Taylor’s nephrostomy procedure went well last Monday, 9.25. Her right stent was replaced but unfortunately her kidneys were not in a position to reverse her left nephrostomy tube. Overall the infection is gone and with new hardware Taylor’s kidneys are feeling better, we have an appointment with interventional radiology on 10.20 and we will continue to pursue no more tubes!! 

Monday night 9.25 into Tuesday 9.26 Taylor’s bowel blockage symptoms increased rapidly - extremely nauseous and throwing up quite often. We had conversations with our team again about what’s causing it, either cancer or scar tissue. Because of Taylor’s progressing symptoms they first had to administer and NG tube (not a fun experience) to alleviate her nausea and vomiting then deciding to operate and intervene. They made that decision to operate on Wednesday and Taylor ended up having surgery on Thursday, 9.28. Surgery was a massive success. There is a lot to unpack in this success and I’ll try to explain as succinctly as possible. 

Dr. Latif worked with a general surgeon Dr. Braslow - both teams worked together well and the total surgery was a little over 3 hours. Prior to surgery our oncology team thought cancer and general surgery thought scar tissue were affecting Taylors bowels but the only way to know for sure was surgery. It would seem that in a way both were right. The pathology and biopsy are out to be sure but it seems like the blockage was cancer in conjunction with scar tissue (both teams agreed after surgery). Regardless, they were able to remove all of the affected bowel, all cancer and all scar tissue. Dr. Latif went to all other spots we have been monitoring as well as fully assessed her bowels - he was amazed. Everything was stable and outside of this blockage her bowels were in great shape. Dr. Braslow and Latif conferred and decided to reverse Taylor’s ileostomy!!!! Dr. Latif was beaming when he told us, it was an incredible surprise from such a brutal and unexpected journey.

Taylor is still in quite a bit of pain recovering. You have to remember that last year (crazy that all of this has happened a year apart, touch more on that in a bit) she went into surgery - physically - very healthy. Yes she had a lot of cancer to be removed and quite the sizable tumor but overall she was eating, she was exercising, she felt well enough. This time around Taylor was the weakest she’s ever been. That’s hard to write, it’s hard to read, and it was hard for Taylor to feel. She lost a ton of weight, couldn’t eat, felt terribly, hell even walking was hard. So this recovering is going to be different - it is going to take some serious time.

Like I’ve said before, like it all is - it’s a lot to digest. Obviously we are ecstatic for a successful surgery and bag reversal, but still - it was back. Maybe it’s from before, maybe it’s new, maybe it’s old but it was back. We had 4 scans in 2.5 months. 4. And not a single one caught what was going on. Even as I go back to a week ago today, they were debating scar tissue vs cancer and the only way to know was surgery. Surgery isn’t exactly a thing you can just do on a whim, it’s not an MRI, it’s surgery. Surgery they only did because it was emergent and had to be done so I’ll shoot ya straight - hard to have a ton of confidence when this cancer shows up undetected anytime it wants and starts messing stuff up. 

Hell yeah we’re positive. Taylor and I got this and we’ll continue kicking ass - it’s what we do. But don’t be surprised if this takes time to recover from. Don’t be surprised if we’re not jumping for joy just yet. It was a lot man. Taylor has been in the hospital for 18 DAYS STRAIGHT. 18. I slept over about half of those days, all at Penn (Reno doesn’t let you stay) and I can tell you as not the patient it’s a lot. It’s hard on your mental health. Taylor fought for her life for 3 weeks. I don’t want to be misconstrued as ungrateful or pouty, this is real. This is what we feel. Our vacation was ruined, the month of September vanished, Taylor hasn’t been home in 25 days. So yes everything worked out but damn was it agony to get here. 

We go home today. Maybe this post would’ve had a different tone if I wrote from our couch with Taylor beside me, but I’m not. I’m writing this in the same brown recliner that I’ve sat and both slept in for 2 weeks. I’m tired. Taylor’s tired. It’s soul sucking to sit and stare at hospital walls for weeks on end unsure of what the hell could be going on. And it’s hard that it was a year ago we did something similar, that only 1 year passed and you feel back in the same spot. We had ideas, goals, dreams of what this summer would’ve looked yet it was this. Uncertainty, second guessing, feeling unwell, doing your best. Despite those feelings and what transpired won’t stop us from making new goals, dreams and plans. We will. 

It’s time. We are ready to go home, thankfully with answers, and try to put some of this behind us. We have learned a ton and the one piece of cancer you can’t avoid (well I guess you can if you try) is the experience you gain. We are better prepared to handle this in the future if/when that day comes. 

We are going to relax. Taylor has a road to recover getting her ileostomy wound healed as well as reintroducing a normal diet because in a month she will no longer have any restrictions!! We are going to work on our strength, take more walks and build back up slowly but surely. Get ourselves in a position to fully enjoy the holidays and the gift we received from this surgery. I’ll never be able to thank Dr. Latif and the teams here at Penn enough - once again they have been above and beyond incredible to us, they also massively helped Taylor in her quality of life. We have appointments at the end of the month to keep monitoring the situation so I’m sure you’ll get more updates then, in the meantime I’m going to get my wife home for the first time in what feels like forever and soak in that moment where I can try and feel whole again.