More progress

April 23: I'm making progress with the recovery. I only take Ibuprofen at night and the incision pain is now reduced to feeling like a bad sunburn. My mom and sister visited us this past weekend. We took an outing to the Everett Home and Garden Show. This is only the second time I've been out of the house in four weeks. It went well - I just had a little pain later in the evening from sitting upright in the car and at lunch. Walking doesn't seem to inflict any pain so I'm up to about a mile a day now.

Progress

April 14: The doctor was very pleased with my progress. I had a follow-up visit with him last Tuesday. He had me switch from Tylenol to Ibuprofen to releive the incision pain. There's about a 3" wide pain path on both sides of the incision. Still no lifting anything heavier than a laptop until six weeks. Yesterday was three weeks post surgery. I was able to tie my shoes for the first time - a real milestone.

The surveillance program starts in early May. I will have a blood tumor marker test, chest x-ray and a check-up with the Oncologist. This will happen every two months for the first two years. I will get a CT scan six months from the surgery date and another one at the year mark. In years 3 and 4, the schedule extends to every four months for the tumor marker/chest x-ray and once a year for the CT scan.

For Nicholas and others

April 8: Many times during my treatment and experience with cancer, I've gotten into a frame of mind that this is pretty bad for me. But I always catch myself and think about Nicholas. Nicholas is my cousin's 4 year old son who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia a few weeks before my diagnosis. Not all cancers are alike and his treatment is much more intensive than mine and much longer. While I complained about a 12 week chemo cycle, his is about three years. Read Nicholas' blog. My cousin (Nicholas' mother) is raising money for cancer research through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training program. She will run in the San Diego Marathon on June 3. She is driven by the hope that some day no parent will ever have to hear what they did. Team in Training

Other worthy cancer research organizations:
American Cancer Society
LiveStrong Foundation

While cancer may not be eliminated in my lifetime, I have hope that it will be brought under more control for Nicholas' generation.

Hospital Experience

April 7: My stay in the hospital lasted 6 nights. It was the first time I've ever stayed in a hospital. Overall, it went well. But I learned if you need sleep, don't look to get much in a hospital. With every shift change, the techs checked my temperature and blood pressure. In addition to that, they checked blood sugar levels at least once a day and drew blood every morning. The wake up call at about 5:15 am each morning was to have some blood drawn - not a pleasant way to wake-up. I found the hospital to be generally very noisy especially at night. I moved three times during my stay. The first night I was in the intensive care unit. Then, the next afternoon they moved me to the 15th floor where I stayed one night. Finally, bed space opened up on the 17th floor which is where the Urology patients were located and where my doctors wanted me to be. I was lucky enough to get a window spot and had a good view of downtown Seattle and regions south. My first roomate on the 17th floor was recovering from pneomonia and complicated by a weak heart condition. He had a rough night and next morning became unresponsive. The medical emergency team was called to our room and they transported him to intensive care. Never a dull moment. When it came time for me to leave, I was all too happy to get out of there.

Staples removed

April 2: I had the staples removed and despite what I heard from other people, it really hurt! They were left in a little too long and the skin started growing over some of them. 10 days was too long. But it's done now. They put strapping tape type sutures to hold the incision together. Recovery is going okay but it's really slow. I tried eliminating the pain pills but it's too soon. Sherry and I walk 2 - 3 times per day just down the block and back. Walking doesn't seem to bother me as much as getting up and down from sitting or laying. Patience is the key.