Goodbye "snot slide"

I spent the night with Troy last night. We didn't get much sleep but he is still doing great. The doctors were all happy to hear how active he has already been. He went for his first walk this morning and just finished his second. The nurse just took out the tube that went from his nose to his stomach or as Troy loving calls it his "snot slide." You gotta love Troy's sense of humor.
The pain medicine is making him itch pretty bad so they are going to change from dilaudid to fentanyl and see if it helps.
The nurses and the overall care here at Parkview is sooo much better than Cleveland Clinic. The nurses actually care and really try to take care of Troy's needs plus he doesn't have a roomate! They keep an extra bed in the room just for family. Awesome right? All of this really helps Troy's positive attitude and the more he gives the nurses a hard time the better he is feeling.
Troy was touched to read so many cards that came in the mail recently. Thank you all for caring so much. More updates to come.

Already up to a chair - Doing great!

Troy got up to his room around 6pm and is doing so well! His color is pretty good and he has already been joking around and poking fun at everyone, including the staff. His whole mentality is really different this time than at Cleveland. He sees this surgery as the end of the journey and a start of his life again, versus only a stepping stone and chemo still to go.
He has been eating ice chips and he just got up to a chair. I can't believe how motivated he is to move and then how well he is already on his feet. I know that having already been through this he is better prepared to handle the pain and knows the tricks to moving about with his incision.
It is already so wonderful to see that spirit back in his eyes. I really missed that. Cancer robbed Troy and our family of a full year. During that time you know that things are different but after a while you kind of forget what a normal life felt like and what the sparkle looked like in life. Tonight the sparkle is starting to come back.
He is sleeping next to me. I have never seen a more handsome man.

Surgery - Been There - Done That!

Wow! Crazy morning. Troy went into surgery at 12:30 and by the time we went to lunch and came back for a few minutes he was done! Troy got out of OR at 4:00 and is now recovering from anesthesia. Praise the Lord, he has taken care of his son! The surgery went well. The MD said that he had a LOT of scar tissue and adhesions in his abdomen. It took him two hours just to cut through all the scar tissue and get down to business. Troy did have a fistula, or tunneled pathway, from his pouch to outside his body (that explains a lot of the complications he was having). The doc was able to cut out the pouch and move the exit site over to the right side of his body without complications.
He is going to be pretty sore for the next several days of course but the doc thinks he will do very well. Right now he has a tube down his nose to drain his belly and that will remain in for several days until his bowels start moving again.
I am so thankful that this is the end of the road. I am confident that Troy can now begin putting his life back together and I can't wait till we can get back to church!!!! He has been so strong while enduring so much. I admire him and love him beyond words.
Thank you all so much for the prayers and support. God is faithful and the prayers are heard. The next 8 weeks are going to be tough but through God we will make it through. Our faith and spirit has been forged by fire and God has given us strength beyond our own capability. Troy can now rest easy in God's hands.
More to come. Right now I just want to hold his hand and kiss him.
Alicia