Back home and Recovering well

Now that I am back in SF, I am settled and recovering well. I am amazed but I am off of my pain medications already. It hasn't even been two weeks. The stitches look okay. May be a while before they dissolve so we will see. I just started back at work, taking it slowly. But I am happy to be here again and have energy to move around. I am truly blessed to have gone to Mayo.

In San Francisco, having gone to brunch and dinners with friends, I realize I really did take the bright side of things in Minnesota. Putting things in perspective, SF food is fantastic, Rochester food is tasty (most of the time). I am glad that I sampled some things that I could only get in the midwest, so fresh and delicious, like the Elk and Bison sausage.

Now that I am back to my healthy budget eating, life is a little different. Every time I make a sandwich, I add a little Mayo and remember my blessings.

Heading back home

Wow. My stay in Minnesota has been very interesting. At times, yes, a little boring but a lot has happened here. I am very fortunate that things went well at the Mayo clinic. The doctors did a great job. The surgery went smoothly and recovery is going well. I am getting better each day, just the pain and stinging underneath my stitches that I am dealing with mostly. Imagine my blood sugar is back to normal already. Man, I wish though that I was less bloated. For surgery the cavity was pumped with air to help the doctors so it will take a while before I deflate. He he. I am like a balloon that could lift off at any moment. I wonder if I will help the plane take off..

I am excited to get back home to San Francisco and see all my friends. I am also looking forward to eating a delicious variety of food (even though, I am pretty impressed we found some decent places out here). Imagine, I even tried bison sausage last night. It was very earthy taste but good.

Hope to see people once I get settled.

Road to Recovery

I am glad to be out of the hospital. I was discharged on friday morning. It has been a good couple of days. The only issue is the pain and muscle soreness that comes and goes. I am able to walk around. Sometimes need help getting in and out of chairs or the bed but doing remarkably well. Friday night we ate at Rochester's own Whistle Binkies. Tasty!!! There was a surprising spicy meatball soup that was delicious.

Today we headed out of Rochester. My boyfriend drove me and my mom to the Twin Cities to finally enjoy a few days outside of Rochester. I will have to adjust to being driven around a lot more since the drugs won't allow me to drive myself. No worries. I can sit back and enjoy... There was an overnight snow storm but we managed to get to the Cities without a hitch. I am now on a mission to get some stretchy pants (to avoid irritating my stitches). Mall of America here we come. I will probably be sitting in the food court while they manage the crowds of avid shoppers.

Surgery Complete!

It has been a long day. I got into the hospital around 5:45 am central time and got prepped for surgery. The nurses were very nice and some (unfortunately not all) had minnesota accents. The anesthesiologist pretty much said hello, went over the procedure for putting me to sleep, and moments later i was out.

Apparently surgery went very well. It was only 1.5 hours, finished by 10 am central time (I am assuming some of my friends were still in bed). The doctors were able to do everything laproscopically which was awesome. My cuts are small but still a bit painful. I have been on pain meds since surgery and they are great... Except the first one I was on, made my entire body itch from head to toe. That pretty much sucked because I was trying to avoid moving but kept wanting to itch and scratch everything profusely. In my mind the nurses were moving far too slowly to get me an antihistamine. But thankfully when I did get one I felt so much better.

After moving me into my room and out of the ICU, I am taking it easy. I have been watching all of my favorite food cooking shows. I am also dreaming of food like crazy. I have to be on a liquid diet until tomorrow. Who would of thought that after the months of eating like a horse I wouldn't be happy with an all liquid lifestyle. Guess, I just want balance. I am excited and would dance, if I could, that I don't have to eat cornstarch again!! Hurray.

Oh, and I did manage to get a short walk today and that felt good. My abdomen didn't completely hate me.

Overall I feel extremely blessed and grateful. Glad to be done with surgery, glad to have wonderful nurses and glad to have a very strong boyfriend to lift me in and out of bed. My mom is just super and is keeping my hair braided and my back scratched. Both of them are keeping me positive. Thank you to everyone for all the phone calls, emails, text messages, and prayers.

Almost ready

It has been a good few days. Filled with travel adventures and great eating.

It started on saturday with E and I traveling to Minneapolis St. Paul (Twin cities) to do some exploring. We had some delicious thai food, admired some amazing architecture at the Guthrie Theater, and checked out a brew pub, where we had Elk for the first time. The elk was delicious, amazing. I might crave it when I get back to SF. It was great to get out of Rochester finally!

Sunday I did something that I wouldn't do normally. I ate KFC. I haven't eaten it in like 5 years but I wanted to get some greasy fried chicken in before my gallbladder is out. Otherwise, I have been decompressing and getting mentally prepared for the big day now in a hotel.

As a nice surprise before my family arrived, my new friends, Travis, his brother, and girlfriend cooked dinner and invited me over. It was delicious. Who new Captain Crunch chicken would be soo good. Even better than the KFC, I have to say.

The countdown begins...In 16 hours I will be in the hospital. And in a day everything should be over. Hurray!!! Yippy!!
I will keep everyone posted.

Easy Street until the 18th

After the big news from the doctors, things have been easy. We moved out of the hotel and into Chez Travis and Jason. They have been very generous offering a place to stay before my family gets here. By the way, Lani, we have heard plenty of stories... He he... Jason says hi by the way. They both said, any friends of Lani's, are friends of ours.

During the day, we have been doing a little work here and there. Lots of eating out as usual. But now since we have access to a proper kitchen (kind of, minus seasonings or cooking oil of any kind) we intend to do some healthy cooking tonight before checking out a local comedy show. A little laughter always helps...

That's all for now. Maybe Emma and I will conjure up some girlfriends V-day alternative plans out here. Fireplace may still be included....Temperature has dropped a lot since our 40 degree warm spell.

a tumor AND a gall bladder

Last night we checked out the local watering hole, Rookies. It was interesting. E and I were one of four women in the place and we were the youngest by about 10 yrs. We were also the only people not involved in the poker or pool tournaments. We did manage to see a lot of middle-aged men with beer bellies and crazy moustaches, though.

After a late start this morning, E and I headed out for brunch. Need to keep that blood sugar up! We went to a little diner called Pannekoeken, which is a Dutch place that serves among other items, pannekoeken. It is kind of like a pancake. The best part is when they bring the pannekoeken to your table, they run from the kitchen, through the restaurant singing "pannekoeken, pannekoeken... pannekoeken, pannekoen" until they get to your table. It was amazing and embarrassing all at the same time, but E and I definitely had to order one to get the full Rochester experience.

I managed to talk to a surgeon at UCSF today about the possibility of getting the tumor removed in San Francisco. He was really great and gave me a lot of useful information, but the earliest I could be seen there is June! So, that made the decision of where to have the surgery all the easier. I am scheduled for the 18th here at Mayo. Can't wait to get this bad boy out!

I also met with my Mayo surgeon today to discuss the specifics of the surgery. Things are always changing here and today was no exception. Turns out, not only am I going to get the tumor out, but my gall bladder as well. I guess they see something strange there so better to remove it! It sounds like there won't be too long of a recovery and I hope to be back in SF, tumor and gall-bladder free, by February 23rd.

Day 5: Exciting news

We had an early start to the day. I went in for the endoscopic ultrasound. The nurses were very nice as usual, a little slow but nice. One of the doctors who helped perform the procedure was from Davis which was cool. They made the procedure very smooth and easy. When the sedative wore off, I then caught up with E.

She had great news. The ultrasound went great; the doctors found a tumor. It is in a region of the pancreas that is easy to reach so likely only a minimally invasive procedure will be needed to remove it. I am so excited. I would be dancing around and singing Tina Turner's (I'm so excited, I just can't hide it...) but I am still partly groggie from the sedative so I will stay seated for now.

I talk with the doctors again tomorrow. Meanwhile....I might hit the pillow and get back to sleep.

Day 4: Drama

Monday was filled with drama. After another blood test and a meeting with the doctor, I felt like we had found the tumor and was feeling better about the situation. But the afternoon flipped upside down. The surgeon was unconvinced by the low-resolution CT scan and wanted more tests to find the tumor. What was originally seen wasn't definitive. I was pretty bummed because if they didn't find the tumor then I likely had a problem with all of my islet cells in the pancreas. However, I was glad they weren't rushing to cut me open without being sure.

After these bad news, we went and had a nice dinner. Travis joined us and helped explain some of the medical techniques and upcoming tests which was very helpful. The food was delicious and I cooked my own meat on a 650degree rock plate in front of me. Good times. All in all the day was a rollercoaster but at least it ended well.

Day 2 and 3: Chilling out

The weekend was pretty relaxed with only a few surprises.

Saturday we had a very delicious and cheap brunch. Afterwards, I kind of took a wrong turn and ended up in a locked stairwell. Whoops! I managed to call the hotel and they kindly sent someone to find me. So I got out of that situation no problem, with of course, E laughing at me. After getting some work out of the way, that night we checked out the best burger spot in Rochester. It was delicious and thirst quenching. However, note, they seem to overuse Butter and Salt in these parts.

Sunday we pretty much walked all of North Rochester. The weather is getting a little better (30 degrees) so it was manageable. We also stumbled about a Indian buffet place that was pretty good. Now, we will get some good sleep before probably a long day tomorrow.

What a day

So it has only been Day 1, right. Well I guess Mayo knows how to move and shake.

This afternoon is all about progress. I had two doctors visits, some testing, and repeated a fasting study to hit a really low glucose reading. They already started getting blood work back in after an hour or two. Called me by the time I made it back to my hotel room with great news.

The blood tests do indicate I have an insulin problem. They are still waiting for results from a few time points but it looks like insulin. Which it's good to pinpoint a cause. I thought that would be it but they had a lot more to tell me. After reviewing my scans from back in Nov at school, they did see a mass on my pancreas (FINALLY)!! It is small but based on their trained eye they think this could be the culprit. I am overjoyed to find that rascal.

They will likely call back over the weekend or give me the rest of test results on Monday. But I am already scheduled to meet with a few doctors and a CAT scanner on Monday to talk about this mass and what to do next.

Isn't that amazing. Only 24 hours later and progress!

Day 1: meet the doctors

We had an early start- first appointment was at 7:15a! Travis picked us up from the hotel and brought us to the Mayo Building- he's awesome! The doctor was VERY thorough. He asked all sorts of questions and took notes on everything I said. He even started a excel spreadsheet with all my glucose readings from my medical records! I was impressed.

He did suggest something that I found very humorous. He asked whether someone could be poisoning me.... everyone is a suspect!

The tests have started, along with tons of needle sticks. The nurses are great and have very cute MN accents, doncha know! I am starting off by re-doing the fasting test to confirm the numbers... I haven't eaten in 13 hours and I am craving everything. Anyone got a kit kat? Mmmmm... looking forward to some take-out. :)

Arrival

We just arrived in Rochester, MN this afternoon. Our trip from San Francisco went smoothly- no lost luggage or anything! Travis picked up from the airport and drove us to the hotel, which is right in the heart of Rochester. We are close to everything and because the buildings are all connected by skyway or subway, we don't even have to venture out-of-doors all that much!

The weather isn't too bad... just a bit of snow/ice on the ground, but it isn't extremely cold. Yeah, if you ever visit, watch out for the black ice. It almost got me.

Tomorrow is the big day. I have an appointment with the insulinoma specialist in the morning and I may have further testing later in the afternoon.

Thanks everyone for your support.