Sorry for the long gap between posts.  There hasn’t been any real changes until last Friday when I met with the Surgeon.

Since my last treatment, I have steadily been recovering from the various side effects that I experienced during the chemo. My taste is nearly all back, and my energy level has risen significantly. I have been healing and all of my superficial wounds that lingered over the 6 months have healed (mostly, there is still one on my right big toe that is slowly improving). Mainly now I still have some mild neuropathy ( numbness in my fingers) that hopefully will clear up eventually.  The main effect of it is a loss of precision in my typing ( I cannot feel the bump on the home keys) and difficulty picking up small things.

My meeting with the surgeon went as expected and before we can set the date for the actual procedure I need to meet with the other surgeon who will be participating. On Monday I see my primary care doctor, then on Wed. my oncologist, so I am hoping to set a meeting with the other surgeon for Thursday or Friday of next week if possible.  The working plan at the moment is to schedule the surgery for the first week in September which along with 3-4 weeks of recovery will have me somewhat out of commission for that entire month.  Depending on how the surgery goes, they could either reverse the ileostomy as part of the procedure, or about 6 weeks later in a follow up procedure.  Either way I should be essentially normal by November.

I had my first beer of the year on Friday.  It was delicious.

Cheers