We visited with Dr. Tseng today. It went well.
To bring you up to speed, I enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner where I ate a little bit of everything and seconds of some things.
Unfortunately, my GI tract rebelled over the weekend, making things fairly unpleasant. Fortunately, by Monday it was behaving itself and I feel better than ever.
Dr. Tseng explained that when you don’t use your intestines for two months they forget what their job is. When you remind them by passing food to them, they act out. It’s childish and annoying, but you have to work with them until they are ready to behave.
My new stomach appears to be ready to start behaving. Last night I had a baked potato with lots of toppings for dinner that was the size I used to eat with my old stomach. It never occurred to me I might finish it, but I did.
And my stomach didn’t rebel. Which is very encouraging.
Dr. Tseng is very pleased with my progress.
He is quite impressed with how little weight I have lost. He is pleased in particular with my little tummy roll. Personally, I was hoping the tummy role would go away, but I guess you take your good news in whatever form it presents itself.
I’ve asked to be on the 1000-calorie TPN for another week. This should give me time to build up to the 2500 calories a day I need to maintain weight without it.
After that, if all goes well, I’ll be off TPN forever.
I asked Dr. Tseng if the fact the first round of chemo was so successful indicated my odds of surviving long term were improved. He indicated this was true. People who respond well to the chemo are much more likely to have a positive long term prognosis.
I thought this was true, but this was the first time I had it confirmed. Obviously it make me feel really good.
It looks like I won’t be seeing Dr. Tseng on a regular basis anymore since the surgery phase of this process is complete.
Now it is on to the final round of chemo.
It is scheduled to begin on December 15th. Wish me well.
That was a great update Gary. So happy to hear your body is responding to real food. What a relief.
We have another neighbor going through her first round of chemo treatment right now. we are sending good thoughts, well wishes and prayers to both of you.
Wonderful news. Thanks for the update.
Great news!! I hope the second round of chemo won’t interfere too much with your holiday festivities and that you’ll be able to continue adding foods to your diet. It’s sure good to know you’re more active now!
I’m pretty excited about the real food. I had freshly cooked baked chicken yesterday. It was wonderful. Really wonderful. It’s unfortunate about the neighbor. Obviously I can sympathize. We’ll keep her in our thoughts.
Indeed it is wonderful news. It’s so nice to be moving on, even though that means moving on to more chemo.
I can pretty much eat anything, sort of. It’s just that when I try something new I have to sit back and observe how my stomach reacts. So far new foods have gone pretty well.
It was great to read this latest update, Gary. It certainly seems like you have great doctors, a great support group of friends and family, a great attitude, and a pretty healthy lifestyle. The odds are greatly in your favor, I’d say. Good news.
Hugo
Things are going well. I’m still having challenges adjusting to the new stomach, but things are getting better all the time. I’ll be glad when the whole thing is over.