Luckiest man on earth

The weekend of my birthday, my greatest pals Amber, Marty, Jon, and Juliet held a wine and cheese “funraiser” for me and invited my friends in CA.  They raised over $3000.  My best friend and former co-worker Matt passed the hat at my previous job.  My old colleagues in San Francisco contributed over $800.  On the east coast, Alex and I had a birthday fundraiser that same night as the west coast party. Our friends in New York donated over $1300.  Not to mention, my family who has been providing substantial monetary support and goodwill since my diagnosis.  I count myself lucky to have such an incredibly generous and supportive network of friends and family.  I am truly blessed.  Thank you. 

Surgery

On Friday Alex and I met again with my surgeon.  The surgery will be a lower anterior resection to remove the tumor and some lymph nodes.  It will take about 5 hours.  It’s scheduled for January 12 just over 8 weeks after my last radiation treatment.  Why the wait?  The reason is because the radiation is still conducting a nuclear war on my tumor.  They will put in a temporary ileostomy (bag from the small intestine that will divert intestinal contents so that the surgical area can heal).  If possible the surgery will be done laporoscopically via my back door (i.e. with a camera and small incisions), which has a faster recovery rate.  Otherwise I will have a traditional open-abdomen surgery.  The risk of a permanent colostomy is low. 

I will be in the hospital for approximately 5 days after the surgery.  Alex calculated that I’ve lost about 8 lbs since my treatments started.  So she’s making sure my skinny butt eats more fat.  The post-operative chemo will begin again a few weeks after surgery.  This is what my surgeon calls a chemo sandwich.  I originally understood that the ileostomy would be for 6-8 weeks, but now the doctors recommend that I keep it until the chemo is over in six months.  This is so the post-operative chemo will affect any remaining cancer cells as soon as possible.  In colorectal cancer patients there is a high chance of reoccurrence or spreading to other organs like the liver