Spent the morning figuring out what each of the tubes coming out of me did and how they worked, and learning about my different pain meds. I am to be on an epidural for the next seven days.

I have continued to feel very anxious. But that anxiety was totally relieved by Dr. Kirkwood. She is so incredible. She came to check in on me and personally changed my dressing and drainage tubes.

Being constrained the way I was has been a great incentive to get out of bed as soon as possible. As if I needed more motivation, I was told that I should get moving as soon as possible to avoid blood clots and pneumonia. That was all I needed to hear. Today I was out of bed by 1pm and took a short walk down the hall.

That’s Lisa in the photo, a fantastic nurse. I took a total of three walks today. And did a little dancing. In fact, added that to my regimen:

In preparation for leaving, I’ve had all the tubes removed from me except for one drain. The last serious procedure I Had was the removal of the drainage tube that snaked up my nose and drained my stomach. If you’re interested, you can see actual video of the removal of my nose tube at Fan Dan’s Plan to Ban Cancer, Man on Facebook. Fair warning: may not be for the faint of heart.

The day before I was discharged I had a chance to visit with all the nurses on the 14th floor. They’re the ones who took care of me when I was first admitted and diagnosed months ago (see the “How I Got Here” link). It was great to see them all.

The night before my discharge, at around ten to midnight, Dr. Kirkwood came to my hospital room. She was fresh from surgery, still in her scrubs. She wanted to visit because she was leaving town for a week on a much-needed vacation and she was nervous about leaving her patients. She wanted to check in on me one more time. Again, she instilled me with great confidence.