Sara has had some follow-up appointments since the last blog update, but the most important bit of information is that the colon tumor surgery is still scheduled for Tuesday, September 20.

She had a colonoscopy last Friday, and it seems like the colon tumor has shrunk a lot, but the surgeon will still need to biopsy it and confirm whether there are any active cancer cells in the tumor. Sara was hoping that the colostomy might be able to be reversed, but it looks like an intermediate surgery for an ileostomy may take place first. It sounds a bit confusing, but the basic definition for an “ostomy” is :  “Ostomy surgery involves taking a portion of your digestive [or urinary] tract and redirecting it outside of the body.” However there are 4 different types of colostomies alone and any type of ostomy may be temporary or permanent. To complicate things further, the colostomy must have gotten lonely because it has also developed a hernia. Hernia surgery is kind of low on the priority list for now, but it will take place at some point. Basically, the doctor won’t know for sure until she gets inside Sara’s system, but obviously we are hoping for the best possible outcome! So next time you are complaining to yourself about this or that ailment, just remember everything Sara is powering through and trying to maintain a semblance of a normal life…

My 19 year old son and I will be arriving on Sunday. His contribution will be to keep two lively teen/pre-teen boys busy, distracted and active when they aren’t in school, while I help out on the home front and in the hospital (my son is only staying for 5 days since he has to get back to college). I plan to stay until October 3 and hopefully Sara’s recovery in the hospital won’t be as arduous as it was for the January liver surgery, because we have some fun planned for her younger son over the weekend of October 1. Yes, it involves horses 🙂 .

Disclaimer:  The cartoon character is not meant to resemble any specific person, living or otherwise. In fact I have no idea what Sara’s surgeon looks like, but I know the surgeon is female and this clip art rendition looked friendly and competent!

• Uncategorized