Well I made it home!! Actually… I flew home two days ago and have been hiding out happily in my own home with my wife and daughter recovering quite well.  

The travel day was pretty strenuous… I was very exhausted when we arrived home and very happy to crawl in to my own bed that night.  It’s funny that the hospital is supposed to be a safe place who can respond to issues immediately and can keep an eye on me, ensuring that I’m remaining healthy and on the right track.  Yet at the same time… it’s kind of intense.  Someone coming in to take your vitals every two hours (all night long)… a lady coming in every morning at 4:00 am to take blood (which requires a very bright light by the way)… then multiple groups of doctors, nurses, and pain specialists who visit you pretty constantly throughout the morning (starting at 5:30 am)… By 4:00 pm you’re tired… you’re hungry and you’re pretty sure you haven’t walked enough.  You nap randomly throughout the day… and really short stints throughout the night.  I don’t remember actually sleeping longer than 2 or 3 hours at any one time the entire time I was in there… lol.  Needless to say… my first night home I slept a solid 12 hours and honestly don’t remember ever appreciating my home and my bed as much as I did that night.  

All that being said… UCSD was awesome… and the care I received there was nothing short of amazing.  All the nurses, doctors, students and even the janitors were so great. I wish I was closer so I could swing by and bring them some coffee on my way to work… lol… seriously I feel I owe them all so much.  

Now… I’m sitting at home recovering, catching up on some more reading and really not helping at all with the household chores… (I really feel terrible about that… as I watch Monica out mowing the lawn… lol).  But I was told not to lift more than a jug of milk for the next 5 weeks so I’m kind of useless I feel like.  I’m still sore… but it’s not unbearable… and I still get in and out of bed and chairs like a pregnant woman… but that’s not unbearable either.  I’ve been walking regularly… (as I was instructed)… and I find it’s the one thing I can do where I don’t feel like a slug.  So every hour I head outside and walk.  As for eating… I’m sticking to soups and soft foods mostly.  But I indulged yesterday when my wife made me a grilled cheese sandwich to go with my soup… (omg btw!!! It was outstanding!!!!) I’ve had some saltine crackers and squash and some soft pasta.  But really the eating has gone pretty well.  I’ll probably take it easy without pushing the envelope too much… adding new things each day to see how my digestive track takes things.  So I’d say that about sums up my recovery as of now.  Very NOT exciting… but moving along.  

I did however get the pathology back on my colon (well 1/3rd of my colon).  It seems they were able to get 25 lymph nodes out of the section that was removed and there was NO signs of disease in any of them.  So Woo Hoo on that!!!! (Kind of makes me wonder why they had to take the damn thing out… but oh well… lol) So at this point I’m waiting to hear back from the UCSD “tumor board” about their recommendations going forward now that they have my entire case in front of them. Monica and I have two appointments with local medical oncologists to establish a local person for my care going forward.  And we’ll see where we go from here.  As I mentioned before… it’s possible they may still recommend chemo therapy regardless of the negative results on my lymph nodes… but we’ll see.  Either way… at this point… my body is showing NED… (No Evidence of Disease)… and I’m feeling pretty good about that.  I’ll be monitoring with CT’s and MRI’s every six months for the next… well probably forever… lol!! I’ll certainly throw out another update once I get any new word back from UCSD… or if any new information at all comes to light.  

Thanks again to everyone for keeping up with me.  Your thoughts and prayers have made this whole ordeal so much better.  You guys all rock!!! And don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at all!!! I’m happy to answer anything!!