I get out of prison tomorrow

Finally, some excellent news. I had a great day yesterday and this morning my doctors said I could leave tomorrow if nothing bad happens today. Still, Friday night after my yogurt was one of the worst nights ever. My stomach pain went to my spine again and it took 14 doses of morphine over five hours of complete torture to make it bearable. It was pretty worrisome because there was no way I could leave the hospital if I needed such high doses of pain killers. Yesterday morning I still had some lingering pain so I got another morphine dose. I had learned the hard way that if I let the pain get away and ended up chasing it down, it took hours longer to control. Even though it was a terrible time, my sister was at my side holding my hand all through the night.

I noticed that some pain killers in pill form came out whole into my ileostomy bag - it's weird to imagine them just coming out whole out of a hole (ha) near my belly button. I clearly wasn't absorbing much, but my doctors hope that with a solid food diet I will absorb more. They also switched me to a liquid pain killer called "elixir," which tastes like the worst cough medicine ever but is definitely absorbable! Today I am moving from liquid corticosteroids to solid pills of prednisone. If I absorb them and nothing bad happens, I will be all set to leave tomorrow.

Yesterday I got to have my first solid foods while I watched the Champions League final (soccer, for those of you who don't know), a pretty perfect way to start a Saturday. I also rooted for the winning team, which helps. I got to have some turkey, a milkshake, plain pasta and carrots. I ate very very slowly because it was the first time in eight days when I ate anything solid. I didn't die, however, obviously. Since it was a weekend day my whole family came to visit and we had a great day hanging out in the hospital. I still only weigh 99 pounds but I am working hard on those milkshakes to bulk up. I asked a nurse what the deal on pizza is and she told me that pizza is fine for me to eat, even on my low-residue diet. That made me pretty excited.

I finally feel ready to leave. Before, I knew that my pain wasn't manageable and I didn't want to have to go back to the ER if a pain episode occurred. Being in the hospital was the best place for me to be. Now I think I will be fine at home. Even the doctors do too, knowing my troublesome tummy inside and out!

Carrots never looked so good!