Honestly, my health was still pretty shitty but I was lucky enough to take a job where I strictly worked from home and only went to the corporate office every few months and traveled for some meetings.  It was perfect for me and my continued failing health.  Great company, great benefits and I could work in my pajamas!

I had more surgeries during this time for other hernias that popped up from previous incisions, I had my port removed and then replaced.  But the one thing by this point is that my sinus problems had finally seemed to resolve enough to become manageable.  My asthma was still getting worse and then I was also given an additional diagnosis of COPD stage 2.

I had a lot of nausea, I now had severe erosive gastritis as well and my pcp moved and I was left to find a new dr.  I cannot even explain how devastating that is to a patient like me.  You can’t just walk in any new dr and say oh this is what I have…..I did find a new pcp and still getting comfortable with him after several years.

I was having a lot of chest pain and abdominal pain in the summer of 2015 and they ordered a ct scan.  The hole in my diaphragm had now become a little larger than a grapefruit and all of my stomach was residing in my chest cavity.  More surgery….

I saw 3 different surgeons before finding one in KC that I felt comfortable with and eventually surgery was scheduled for a partial gastrectomy, due to precancerous polyps, erosive gastritis and they would try to do something with the diaphragm if possible, if not possibly tack the remainder of my stomach to my abdominal wall to keep it out of my chest.

I was pretty fat at this time from years and years of high dose steroids and just loving food!  So I thought well this is similar to weight loss surgery so at least maybe I can lose some weight.  Some.  Two weeks before surgery I had to go to a soft and liquid diet.  Protein drinks, applesauce, pudding, jello, chicken broth.  By surgery day I was already down 19 pounds.  Surgery was scheduled for January 20, 2016 and I was freaking out.