Grandpa's Discharged

Grandpa finally got discharged today. He'll spend a few days with us recuperating but only because we have football on tv. (Seriously. That's what he told us.) He's determined to drive the two hours home, even though the doctor said he needs to stay with us for a couple of weeks. We'll continue to work on him and see if we can't talk some sense into him.

He had a few rough days in the hospital, throwing up and passing blood. He did require a blood transfusion, but so far hasn't needed another. They were able to remove all his drainage tubes and staples before he was discharged, so that was one less thing to worry about.

We were able to get the pathology report back yesterday. The tumor was a bit worse than anticipated, coming in at a T3. On a good note though, all of the lymph nodes tested negative, so it's a N0 and with no metastasis, it's a Mx. All combined, the T3 N0 Mx translates to a Stage 2. After his post-operative appointment with the surgeon in a couple of weeks, he'll meet with an oncologist to discuss any further treatment. From what we've researched though, it doesn't appear that chemotherapy or radiation is part of treatment for a Stage 2 colon cancer patient. It seems like surgery generally does the trick. Hopefully that's the case because grandpa has already made it clear that he's not doing "none of that other crap."

He's pretty sore, moving cautiously and slowly transitioning back to solid foods. It's going to take some time for his body to heal, but he seems like he's on the right track.