Hans Rueffert

Turkeys and chemo...
Without a doubt, I ate more food on Thanksgiving than I have since my surgery. I felt miserable afterward, but it was nice. We did the meal at our house this year: Turkey, Brussels sprouts, homemade cranberries, stuffing, etc. Good stuff. Ella thought it was chicken and had to ask twice for more. Chicken, turkey...whatever...at least she liked it!

My appetite has been steadily improving since radiation ended and I've managed to maintain my weight (around 172) without the use of my feeding pump. In fact, I think we're going to remove it tonight. The nurse at MD Anderson told Amy how to remove the thing and I'm truly ready for it to go. It was a life saver during treatments, but it is very uncomfortable at times and it's always 'weeping' (which I guess is the nurses nice way of saying "oozing crud"). I was looking at the care instructions for my J-tube that the hospital sent home and even that literature mentions the constant 'crust' that needs to be cleaned. Bleck. The stitches that held the tube in place are long gone (painfully), so the only thing that holds it in me is tape. The nurse warned us that when we pull it out, expect there to be about 2 feet of tube that comes out. Should be interesting...

Today was my final chemo disconnect, which means for now, I'm done. Damn...I'm done. I know this whole cancer journey is not over, but it really feels like I've made some progress. The next thing on the horizon is a round of tests back in Houston, including a biopsy, endoscopy, CT scan, doctor consultations, x-rays, etc. I'm optimistically hoping for a clean bill of health...at least for a few years. I'm very aware of the possibility of recurrence, but for now, I just want to jump back into 'normal' life, realizing of course that it'll be a new normal.

One of the things I'm most looking forward to is doing a new cooking show on ETC3. The Food Network experience gave me some great insight on the process, and my earlier show on ETC gave me the experience. I have some fun ideas brewing.

Hot tea is calling me. Much love and respect to you all,

Hans

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash

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