Maybe out of hospital tomorrow!

Dr Wang just stopped by and discussed where we are at.  He removed one of the three drains that I have remaining in me and shortened the tubing on another.  As long as nothing changes negatively tonight, he said that he will probably be discharging us tomorrow!  Yes, Yes, Yes, I know I said 2-3 more days in the hospital but you already knew that I was not a doctor!

We discussed long term treatment and followup care and we will re-evaluate the drains before leaving NOLA to see if they can be taken out.  We will then come back to NOLA in about 3 months to get the full office workup and plans for the future.

Dr. Wang is really hot on the idea of the multi-viceral transplant and really thinks I am a good candidate for this procedure.  I have tumors everywhere in my gut.  I have tumors on and in the intestines, in the liver, on the peritineum, on the rectum, on the ureter, ...  Surgery right now on those tumors means fighting through all the scars from previous surgeries and there are just too many tumors to address.

Multi-viceral transplantation is taking the entire gut (intestine, liver, kidneys,...) as a single contained unit, removing it, and replacing it with another.  While any transplantation is difficult, this is actually somewhat simple (for a transplantation) because there are only a small number of veins and arteries to connect.  There have been a number of successes with this and, while almost certainly requiring a colostomy bag, could lead to a long term solution.  Some of those who have had this treatment event are able to get complete off of anti-rejection drugs from the transplant!

Ideal candidates are folks with many tumor sites (check), no tumors elsewhere in the body (check), and are in good physical shape (check).  There is, of course, even the possibility of complete cure as long as the cancer is contained completely in the gut which we think is likely true.  Will we do this?  No clue.  It remains to be seen and may start evaluating the possibility in three months when we return to the clinic.

So, anyway, off to the hope loge tomorrow and another couple of days in NOLA before heading home to Colorado Springs to complete my recovery from this surgery!