There's No Place Like Home

It's been a little while since I last updated and I have some positive milestones to share. Hopefully they will brighten your day since we are all consuming a lot of negative news these days.

Happy things:

1. I am medicine-free! This means I finished my steroid taper!! I had been on Prednisone for the last 2+ years and would flare every time I tried to taper. Being off steroids is very exciting news for my adrenal glands, my bone density, my mood, my moon face, and my sleep. This is also a necessary prereq for my next surgery, so I'm getting one step closer to reconnecting. 

2. I have been discharged from visiting nurse services. It was actually a little sad to get discharged since I really liked my ostomy nurse, but now I have all the tools and confidence I need. It feels a little bit like I graduated from an ostomy training program. 

3. I haven't had a Lilo leakage in the last week! I'm always a little on edge, ready to deal with a leak, but I hope that I won't have to deal with that for a long time (if ever!). 

4. My hospital bruises are gone! This one's a little vain, but I had some ugly purplish-green bruises from the shots and IVs and they took a while to fade. Also, the I think I got the last of the sticky residue (from various bandages) off my skin. It's the little things that make you feel more "normal." :)

5. I moved back to my Newton apartment and I love it! I love my bed and I love my car (especially after a little debacle and it's up and running again!) and I love my independence. There was an initial period of reacquainting myself to my space. I'd been back to visit to pick up a few belongings and water my plants, but I hadn't lived in my place for 5 1/2 weeks. It reminds me of that quote from Catcher in the Rye in which everything in the museum stayed exactly the same and the only thing that changed is you (see Salinger's words below). Some changes are obvious: my colon is gone, there is bread and milk in my fridge, and I don't set a morning alarm.  Some changes are internal and they're subtle. I'm not sure I can articulate them yet, but I'm feeling good about them. 

Side note: some people have told me that they follow my blog by email and have hit "reply" when they receive my blog post as an email in an attempt to email me back. Unfortunately, I don't get those messages and I'm not sure where in cyberspace they go. Thank you for reaching out and if you'd like to send me a message, you can either comment in the original blog post http://stephjourneytowellness.blogspot.com/ or send me an email! I love hearing from you!