Burned Johnson - Living in the bathroom - Fighting cancer isn't sexy. Part 1
This next part is even more embarrassing. But I'm sharing it to raise awareness. Cancer affects so many people in so many different, awful ways. It's important for people to know what happens. It's important for people to understand. It's important for people to get screened. This is my story.
So I made it through the part of my cancer fight. My body was beaten down from the radiation and the chemo. But I was alive. My appetite slowly came back. The food commercials on TV were killing me. I became so hungry. The problem was my system was still messed up. Whatever I ate still made me rush to the bathroom. I know.....sexy. So I drooled over disgusting fast food commercials and ate white rice. Those first dishes of pasta with sauce tasted amazing!!! I felt human again.
The next step was to meet with the rectal surgeon. She is a dazzling young woman who had a ton of confidence. I felt safe with her. My new scans showed that the radiation and the chemo did their job. The tumor had shrunk and the spots on my liver had gotten smaller. Now I had to be cut open. The next part wasn't going to be easy and this is the hardest thing that I have to write about.
The tumor was in a place where the surgeon just couldn't remove it. Because of the location, if she removed it I would have very little control over my bowels. She told me that she would have to basically remove my rectum entirely and that I would have a permanent colostomy. Yay!!!! Ok.....fuck me. The tumor was huge and wrapped around my sphincter muscle. I talked with another surgeon & was told the same thing. Well, I wanted to live. I was determined to do what I had to do.
So the surgery was scheduled. I met with an ostomy nurse who showed me the equipment that I'd be using for the rest of my life. I would have a stoma on my lower stomach. This would be where I would be "doing my business" from. I would have wafers to attach to my stoma and bags to attach to that. My head was spinning. It felt gross and scary. But I had to do this. I had to live.
A plastic surgeon was brought in. I know right????? Because my anus & rectum was getting removed, I was going to have a huge empty space back there inside me. The plastic surgeon told me that he was brought in for cases like this. He told me that he was going to remove tissue from my thigh and flap it over into my rectum. That would place healthy tissue into my gaping hole back there & promote good healing.
So I was surrounded by family as I lay in the hospital getting ready for the operation. My Mom and my two sisters had taken turns being with me and keeping me company at every appointment and treatment. The main reason I was able to make it through all this horror was because of the the three of them. I'm lucky to have them in my life. Strong and caring women are the best!!
.JPG)
I was wheeled into the operating room and I was put under. 8 hours later, I was woken up by a doctor shaking me gently and shouting my name. I made it. I didn't croak. I was given pain medications, but I still felt a ton of pain. I had a scar below my stomach, a huge scar running down my thigh and a bag attached to my brand new stoma poking out of my stomach. I had drains coming out of a few places in my body. They drained goop from my insides into little plastic containers attached to me. I had the area between my ass cheeks sown up with stitches. I was a wreck, but I felt so great! The tumor was gone. I had survived.
I spent 5 days in the hospital. I dealt with pain issues, trying different medications and all sorts of fun stuff. I had nurses and doctors visiting me 24/7. I love being woken up at 2am for someone to take my temperature and blood pressure. YAY!!!! It wasn't pleasant. But the doctors and the nurses were kind. I had my family taking turns keeping me company. I was loved.
Julie Benz and her husband Rich Orosco called me when I was in the hospital. How cool was that? I was so lucky to have friends like her, James Morrison, Michael Chiklis, Jenny Mollen, Nia Vardalos, Kristen Johnston and more who called or texted me along the way. So many of my Twitter and Facebook friends sent me inspiring messages and made me laugh.
Jenny McCarthy was super duper supportive. Jenny has always been a kind supporter of my charity efforts. She has been there for me checking in during my cancer fight. Jenny has even gone the extra mile by sending me nude texts. I KNOW!!!!! How cool is that? Now THAT IS A FRIEND!! I can never thank her enough for her kindness and making me feel special. And God Jenny, please keep sending those texts!!
So I was ready to go home. The pain had gotten better. I walked like an old man around the hospital to get my legs back. It was awkward. I was told by the docs that I was banned from sitting for the next 4 weeks. Holy fuck!!! So I went home in my sister's car with the seat reclined. I was so happy to be going home. I still had so much to deal with. I was scarred up, beaten up, had a new colostomy to deal with and I still had my liver cancer to overcome. I couldn't sit. I had just begun the fight.......
Thanks for checking in for part 2 of my story. Please check back for Part 3. - Geno
Link to Part 3
