week that Cat is in possession of a cyst in her abdomen, that is absolutely huge; 54 centimeters long, 89 centimeters wide, and at it's deepest point, 24 centimeters deep - basically her entire midsection.

Huge.*

After receiving the news, I immediately got to work informing her cyst of it's upcoming removal.
Good riddance!

The doctors are 99.99999% certain that the cyst is benign - if a cyst that size were malignant, we're told Cat probably wouldn't be alive today. We can't confirm that it's benign until some time after the surgery, which is a bit unnerving, but it seems extremely unlikely that it is cancerous.

In a way, the news is quite scary, but at the same time, it also comes as a relief! We've been trying to have children for the last year and a half, with no luck whatsoever. We finally got an answer - and it's an answer that has given us hope! The doctor's tell us that once this obstacle is removed, our path to parenthood should be wide open. We're crossing our fingers!

I've heard a lot of talk about our health care system. Long wait lines, rude medical staff, obnoxious smells - and I can tell you that, with the exception of the smells, our experience thus far has contradicted all of those stereotypes. Within 24 hours, Cat got an Ultrasound, her bloodwork had results in 3 days, and within the week, we had a date for the surgery. It's a cliche, but the people who have seen us have been Angels who walk the face of the earth!

Cat's surgery is Tuesday morning, September 26, 2006. I'll post details here when all is said and done. If you want to wish her luck, visit her post on the subject on her blog, and leave a comment. I'm sure she'd appreciate it. She's also my equal in wit, and my superior in the written word, so check out her blog every once in a while too for a good laugh or story!

Currently playing - Toto - Africa
Now entering my one-hundred and sixty-third Cola free day!

*We found out that it wasn't so huge actually. The world record Ovarian Cyst is a whopping 328 pounds, removed from a woman in Galveston Texas in 1905. The fact that it was successfully removed from her body, with the medical knowledge and tools from over a century ago gives me great hope that Cat's surgery will go just fine!