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Just got a text from Dad - they are officially home! Heading over there after work...

HEADING HOME!!!

Dad just called to tell me that the appointments for lab work and with the surgeon and nutritionist all went well and that he was released to come home. They are heading back to Sugar Land right now from MD Anderson to pack and will be driving back to Cleburne tomorrrow!

He will head back to Houston for follow ups in August but won't have any additional treatment in the meantime. For now, he will keep a food and drink diary for weekly submission to the nutritionist and the surgeon's physician assistant. He will still have the feeding tube for awhile but they are adjusting it to only be connected at night so he can be "untethered" during the day. No travel for awhile still, esp. because of the feeding tube, but he says his energy level is improving. Mom said the surgeon called Dad a "stellar patient" in part to how he looked, how he responded to the chemo/radiation prior to surgery, and recovery thus far.

As you can imagine, I am very excited, relieved, happy and a whole host of other emotions!

"Home" Stretch?

Well, it's Wednesday and we're hoping that Dad gets the green light to head home to Cleburne when he has his post-surgery follow up appointments tomorrow AM. Cross your fingers! Mom and Dad haven't been home since Sun. 4/26 so I'm sure they are anxious to get home and sleep in their own bed again.

Here's a picture Mom sent me from Jon & Crystal's visit last Thursday.

He's out of the hospital!

Hi folks,

Dad left MD Anderson this afternoon about 2pm and is settling in at Mom's cousin's house for the next week or so. Let's hope he's a good houseguest! ;-) Hopefully he'll be up for a picture soon so you can see for yourself how he's doing post surgery. I understand he's maintained his weight relatively well bouncing between 200-210 lbs.

Release from Hospital

There was a rumor about this yesterday but I didn't want to post it until I knew for sure. Dad is being released from the hospital today! He called me this AM to confirm and he seemed very upbeat about it. He can't head home to Cleburne just yet but hopefully after his follow up on Thu. 5/21 he will be able to. So they will be hanging out in Houston until then with Mom's wonderful cousin.

Weekend Update

Dad seems to be making a turn for the better. He ate some Honey Nut Cheerios w/2% milk on Saturday and has been drinking orange Gatorade. They removed his fall risk wrist band and we got the pathology report back. The tumor they removed had shrunk 50% and was less than 2 cm when they removed it. The samples they took during surgery all came back negative for cancer too! Of course this is really good to hear.

He seems to be resting better and trying to work solid foods back into his diet. Depending on his review today, he may be discharged on Tuesday. We are not sure if he will have to stay in the Houston area for 5-7 days or if he'll be able to go straight home.

Cross your fingers!

Friday

Hi everyone,

I'm glad to report that Mom & Dad were finally able to see the doctor at the same time to recap the week. Dr. Pisters had been out of town which we knew but then Mom was missing the doctors when they were making their rounds since it was before she would arrive or after she would head out for the day. Anyway, they had taken several x-rays of Dad's chest and abdomen area and a CT scan this week. They were monitoring what turned out to be a pocket of fluid that was in his abdomen area caused by a leak near his stomach and intestine. The leak seems to have sealed itself based on today's x-ray and that may have been what was causing Dad's pain. Dr. Pisters thought Dad looked good and was doing well. They will see how he does over the weekend and go from there. Hopefully now that the leak seems to be ok, he will be able to resume his strolls around the nurse's station and breathing exercises to workout his lungs.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers!

Wednesday/Thursday

Dad seems to be back on track. He got a real shower and shave yesterday morning and resumed using the feeding tube. Jonathan's wife, Crystal, came in Monday night for a quick visit Tuesday before heading back to Fort Worth on Wednesday. Dad also had a visit from an old friend in Houston, Greg. So he seems to be doing well. I sent some family photos on regular printer paper to liven up his hospital room since that doesn't take up too much space. Mom also mentioned he watched a movie on his laptop Tuesday or Wednesday so that's good to hear since he didn't even want the TV on last week when I was there.

Monday evening/Tuesday morning

Mom said Dad's order for pain meds via IV came through about 5:30 pm last night so he was doing better before she left around 6pm. So far today, he's doing much better. He had a chest x-ray this AM as they are checking him for infection. He'll have a CAT scan soon as well. But even the nurse commented on how he really is quite a talker when he's feeling better so that's a good sign.

Monday

Dad seems to be on the recovery roller coaster. He had a less than stellar day on Saturday but seemed to perk up yesterday only to have his worst day yet today with nausea and pain. They took out the epidural, which was how they were delivering his pain meds which allowed him to push a button up to every 10 minutes, and the catheter. The pain meds via the epidural worked better than the oral pain meds he was switched to today because he's been hurting most of the afternoon which has caused his blood pressure to rise. They took another x-ray (had one Saturday too) and we're waiting to hear the results. Send good thoughts to Mom since she's there with him helping him get through it.

Sunday

Here is today's update from Mom in Houston. When she arrived just after 10am (she finally slept in a bit!), Dad was resting but had already been up and about. He reported that he was feeling better today and his feeding tube is up to 30 cc/hr now. The nurse cleared him to start drinking clear liquids again so Mom promptly ordered him a Diet Sprite and orange Jello. It sounds like the epidural line and catheter might come out tomorrow so he'll be down a couple more tubes.

I got an email from him this evening that he forwarded from his bosses' wife so he must be doing better. (Get some rest Dad-work isn't going anywhere!)

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Stay tuned!

Friday & Saturday

Sorry for the break in reporting - it's been a busy couple of days! I left Houston just after lunch Friday afternoon. It was hard to leave Mom and Dad but I know they are in good hands. On Friday afternoon they decreased Dad's IV fluids and increased his feeding tube. He also received some additional sodium phosphate, a shot of Heparin to thin his blood, and then he was able to rest quite a bit so he didn't need as much pain medicine. His blood pressure was up slightly but it moderates right after he has his dose of medicine. Overfall he said he was feeling pretty puny when I talked to him Friday evening.

When I spoke to Mom this afternoon he was still a bit iffy thanks to nausea. His incision is still a little leaky but they are monitoring it and will determine if they need to reopen it, pack it and then re-close it. Overall the doctors are pleased with his progress and hope to remove the catheter and epidural to move to oral pain meds.