Recovering AT HOME

 

 

 

Larry came home Sunday and is officially starting his recovery. Management of the pain and eating is his primary goal for the next few weeks. Once he is healed from surgery, another round of chemo is up next.

 

 

Sox it to it Lar...

5th Surgery is in the books

 

Larry's 5th surgery is in the books. It was the longest and the most complicated to date, but in true Larry fashion he is already sitting up and actually walked a little today.

Dr. Salti started at 10:30am and finished around 7:00pm. Here's all that was accomplished:

• Colon removal ✅
• 2 known tumor removal ✅ (with the help of a urologist)
• Ostomy ✅
• Explore the abdominal cavity and remove any tumors ✅
• HIPEC (heated chemo) ✅

 Larry definitely got the full service surgery. With the help of a Urologist Dr. Salti was able to remove the 2 tumors that were by the prostrate and the tailbone. They were causing him a lot of pain so good riddance!  If you remember the doctor was worried he wouldn't be able to get to the tumors, however once he decided to remove the colon it made it much easier. The two doctors felt it was NOT necessary to remove his prostrate, so he at least got to keep that organ!
The ostomy was a success and he was able to place it in a much better spot than his previous one. This will help greatly moving ahead while Larry gets used to shitting in a bag again.
Dr. Salti also did an extensive exploration throughout Larry's abdominal cavity making sure the cancer did not spread to any major organs. Colon cancer likes to spread and spread quickly. We are happy to report that there were no tumors on anything major (ie. liver, lung, etc.). He did find a couple tumors floating around so he removed those.
After Larry was all cleaned out, Dr. Salti went ahead and did another HIPEC. We were not expecting this, however Larry's body responded very well to the first one, so we welcomed the second one.
As you all can imagine it was a LOONNNGGG day. I don't know how surgeons do it...we were exhausted and all we did was sit and wait. We did have a little excitement while in the waiting room. Probably 2 hours into his surgery the lights went out. Literally the electricity went out at the hospital! Not what you want to happen when your loved one is in the operating room. I've never been more grateful for back-up generators! We asked Salti about it and he said that was the first time that has ever happened to him. 

So now what?!?! 

Larry will be in the hospital for maybe a week. As you can imagine his body is in complete shock with everything that was done. Salti did 3 surgeries in 1. Larry's pain is manageable but intense! It seems to be getting better each day. Today he even got up and walked! (Sometimes I think he is not human).
 After he gets released from the hospital he will recover at home for a couple more weeks. Once his doctors feel that he is healed and  his body can handle it, Dr. Stein will start chemo. The tumors that Dr. Salti took out were sent out to be tested. The lab will extract the mutation that is causing the cancer to grow and match it with the best chemo to fight the cancer. In some cases, the best chemo might be chemo that they use for a totally different cancer. THANK YOU to modern medicine and cancer funding!

Again, thank you to the LRM Crew and supporters for all of your positive thoughts, encouraging words, prayers and good vibes. You will never know how much we appreciate it and how much it keeps us going. Please keep them coming as Larry recovers!
As always, I will keep you posted on his recovery.

xoxo

Sox it to it Lar...

No Colon Still Rollin!!

 

Who needs a colon, anyway?! Apparently not my brother.

 

 

 

WOW! Time is such a weird concept when dealing with cancer. I felt like I just typed the previous post, but looking back its been over a month and a half.   

To refresh your memories, I broke the news to you in the last post that Larry's cancer had come back-they found two tumors outside of the colon. We were waiting for the team to meet to discuss next steps..blah blah blah... Well, in the meantime he had a colonoscopy done and they found two more 'spots' inside the colon that we now know are also tumors-one in the ascending colon and the other in the descending colon. DAMN YOU CANCER I HATE YOU! I just want to keep screaming that!
These tumors are quite sizeable and need to come out ASAP. Luckily Larry, had a surgery scheduled for Monday, June 5th already set to remove the other two. So, all the tumors will be removed, as well as, his entire colon! Yep, you read that right - as of Monday afternoon Larry will be colonless. His team of doctors feel this is the best course of action. DAMN YOU CANCER I HATE YOU!
He will sport another colostomy bag.... I don't want to say it will be permanent - there is a 5% chance that if he can go cancer-free for 3 years, they may be able to lift his small intestine and reconnect again, so for right now it is one of those 3 year temporary bags.
The tumors they remove will be sent out and studied to determine the type of chemo needed to fight this cancer FOR GOOD! After he recovers from this surgery he will start yet another round of targeted chemotherapy. DAMN YOU CANCER I HATE YOU!!

As always, keep Larry and my family in your thoughts and prayers. We really could use them right now. This is definitely not the news we were expecting. Like he always does, Larry is facing this news with bravery and optimism but let's face it this all really sucks! DAMN YOU CANCER I HATE YOU!

I will be driving up to Chicago tomorrow to spend some much needed quality time with my family this weekend and then staying for the surgery on Monday.
I will update you after the surgery.

xoxo

Sox it to it Lar....