Recovery Week 12

We're in the 12th week of recovery and all the news is pretty positive.  I had a check up today and the consultant is happy with my healing (even though it still has a little way to go - some means are still a bit of a trial) - he is scheduling a PET scan for sometime in the next few weeks to check that nothing has been left behind (or appeared in the meantime) but he was pretty clear that he would be very surprised if there was (with the usual caveat that anything is possible).  I'll then have one every 3 months for a little while, then less often, for the next 5 years.

The speech therapist has discharged me, and the nutritionist is scheduling my tube removal for the next appointment in 6 weeks time as they are confident I'll have been off the PEG for a few weeks by then, based on my progress.  They also gave me some gel for my mouth to try to keep it hydrated overnight, in the hope that I might be able to sleep past 5:30am, which is when I currently wake up parched.  Apparently some people swear by it and others don't find it helps at all, so I will try it and see.  Luckily I never used the spray they gave me, as they have just heard that it can be quite bad for teeth - I'll bin that one!

I had a PEG tube replacement yesterday, which was very quick and done at home, but still not entirely pleasant.  Last one, thankfully - I'll have half of the process when they take it out, of course.  Apparently they just pop it out, put a dressing on and send me home.  By the time I get home the hole will be more or less sealed.

And I treated myself to a cheeseburger, which I managed to eat (with the aid of a bottle of water).  And some chicken nuggets ;-)