I made it through surgery!!!

Hello, sports fans!!! The "Kidney Classic" has been a wild ride, but here I sit, Day 6 post-op, and I have to say I feel so damn good, it's something I wish I could bottle up & save for the future.
My wife & best friend Diane, my rock & anchor thru this and many other storms, is upstairs in our room at the Safra Family Lodge, on the Bethesda, MD campus of NIH...she's working on some paperwork stuff for her "Pure Romance" biz, and has a regional sales meeting this afternoon in College Park, close to here, which is why we chose to stay here in Bethesda this weekend, even though I was released from the Clinical Center hospital on Friday evening. The Lodge is a quiet, very comfortable place to transition back into the hubbub of the real world after a big operation like the one I had. The extra two days' rest has done wonders for my energy & helped in the healing process of my surgery incisions...I feel progressively better day by day, and today, I feel really energized & overflowing with joie de vivre...

For those interested in the nephrectomy process, basically the surgeons (the good Drs. Coleman & Novacovic) made 4 small incisions on my left abdomen, in such a way as to provide access for a mini-television camera on a flexible tube, and three lapriscopy multi-tools...the whole surgery is done via the mini-tools, while viewing the proceeding on a wide-screen TV. Dr. Coleman is Dr. Pinto's partner in the urological oncology dept. here at NIH, and stepped in to perform the operation when something came up in Dr. Pinto's personal life that prevented him from being there on Tuesday. (What! He has a personal life? How dare he!!!) He's a great guy, and a great surgeon, and I thank God for him & his skill!!! Anyway, back to the process: the patient's abdomen is inflated with CO2 gas to provide a larger work-space internally. After the kidney, tumor, and any affected tissue is cut loose, the material is placed in a plastic bag while still inside the abdomen, and pulled out through a fifth incision, right below the navel, where muscle & tissue damage can be minimized. The "open" version of a nephrectomy involves a huge horizontal incision transversing the abdomen & affected side, in my case it would have been my left one...removal of a rib would have been necessary, and I probably wouldn't be sitting here typing at a computer terminal at this point in my recovery process. Because of the HUGE size of my tumor (5 1/2 " in diameter, over-and-above the kidney's original size!!!), the removal incision had to be enlarged to almost 8" long, starting just above my navel, and ending at my groin. Amazingly, this doesn't really hurt me that much, and I'm able to walk around, sit down, stand up, and do some mild twisting & turning without too much difficulty...in a couple week's time, I'll have to remind myself to take it easy, or risk damaging the internal stiches, but that's the kind of problem I'm happy to have at this point in my life! Since I'm an inquisitive kind of guy, I asked Dr. Coleman if he'd take a few pictures of the surgical proceedure, so I could get an idea of the process...he enthusiastically agreed, and gave me a DVD of the operation, along with a personally-expedited picture of the diseased kidney & tumor, down in the pathology lab where it's being analyzed, typed, & graded. I haven't seen these pics or the DVD yet, but it should be fascinating viewing, if it doesn't make me barf....
We're heading home to Ocean Pines tomorrow morning, and I'll continue my recovery from surgery in my own casa...more details as they occur, and if I think of anything else amusing I'll post it here as well...

Love to all!!!

Mike