Now the work begins

We moved up to the main floor on Saturday and got our nice big private room that night.  It did not help with the sleeping yesterday (or tonight for that matter, looking longingly at the clock) but it has the advantage of not being in the ICU.

So, the surgery went kind of as hoped.  In the days going up to surgery, my body was saturated with sandostatin and that prevented the crisis that can be so life threatening.  Most of the tumors around the rectum got removed but not all of them.  Dr. Boudreaux said that my tumor burden is not huge but what I do have are just in some really bad spots.

Surgery was 'only' 13 or so hours this time.  The small intestines were being twisted and bound up by adhesions that were still forming.  I am sure Dr. Boudreaux knew this would be the case and it probably is part of what made him hesitant to do surgery in the first place.  My right ureter was also being constructed considerably by the tumors that they were not able to fully remove in May/July but a semi-permanent stent should help greatly with saving my kidney.

The tumors around the rectum required a colostomy.  I guess that, in some ways, I knew that was a high likelihood but still hoped it could be done without that result.  There is the possibility that the ostomy will be reversible and we may look into that a year down the road but this is just part of the new normal as Steph has started calling it.

I also had a G-J tube installed to allow tube feeding directly into my small intestine as well as venting of my stomach.  The former allows me to be fed a nearly pre-digested food that generates little if any residue for the intestines to dispose.  The latter should help if my intestines start to back up and are unable to process the food in my stomach, reducing the incidence of vomiting or stomach cramps.

As many of you have heard, I do indeed work for the most amazing company in the US.   They have always rewarded me very well financially for the work I perform for them and have done some amazing things to support my family through this cancer process.  This time, they took it over the top.

Maribeth Dwyer, VP of HR at Metron, had been trying to think of something they could do to help us out on this, our fifth trip to New Orleans for this year.  She had already helped out in other ways from gifts to the kids to Avis one day rental car vouchers to books and gift baskets to so many other things that I just cannot detail completely.

On Friday, November 16th, she came up with the ultimate gift.  She went to the top people at Metron and suggested that they fly my kids and their caregivers (my parents) out to New Orleans to join with us for what we hope are the final days of our time down here.  Maribeth says they didn't even blink and said to do it.

How do you accept a give like this?  How do you say thank you loud enough.  I have certainly helped Metron earn money over my 16 years with them but still cannot fathom the kindness that is involved in doing something like this.  I know that these things cannot be done for everyone in the company but to be the recipient of such wonderful consideration makes my heart leap for joy.

Obviously, if you are a math/science geek, I would recommend you check out Metron for work in the Reston, VA, or San Diego area.  They are a cool company that is doing a lot of really cutting edge math, science, physics, and computer science stuff.  I would love to hire people in Colorado Springs for Metron but I know we don't have any openings there currently.  Obviously, one cannot always expect such grand gestures from Metron but the fact that they have done it even once is stunning.

So, enough about Metron, where am I at?  I am struggling with my bowels waking up and getting to the point of eating food.  I anxiously await my first bowel movement (do you really call them bowel movements with a colostomy?) and I am making my slow walks around the fifth floor.  I had the ureetic stents (they glow during surgery to help the doctors locate them) removed on Saturday and will have new semi-permanent stents inserted on Wednesday along with removing the biliary stent.

I hope to be released later this week and am looking forward to seeing my kids and parents on Wednesday.  We have been in NOLA for almost two weeks now and are getting very ready to move on.  I hope recovery will be faster than it was in July/August but know that I don't always achieve what I want.  I smile at each email I get and always look forward to comments on my blog or signatures in the guest book at Stephanie's caring bridge site.

Of course, GO BRONCOS!