Tomorrow marks 4 weeks since my surgery.  In some ways it feels like it was yesterday and in other ways it feels like a long time ago.  I am slowly but surely getting better.  Recovery has been a lot tougher this time around.  The good news is that I got off my painkillers and am now only taking Tylenol for the incision pain.  I find that my surgical pain is very manageable now (a "2" or "3" on a scale of 1-10).

The much bigger issue is my digestive pain.  I am still eating a very limited diet and my body doesn't seem interested in anything that is not white and bland.  I have been having a lot of cramps and pains which is natural yet very debilitating.

I have found that I am my own worst enemy because I want to be "back to normal" immediately.  When I have been discussing my surgery with my physical therapist, nutritionist etc, they all tell me that this will be at least a 3 month process.  This makes sense to me because the surgery was much more invasive.  The fact that it has been close to 4 weeks since the surgery and I still have no desire to enter a gym tells me something!  However, my impatience is not helping in this situation.  I just want the whole incident to be behind me!

Although I am not yet physically recovered, the doctors wanted me to start my new chemotherapy regimen. So, last night I began taking a new drug called sirolimus.  I will take 4 pills daily and the doctors assure me that I shouldn't have many side effects.  The drug is often used on kidney transplant patients to avoid rejecting their new kidney. I am not sure how this relates to my situation but I have long since put 100% trust in my Doctors.

As you can see from the above pictures, the tumor is definitely gone!  The one benefit of stomach surgery is that you get very skinny! I am enjoying this status although I know that I will need to gain some weight in the coming weeks.  I don't think I have weighed this little since middle school!