They just took his tube out and he’s having water and jello!!!!!!!! I’ll be back with a longer update after morning rounds but they took his tube out and told him to start slow with the liquids and if they don’t cause issues then they’ll move to Ensure shortly.

This is a big deal for two reasons. First, it’s an important indicator that his system is working well and he is progressing nicely. Second, but no less important, is the psychological factor. The tube itself wasn’t intolerable but the thirst it was causing very nearly was intolerable. As I’m sure everyone reading this has experienced at some point, nagging physical discomfort issues when you’re not feeling well takes an unwanted toll on the brain. But now it’s gone and he’s much more comfortable, which is ultimately good for the healing process.

I’ll be back with a longer update once the doctors roll through. ❤️

Plenty of good news today and no setbacks. Michael was moved to a regular room this evening so he’s that much closer to being sent home. It’s a shared room, which isn’t ideal since we were spoiled by the expanse and solitude of ICU but it’s only a few days so we’ll make the best of it. 

Michael continues to feel better and better. All his IVs are out now, except for the bag of liquid calories they’re giving him until he can eat. His pain is about a three (1-10 scale), he’s moving around very well, and even watched a movie on the in-room TV today. He also walked from the hallway to his new bed without assistance. Vitals, labs, blood sugar, and all the other bodily details they’re monitoring are all looking good.

The tube into Michael’s stomach continues to drive him nuts but all things point to it coming out tomorrow. Here’s a funny side note that I’m sure will make everyone say, “oh, he *must* be feeling better.” Michael is allowed ice chips right now but he hasn’t had solid food since last Saturday so he’s very hungry. Yesterday I said that I wouldn’t be surprised if he never wanted to see another ice cube again for the rest of his life after living off them for so many days. He said, “it’s not so bad because it’s the good ice.” Today he told me he researched ice makers overnight and we may be getting one so we can make good ice at home. 🤓

There’s really nothing else to report because it was a very low-key day. Even the staff was mostly hands-off because he doesn’t need much medical attention anymore (if a problem had come up I was there the whole time). Expect more monotonous updates like this for the next few days because the only real bridge left to get across is re-introducing food to his system. 

I’ll close with a fun data point. It took roughly 35 staples to close Michael’s incision. Here is a picture of it, posted with permission, if you want to see what his scar will look like. The picture is not gory and was taken the day after surgery so the entire area is clean, but I realize not everyone wants to see something like that so you’ll have to click the link to get to it. 

And finally, a quick note from me. I know these posts are a little scattered sometimes but I’m spinning a lot of plates and running on no sleep. If something doesn’t make sense, feel free to ask for clarification. Although it goes against every editor bone in my body, I don’t always proof these before I post. 😉

I’ll be back tomorrow morning sometime after 8:00 with a new update (probably late morning because we’re on a new schedule with the doctor’s rounds). ❤️

More good news this morning! Let’s start with a quote from the lead doctor. “I am very pleased with your progress, young man!” He gave the go ahead for Michael to move to a regular room so that will happen later today. There’s no prescribed time for these things, he’ll go as soon as a bed is available so it could be an hour or it could be 12. He also told Michael that his colleagues will continue to visit, monitor, and report to him because he’s leaving town today. He said he’ll be gone for a week and “hopes Michael will already be home before he’s back.” (!!!!!!!!!) That was not an official forecast of when he might go home so it’s important not to worry if there’s no more talk of release dates for the next few days.

Michael did a couple more laps around the unit overnight and has already been up in the chair today. His (expected) puffiness and fluid retention continues to decrease and the good kind of GI activity they look for continues to increase. The tube he wants out so badly will need to stay in another day, unfortunately, but that’s precautionary and not because anything is going wrong. Michael’s labs, vitals, and overall presentation continue to look great and none of the doctors or nursing staff have any concerns. His pain has decreased to the point that he’s just taking Tylenol and he’s moving around so well that it’s actually a little weird. I mean, I saw the scar so I know he had the surgery but when he wants to turn over he just flips himself like a pancake and goes back to sleep. Three days ago he could barely raise his arm so his progress has been absolutely remarkable.

I expect today to be another slow news day, which is good. He will eventually move to a regular room at some point and then sleep and eat the occasional ice chip until that darn tube comes out. At that point, he’ll start on clear liquids, then puréed food, then solid. They want to make sure that nothing he ingests or does causes any of the reattached areas to leak so this will all happen slowly over a few days.

Unless anything comes up, I’ll be back with an update sometime after 9:00ish tonight. Thank you all. ❤️

Good news from the doctor visit this morning, Michael is doing well and could be moved as early as this afternoon to a regular room! Some of his tubes and wires are staying in a while longer but they’re gradually starting to remove some as he grows stronger.

I have a small correction to last night’s post because I got a bit more information on what all went on during surgery and there was a piece I haven’t known until this morning. It turns out they did need to do some disconnecting and reconnecting in three separate areas of his stomach and intestines. It doesn’t change anything else we already knew or alter his recovery plans, it’s just a data point I wanted to correct.

The doctors say Michael is healing well and looking good so he has been instructed to just keep resting so he can get stronger and get the heck out of here. I’ve passed along your good wishes and he asked me to thank everyone for their support.

I’ll return here tonight with another update. ❤️

Michael continues to improve and is doing great. He feels a whole lot better than yesterday and was able to spend some time sitting up in a chair. Tomorrow they will walk him around and get him moving a bit more, and may even move him to a regular room. The ICU staff says his doctor favors patients staying in ICU as long as possible so if he is not moved tomorrow, that doesn’t indicate a setback or concern.

If Michael were writing this he would say the biggest event in his day was getting ice chips. He was very thirsty after surgery but had to wait until today to be approved for ice and he says that delay was actually worse than any post surgical pain he had. I spent the entire day feeding him tiny ice cubes out of a cup like a baby sparrow. 😊 Other than that and some back pain from lying immobilized in the OR for 10 or so hours, he’s feeling physically okay and not in any kind of distress or intolerable pain. He also continues to be in good spirits and is beginning to come out of the anesthesia brain fog he was dealing with yesterday.

The surgeon stopped in this morning and is very happy with Michael’s progress. Right now there’s a lot of watching and waiting and not a lot of prognosticating about release dates and long-term health management because the medical team is focused right now on just making sure he stays healthy, heals well, and gets stronger. They didn’t end up needing to meddle with his intestines and such, so recovery will be easier (relatively speaking, of course) than first anticipated but it’s still going to be a lot. What all it entails remains to be seen, including whether he will need chemo and/or radiation, but we’ll know more in the next few days.

I’ll share a little more about the surgery now, so if you’re squeamish this is where to stop reading.

Information is still coming in about exactly what all went on during surgery because, frankly, even the surgeons seem a little floored about it all. Multiple surgeons across his team and the ICU have mentioned that Michael is — and I quote — a medical miracle. Despite the tumor’s size, placement, and vein/organ involvement, it did very little damage. As expected, they did take all but a tiny piece of his pancreas. However all the potential GI involvement did not come into play after all so rather than losing parts of his stomach, intestines, and an assortment of veins, they were able to snip the tumor out and leave nearly everything around it intact. In fact, even the blood vessel that’s been the source of so much worry sprang back to life after they routed it out like a bad storm drain.

Michael required over a dozen units of blood, which was a combination of his own cleaned and recycled blood and donor blood. As one of the doctors put it, that was a “transplant-level” amount of blood for a procedure that usually lasts only four hours or so and requires none.

They sent a quick cross-section of the tumor to pathology during the surgery and it came back as a Grade One (very good and no change to the original biopsy report from two years ago), but the doctor said he can’t confirm it’s a G1 until the final report is in. He was able to confirm that it was well-differentiated, which means it had clean lines and didn’t have a lot of cancer-containing tendrils reaching out into the surrounding tissue. That is also very good. And, best of all, they said they didn’t see any evidence of metastasis or organ involvement elsewhere.

I’ve been passing along everyone’s support and well wishes. It’s meant so much to us both. That’s all for now. I’ll check back in tomorrow. ❤️

Visiting hours aren’t for a couple hours yet but I’ve been in touch with Michael’s overnight nurse and he’s doing well. I’ve also chatted with Michael briefly this morning and he’s exhausted but in great spirits. He says his biggest challenge is unrelenting thirst but he’s not allowed to have anything by mouth yet. Hospital staff says they hope to get his stomach tube out this morning and then he’ll be allowed water.

Today’s activities include sitting him up in a chair later this morning so he can start moving around and we’ll also see the doctor today for a full report. The brief highlights we got from the ICU surgeon last night were really, really good. The major, most dangerous concerns they had about the tumor placement and the procedure itself ended up not being issues and preliminary reports indicate they didn’t have to do a whole lot of mucking around with things like his intestines, so that’s great news for his general recovery.

I will update again this afternoon or evening when I know more. I don’t have any details about recovery and expected length of stay yet but I’m sure we’ll find out today. In the meantime, know that Michael is out of the surgical/post-surgical woods, his vitals and labs are great, and his pain is being well managed (he says his biggest pain issue is back pain from all the lying down and immobility, not from the incision itself). And the most important tidbit bears repeating. THEY GOT THE WHOLE TUMOR!

It took about nine hours, but the surgeon was able to remove the tumor! Michael is out of surgery but isn’t awake so I haven’t seen him yet and have no other details. He will spend the night in ICU (as expected, we were told in advance) but I literally don’t know a single thing beyond that as I haven’t seen the doctor yet either. But the important things are that he is safe and the tumor is GONE.

I will not update again until tomorrow but by then I should have a lot more information to share. Thank you all for your support.

Lisa