Well, it's been an interesting few days.

My surgery on Monday turned out to be a lot more complex than expected, so I was on the operating table for four hours. The lymph node that contaned the cancer was right up against the cartoid artery and had a nerve in the way, so the operation turned out to be a lot more delicate than they had originally thought. Of course, I was blissfully unconcious for all of this, so the stress fell onto A. and my parents, who were home watching the kids.

To give you an idea of how the day went, I was wheeled into the OR at about 2:30 in the afternoon and made it to my room at 9:30 at night.

While I was in the OR, they installed a drain through a small hole in my chest to get rid of any excess blood. It had pretty much stopped bleeding by mid-morning on Tuesday, so they took out the drain and it looked like I was going to be able to head home. Then, a little while later, I started leaking!. Not blood, but a clear fluid that turned out to be from my lymphatic system.

More doctors, including my surgeon, visited and debated what to do. It seemed like the leaking had slowed down, but they were still reluctant to send me home. I was scheduled for additional surgery on Thursday to stop the leak if it didn't stop on it's own, and there was talk of keeping me in the hospital of two more days. The surgeon estimated there was only a 20% chance of the leak stopping by itself. Although it wasn't life threatening and there was no danger of infection, they were still worried about it.

Thankfully, A. is a nurse and offered to change the dressings if I went home. So we were loaded up with enough gauze and tape to make a good start on our own mummy and sent home.

Then, miraculously, the leak stopped. I was dry as a bone Wednesday and Thursday morning. The surgery was canceled and I went back to see the surgeon instead. She did an ultrasound to make sure there was no fluid collecting internally, and said that I was OK. So we got past that one.

Needless to say, it's been a long week. I don't know how I would have made it through without A.'s support. The stress has been getting to her, but she just gets it all done and holds us together.

Thanks as well to everyone who has sent messages or calls of support, especially my parents who extended their stay up north to help us out this week. Knowing that so many people are thinking of me means alot.