November 13th, 7th day post-surgery

Since I was admitted, my doctor has come to check on me almost every morning and evening, except on Sundays.
Even though surgeons are so busy, he would stop by in his post-op scrubs or drop in before heading home.
He is very attentive, or perhaps I should say thorough.

He came by during breakfast today as well and gave me permission to take a shower.
Then, he casually mentioned that the pathology results were in, there was no metastasis, and we should proceed with follow-up observations.
He said I should have an endoscopy at the beginning of the year, and if everything goes well, we can close the stoma around February.

Thank goodness.
I felt relieved for the time being.

My personal information was leaked to everyone in the six-person room because his voice was loud enough for them all to hear.
Thanks to that, after the doctor left, the others in the room spoke to me, and since that day, we've been watching the sunrise and sunset together and talking a lot.

After feeling refreshed from my first shower in a while, I did my second stoma change.
The swelling had gone down since the surgery and the size had decreased a little, but I still felt like, 'Wow, it's huge.'
I became quite anxious, wondering if I would be able to get along with this little one.

The nurse told me, 'You're so calm.'
'As expected of a caregiver!'
But inside my head, I was in a total panic.
At the day service where I work, the clients with stomas all change them themselves, so I told her that this was my first time touching a stoma or pouch.
Somehow, I managed to finish it safely again today.

Ah, I feel so refreshed in many ways.

Since I started talking to the people in my room, I feel like time has been passing a little faster.
In the surgical ward, everyone has different illnesses, but I felt that being in the same room at this time was a kind of fate.