All is well here in Miami. I was hoping the doctors would come through earlier today so I held off on an update, especially because there’s nothing major to report. But I’m not sure when they’ll stop by so I thought in the meantime I’d let everyone know he’s still doing just fine.

Eating has been giving Michael some acid and heartburn issues for the last 18 hours or so, which is part of the healing process. It made him not feel like eating breakfast so they gave him some pain and heartburn meds and he’s feeling much better now. In fact, we just came back from four laps around the unit (new record!) and then he downed an Ensure so hes definitely doing better.

Sundays are quiet as a church around here so he should be able to get plenty of sleep today. We’ll still have the weekend doctors on rounds today so I doubt I’ll be able to glean too much info while they’re here but I’ll be back with an evening update either way sometime after 9:00 pm. ❤️

As predicted, today was a very quiet day. There was more walking, sleeping, and a shower but little else to note. The hospital food isn’t too great but they do allow me to get stuff from the cafeteria for Michael so he was pretty happy about a chance to have some familiar and predictable cereal. Even their sugar-free jello is a step up and contains some fruit. 

Michael’s labs and blood sugars look good and he’s having no issues with eating. I’ll spare everyone the squicky details but one of the only lingering issues is with his drain. It’s not causing him any pain or discomfort but they want the drain arrangement to reach a particular benchmark it hasn’t gotten to yet. No one is concerned and it doesn’t mean anything has gone wrong, it’s just taking a while for the drain to do what they want. 

The hospital is really good and they’ve been taking excellent care of Michael. Tomorrow is likely to be another slow news day so I’ll check back in sometime in the mid-morning after the doctor swings through. ❤️

It’s only 8:00 am and Michael has already had a great morning! After what he says was “the best night of sleep he’s had since surgery,” he’s seen the doctor walked around a bit, and sat up in the chair. 

The doctor says Michael continues to do great and he can now have soft food! He even said I’m allowed to bring in any outside food that is on the approved list from the dietician yesterday. The psychological factor of being able to choose his own foods will no doubt be a big help toward his recovery. 

The doctor said everything else with Michael looks just fine and there are no concerns. They would like to see a little less fluid in his drain before they send him home but they’re in no way alarmed by it. Overall, it sounds like that’s the last of the hurdles before they boot us back home. 

Michael is able to hold longer conversations,   stays awake for longer stretches, is joking around, and overall getting back to his old self. The biggest clue that he’s feeling better is when he discreetly asked today if I could acquire a small item for his roommate, who needs something and has no visitors. Five days out from major, major surgery and he’s already looking out for the people around him. Show of hands, who’s thinking, “yeah, that’s the Michael I know”?  He really is the kindest soul. 

Since he’s doing so well and it’s a Saturday, it’s unlikely the doctor will swing by again today so I imagine this evening’s update will be even shorter than this. And that’s what we want because no news is good news. ❤️

Michael had another great day. He spent it slurping jello and juice, sleeping, and then sleeping some more. Eating didn’t give him any unexpected issues but he will still need to take it slow while his system figured out what just happened to it. 

A couple of new data points from the doctor. Today we learned they removed about 15% of his stomach. As a frame of reference, gastric sleeve surgery typically removes about 80% of the stomach, so the fraction they removed from Michael is negligible. The eating challenge is more about the digestive enzymes throughout the GI tract relearning their job than a smaller stomach size being an issue. Since they also removed his gallbladder (standard in this procedure) and the tumor pushed a bunch of organs around to make room for itself, essentially everything in his body that’s related to food management needs to figure out how to work together going forward. So far, they seem to be learning their new jobs well. 

We also learned today that the doctors won’t know if he will need radiation or follow-up chemo until the entire pathology report comes back sometime next week. The good news is that when we asked the doctor, he said it depends on that report and not, “oh gosh yes, you need it as soon as possible.” He then mentioned some positive signs he saw during surgery that also reduce the possibility, but we’ll have to wait for the final report to know for sure. 

And, finally, one of the hospital’s dieticians stopped in to talk about Michael’s future nutritional needs. I won’t bore you with all the details of that but he can eat mostly normally by the time he’s released but will need to avoid hard to digest food for a couple months. So, no cabbage rolls and roasted broccoli for a while, I guess. He should be able to eat nearly anything he wants in the next few weeks (with an eye on what’s best for his diabetes). 

Speaking of boring, I know I’m coughing up a lot of details in these posts and I don’t expect people to give all these long-winded essays their undivided attention. But different people want to know different things so I’m trying to cover all the bases and trying to reduce the number of duplicate questions Michael will be asked down the road. There’s nothing wrong with questions, of course! It means people care! Info dumps like this just seem like the best way to answer as much as possible at one time. 

Tomorrow will probably be the slowest news day yet. Ancillary staff is gone for the weekend so there won’t be any departments other than nursing checking in, and the lead docs are out tomorrow so one of their colleagues will be stopping by in their absence. 

Thanks again for everyone’s support. ❤️

It’s been a busy morning for Michael so this update is a little late, but everything is going well and he hasn’t had any issues or setbacks. Since his tube came out this morning, Michael has been enjoying his water with the gusto of someone rescued from the desert and he’s tolerating it just fine. He had his first water around 7:00 and by 10:00 they said he was getting a full lunch tray of clear foods! If that goes well, he graduates to bland solids and then protein-rich, low-fat regular food.

After the big water moment, Michael got up and showered then we walked a couple laps around the unit. He’s no longer a fall risk so they said he’s free to walk as much as he wants. I figured we’d slowly creep around the unit, but no. He cruised down the hallway at a regular clip and, had it not been for the fancy hospital gown, he could have been mistaken for a visitor. 

The doctor looking after him while his main doctor is out of town says he’s doing wonderfully (he was in the OR so he’s been with Michael from the beginning). He allowed the final IV to come out and, though many patients are routinely sent home with their temporary drain, they may also remove that soon too. He also said his incision looks great and there are no signs of internal leakage at any of the re-connection sites. 

There’s still no word on when he gets to go home but we seem to be getting to that point quickly. They don’t speculate on release dates so patients don’t get their hopes up but they did tell us before surgery of the milestones they watch for and Michael has been leaping over those hurdles like a champ so it won’t be long now. 

This afternoon will be all about seeing how his food settles and also trying to get more sleep. The doctor will probably be back at least once more as well. If you had told me last week or even Monday (especially Monday!) that Michael would be zipping through the halls and ducking into the shower unassisted by Friday I would have laughed myself silly. He is blowing my mind with his recovery process, his attitude, and his rapid healing. 

Is it weird to say I’m proud of him? Well, I am. The last two years have been harder on him than anyone reading this will ever know. He endured ghastly side effects from various treatments, hundreds of tests, multiple letdowns from surgeons who didn’t feel comfortable taking on his case, and endless fear that he’d run out of time to find a definitive treatment. He never lost hope and kept going even when it looked like that hope was running out. Michael has referred to cancer as a battle and I’ve never seen a more heroic warrior in my life. 

I’ll be back tonight after 9:00 with the next update. ❤️

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. ❤️