Most recent medical news...

Had lab work and saw Dr. Fournier today. Everything looks great. Blood work was fine, and I'm cleared to go home Sunday!

He took out my last two tubes: my J tube (jejunostomy tube), which went directly into my small intestine for nourishment purposes, and the G tube (gastronomy tube). The G tube was the bigger tube, a release valve leading out of my stomach in case I didn't feel well, so I didn't have to vomit out of my mouth and blow out my belly or internal stitches (sorry, medical stuff is gross sometimes). Those were the last of the tubes. He said not to drink for a few hours after he pulled the G tube out of my stomach (which was a weird sensation), as liquid would drain out like it was a bullet hole in a Tom & Jerry cartoon. That's what he said. I didn't try it. But it looked just like a bullet hole.

So all told, tube-wise, I at one point had all of these: 1) a foley catheter, 2) a main IV line on my chest that led into my vena cava artery (right next to my heart, for crying out loud!), 3) a chest tube to drain liquid from my lung area, 4) the G tube, 5) the J tube, 6) another IV line my right arm, 7) some other type of IV line into my left wrist, and 8) the epidural in my back. So when I woke up from the surgery this was me:

These tubes were actually the suckiest thing about this whole experience. Well, that and being stuck here for over a month. And having cancer. Whine whine whine.

Dr. Fournier reviewed the pathology reports with me. There was no further evidence of tumor in the omentum, or in the other samples they took, except for in the diaphragm. But he got all the tumor off of the diaphragm, and he had removed it from the other places he found it, like on my liver and in my pelvic region (as described in this earlier post: http://www.oncoloblogy.com/2010/01/medical-stuff.html). So that is really good news. I have to come back to M.D. Anderson in April for another round of CT scans. 

But this is really good news. You never know, but for now things couldn't have gone better given my situation. 

Ramen.