1/6/09: Update #1: The death of Tommy the Tumor.

John is recovering from surgery in his hospital room. I was there when they rolled him in and he said "Shan, I'm a series of tubes, just like the internet." So at least we know that they didn't remove his sense of humor. What they did remove, in its entirety, is the tumor. Tommy is gone. I had spoken to the doc and asked because I knew John would want to know, and the first thing John said when he saw the doc, was "How much did it weigh?" Those of you who have given birth will give extra respect... The tumor was 10 pounds. That's what he's been carrying around. He had been bleeding into it, so it was like a giant sack in his abdomen. Tommy wasn't quite ready to leave and did take some souvenirs..... In order to get him out, they cut out part of John's stomach and large intestine. They also took half of his pancreas and his spleen (spleens are dumb, he didn't need that anyway). The doc assured me that his has enough pancreas to be fine for the rest of his life and when i asked "and how long will that be?" he said he hopes very long. This was a VERY major surgery. Tonight he already sat up twice and is bound and determined to get to eat as soon as possible. (He weighed in at 197 this morning. On Saturday at the gym, he was 211. I'm sure the bowel cleansing and fasting yesterday takes credit for a lot of that, but jeez...) I know there will be ups and downs in the next couple weeks, but I was happy to see the up tonight. Something else I was happy to see tonight? John's belly. Now it was still bandaged, but as the doc told me earlier "it goes in instead of out." For those of you who have had the pleasure of seeing Tommy, you are going to be dumbfounded. Last but not least, he's going to have a big scar. You'll probably want to see it. Also, I'm betting that will be blogged as well :)

I have no idea when he'll be ready for visitors. I will let you know. They only want two at a time, and the room is small, so I'm going to ask that people coordinate that with me when they want to swing by, but I will let y'all know when that time is near.

We both want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and good vibes and everything that was focused on us today. We have the best friends in the world.

Also, he told me before I left to make sure to tell everyone "hi." :)