Since Kim’s family has now been informed, I’m free to post this here.
On October 30, 2008, I presented Kim with an engagement ring, and asked her to my wife. Surpisingly, she has agreed to marry me.
We’ll be setting a date next year after I figure out my longer term work prospects.
First order of business, “Miss I” is really named Kim. Since just about everyone now knows that we’re together, there’s little point in keeping the pretense up any longer.
Fresh out of surgery and with staples still holding me together, we made the trip to Long Island, NY to have Thanksgiving with her family. All 35 of them. Sadly, her uncle is battling cancer and festivities were muted, but everyone managed to be nice in spite of their obvious suffering. No one was particularly focused on the food, and with my limited ability to eat I didn’t mind in the least.
Friday after Thanksgiving included a scare for us as I took a turn for the worse (lethargic and exhibiting a pretty serious set of symptoms). A quick phone call to my surgeon confirmed that I might need to be re-admitted to the hospital. I resisted going to the emergency room 250 miles from home, but Kim was a trooper and got us back to Maryland by late afternoon. The decision all around was to wait and see if the symptoms continued, and if so to head straight to the ER in Baltimore.
Luckily my condition improved and I managed to stay out of the hospital (far too much time there as it is).
Well, not really.
The days right after getting out of the hospital were pretty painful. I was being pretty cautious with the painkillers, and the result was that I under-medicated more than once. The pain was bad enough to wake me from sleep; and getting through that first day before Missi got my prescription filled was pretty bad. By mid-week I had things dialed back, but those first few days sucked.
I’m back on driving prohibition (three weeks), so I’m completely at the mercy of friends and family for rides. I’m sure Rob and Maryann were really annoyed as they ended up driving me home from Scott’s in the wee hours of tuesday night while they were in town.
Saturday after surgery went really well. After managing two laps of the floor on Friday and minor progress on my ability to process food, I was changed to solid food for lunch Saturday. I don’t think hospital food ever tasted so good. I wrapped up the day with a few (walking) laps of the floor. I think the nurses started making fun on me for even still being there.
Sunday morning, the doctor’s were happy enough with my progress to announce the intention to release me by midday. I was free in time to have lunch with the family in an actual restaurant. I pretty sure I overstated the quality of hospital food above…
I’m currently chillin’ in recovery after what was an apparently very successful operation. We won’t have the results of the biopsy for a couple of weeks (when they’ll also remove my 30+ staples), but otherwise I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
I’m currently on a clear diet (broth, jello, juice, etc). Which is astoundingly boring, but at the same time I’m not really able to eat very much at a time anyway. I”m in a small amount of pain, currently well managed by medication. I’m also experiencing a bout of gout (which is apparently not too uncommon after surgery), so I’m dependent of meds to get around and be comfortable. Hopefully, I’ll be leaving the hospital in the next couple of days.
It looks like I’ll be spending Thanksgiving in NYC visiting Missi’s family, and then I’ll be getting my staples out around Dec. 2. Otherwise, you can probably expect to find me at home (which is to say Missi’s place).
I’m waiting for my surgical appointment to start. My original date (last Monday) was postponed until today (Wednesday). Assuming everything goes well, I’ll likely be in the hospital until Saturday or Sunday.
Let’s see. I managed to sprain my ankle late last week. That has kept me from lots of activities I might otherwise have enjoyed if I could walk.
Otherwise the bunch of doctor’s appointments I hobbled through yielded two practical results: my next surgery is scheduled for Nov. 17, and I’m now cleared to drive.
I did spend some time planning a trip to the 2009 Tour de France. I’ve always wanted to see it live, and the route seems optimal for enjoying the finish at Mont Ventoux as well as arrival in Paris (since they’re back-to-back). Besides Lance is supposed to be back at the Tour; possibly going for an eighth overall win at the event.
Not much else going on in my world.
I managed to get to campus last wednesday, but not since. Getting to and from campus is going to involve cars for me, at least for the time being, and until I get cleared to drive, I won’t make it there much. Luckily, I have an appointment on Monday with my surgeon where he might clear me for more activities.
Which reminds me, can anyone give me a lift to Baltimore in time for a 2pm appointment on Monday, Oct. 20?
The results of last week’s CT show the stomach tumor is stable, and the nodule on my lung has shrunk. I’m still looking at a future surgery for the stomach tumor, but the lung nodule is going to be monitored to see if it resolves on it’s own.
Otherwise not much else going on at the moment.
Let me give a brief timeline of the last week by way of update and explanation of my relative absence from life.
[For the record I only figured out that this is non-cancerous a minute ago (why don’t they tell us these things?), and Missi hasn’t even heard yet (she’s asleep).]
So that’s the last week. Hopefully the unanswered e-mails and open questions were addressed in the account. I look forward to hearing from (and seeing!) you all before they put me back under the knife. I’ll also keep you updated on the nodule on my lung (going for a CT tomorrow) as I hear more.
The definitive results won’t be in until later this week, but the preliminary finding is that I have a “GastroIntestinal Stromal Tumor” (GIST). A GIST is a type of sarcoma, which in turn is a type of cancer. It’s pretty rare (of course), about 3,000-3,500 cases in the US annually. The good news is that they’re talking cure not treatment. But it’ll be another open surgery (the tumor is badly placed for lathroscopic surgery).
In other news there is apparently a nodule on my left lung and some kind of spots on my kidney.
My next step is to get another CT scan, this time with IV contrast (or possibly a PET scan). We’ll know more about all of the above masses after that scan. Pending new information from the coming tests, I’ll probably be going back for surgery sometime around mid-november…