August 20

Hi All,

We are now 3 weeks post surgery and still working on getting stronger and having more energy. Like any challenge, there are good days and better days. We have just returned from Montreal where the final piece of the surgery puzzle (THE DRAIN) was removed yesterday.  A colleague of Dr. Metrakos was kind enough (hahaha, insert evil laugh track) to remove Arnie's drain and it really was a good thing. It seems that the drain was starting to become attached to being in Arnie's body so you can imagine that when the Dr. pulled (and pulled and pulled) the drain finally came out with some newly formed tissue that was starting to grow around the drain. Suffice it to say that Arnie was not pleased with the procedure. In fact, his exact words were it f***ing hurt. After we left, we headed back to our usual hotel where the staff were really happy to see Arnie back on his feet.

Today, we had our appointment with the Oncologist. In a nutshell, he looked at Arnie and said "I want to see you in 2 weeks and you are to make it your mission to snack all day long."  The good news is nothing is off limits including beer. Of course, we will be aiming for high quality nutrition but if he really feels like a beer, he will be allowed to have it. (that is not an invitation to drop beer or junk off at our house, thank you!)

All in all, both were productive visits to the Dr.'s and we appreciate the time they take to make sure we understand the bigger picture. So here's to lots of good eating in the next 2 weeks!


Cheers,
Liz