I spent the entire month of December recovering from the surgery. According to my surgeon, I had about 10" of my colon removed. It was so heavy that the robot couldn't handle it and she had to reach her whole hand inside me to pull it out. Incidentally, I didn't realize the colon and the large intestine are the same thing. I always thought the colon was the bottom section, or something like that.
My mom stayed with us for a couple weeks right after surgery to help out with the boys, cook meals, clean and offer emotional support. I couldn't use my abdominal muscles at all, but fortunately the personal training I had been doing all year prepared me for this whole situation; my squat game is tight!
On December 19th I mustered the strength to drive with my mother and the boys to St. George (4 hours away) to attend our annual Gowen Family Christmas gathering. I developed I nasty cough on the way and lost my voice, so I had to spend the weekend on my back, silently watching the good times.
A couple CT scans and an MRI confirmed that the cancer had moved to my liver, so the tumor was shipped off for genetic testing. This helps dial in the chemotherapy for a more effective treatment. I'm also being examined for participation with a research study drug.
I met with my oncologist and went over all the aspects of having cancer and preparing for chemotherapy. The prognosis was good, there were only a couple spots on my liver and nothing showing beyond that. This allowed me plenty of time to recover from surgery before jumping into the chemo.
By the end of January I was back to full health and ready to begin chemotherapy treatment on Monday, February 10th.
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