[TroutStalker]

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes from all my friends at FreeRepublic.

I left the hospital last Friday and arrived home Saturday afternoon, and have been slowly gathering strength since then. Although it is great to be home, I have been unable to do much except rest. It is a real treat to be back on FR.

The extent of my surgery was considerably more than what I had been expecting; the x-rays did not show the full extent of the damage to my small intestine. When my surgeon opened me he realized we were in for a long day; what was supposed to be an hour and a half turned into almost six hours. The scar tissue in the small bowel was 30 cm long, and worse, had entangeled both ureters and attached to the back of the abdominal wall, so a kidney surgeon was summoned as well to sever and resection the ureters, which were in bad condition and difficult to suture.

The next five days were only endurable because I believed the Lord has a purpose for my survival, and I absolutely refused to leave my dear wife alone. The PCA pump of fentanyl helped as well.

Again, thanks for your prayers, friends, I know they made a difference.

[Free State Four]

Of course the Lord has a purpose for your survival. You are needed to educate those gun-grabbin' idjits out there!

Good to hear you are back home. No matter how deluxe the hospital room - it's always better at home. Greetings to Mrs. TS and to Max. fsf

PS Bummer about all the surgery you had to endure. What an ordeal!

[Ff--150]

Glory be to God for your complete recovery.

[barker]

Well friend, it's great to see you back on line. Was going to ask kcpopps if he had heard from you. Best to you and Mrs Troutstalker and a speedy recovery

[Alamo-Girl]

Praise God!!! I'm so glad to hear you are recovering! Hugs!!!

[Bahbah]

Missed you. Looking forward to my WSJ articles in the morning with my bagel. So glad you are coming along well.

[KSCITYBOY]

I hope to see you and Max up and about raising a little heck with the libs soon. BTW I understand Crohns is caused by eating toothpaste and washing it down with beer!

[LSAggie]

We're so glad you are safely home, hospitals are no place to be! Stay out of this heat and get plenty of rest, your system has been through quite a shock. Follow your wife's suggestions, she knows best! :-)

[LeeMcCoy]

Thank You, Father, for healing our brother!

[kcpopps]

Well, there's the post (#57) we have all been waiting to see! So good to see you back on the forum.

I know you've been through a tremendous ordeal and you've still got a ways to go before you can resume rasslin' with Max... so take it real easy in the coming weeks and you'll bounce back up.

See you soon.

[KC Burke]

From friends with similar surgery, I know how hard it was to adapt to the post surgical changes at first. When you are totally frustrated, just get on FR and pick a fight, LOL, it will get your mind off it.

I am soooo, glad to hear you are home. Heal up and keep us posted, ol' chum.

[SandyEgo]

So happy to read you're back home! Hope each day brings more improvement with your health.
Sandy

[SunTzu2000]

Hi TS,

I'm very glad to hear everythings going good for.
Something similar happened to my step dad a couple of years ago so I know what you're going through. You're still in my thoughts and prayers.

Best,
Jeff