Nov 18th 2025
Well, I can tell you, the stress we were under during those 15 days was incredibly hard to “move on” with normal life. We ended up not celebrating our anniversary. That morning of the 18th, I got out hubbys Christmas presents I had already made / bought and I had decided that “Just in case” I wanted him to have them. I wasn’t sure I was going to survive the surgery. At this point, yes, worried about cancer, but, I was more worried about this hugely invasive surgery that I may not survive.
My husband felt bad the morning of our anniversary ( The day before surgery ) because he, as most men do, was waiting until the last minute to get any gifts for our anniversary. He didn’t have anything for me. I did not care about that. My concern is more for those around me. I wanted him to have my gift because I knew he would need something heartfelt to carry him through the next few days. We spent the remainder of the day crying and talking about my wishes, planning what we needed to take to the hospital to make me the most comfortable etc. It was daunting, and not to mention the entire day I was on a clear liquid diet and had to “purge” my intestines so that there would be no “infection” in case she had to remove more intestines. Sleeping that night did not exist. We were both exhausted, but stressed out.