Apologies for the lack of updates in the last week or so. I’ve been readjusting to life at home and getting things settled back here and just haven’t had the occasion to sit down and fill everyone in on what’s been happening. On that note, this is going to be my last password protected update about the cancer situation. Which, really, is a good thing. There’s not much to tell.

I got home late Sunday night (the 28th). The ride home was a bit of an adventure. We decided before I went into the hospital that we’d get a transport service to bring me home. While we were in the hospital we asked social services to help us arrange that. What we thought we were getting was a private ambulance. What we ended up getting was a van that holds a stretcher driven by two guys with no medical background whatsoever (one of whom was on his fourth day and the other spoke absolutely no English, which was fine with me but his non-Spanish speaking partner was having some issues with it). The ride was uneventful, even somewhat interesting (they took a route through some really wild small towns in the Everglades area that I had no idea existed), but by the time we got home I was very much done with that adventure. Fortunately, Lisa left Miami several hours before I did and she had the house ready for my return, so really all I had to do was walk in the door and go straight to bed.

I have spent the last week or so recuperating around the house. I’m seeing a wound doctor here in St. Pete to monitor the progress on the part of my incision that they had to open during my stay in the hospital, and that is healing well. I also have a home health nurse coming out twice a week to replace my dressing for the vacuum device that is keeping the wound dry. I’ve had follow-up appointments with my endocrinologist and will be seeing my primary care physician soon. My endurance is increasing, and I’m able to move about for longer periods without getting winded. I’m learning how to eat again with my new and improved smaller stomach and lack of pancreatic enzymes, and I think I’ve finally gotten to a point where I can do so without getting stomach cramps (I’m now officially in the “eat small meals throughout the day instead of one big meal” club). I’ve also dropped most, if not all, of the water weight that I brought home from the hospital (I was 268 pounds when I got home…I’m 230 now, which is about where I was when I went in but I suspect my “actual” weight is going to be lower and I’ll see some more water weight shed off this week).

All in all, things are very good. I’m sleeping better, eating better, more mobile and in less pain. I’m incorporating more of my daily activities back into my life, and I’m looking forward to continuing to do so. I haven’t had to worry about pretty much anything other than healing because Lisa has been making sure that nothing falls through the cracks and I have everything I need, just like she has throughout this entire process.

Thanks for caring and reading and your comments over the last two months. I didn’t respond to hardly any of them, but I read them and took comfort in knowing there were people who cared and were invested in a positive outcome on my part.