Day 20 Post Cystectomy

Well I woke up at like 5am, once again in excruciating pain, this time on my left side, took a Zanaflex and laid back down.  After an hour with no relief I got up and watched TV to take my mind off of it.  I called my doctor's office, explained I was experiencing severe abdominal pain and got transferred to the nurse's voicemail.  Great.  So I left a message hoping she would call back sometime today, but knowing it probably won't be until tomorrow if I'm lucky.  At about 11:30am my husband gave me 2 ibuprofen and prayed over me, and I blissfully fell asleep for about an hour.  When I woke up I not only didn't have any more pain, but I felt like I gained a week on my recovery!  I was moving easier and feeling better by far than I have since the surgery!  Once again, I'm feeling so incredibly thankful!  I decided against taking a shower today or changing my bag - just kind of bird bathed it - and I took a walk with my daughter and our 2nd daughter, so that was really nice!  I started feeling hungry again and ate a lot for the rest of the day.  Tim and I took a very long walk right after dinner.  I needed more thank you notes and stamps, so he then took me to the Dollar General to get the thank you notes and then Winn Dixie to get stamps, and just those little outings made me feel more like a normal human being than I had been feeling since the surgery.  After writing a bunch of thank you notes (I've writen 25 total so far) I got in there and cleaned my stoma.  It felt easy and natural for the first time, so I can tell I'm gaining confidence!  But I have more reasons to dislike the Holister bag - the connector to the night bag for the ConvaTec bags doesn't work with the Holister bag.  So you have to take off that connector and use a different one for a Hollister bag (that they thankfully included with the bags).  Also, the cap doesn't come attached to the bag - you have to attach it yourself (just a little annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless).  Finally, the drain spout is really difficult to turn to open it up or close it.  I guess that's good because it won't just fly open, but I really like ConvaTec's flap that opens and closes the drain.  But despite my feelings for the Holister bag, all in all, today was the first day I felt like I had a glimpse of what life will be like when I'm healed, so I'm encouraged!