Update. Saturday, May 30, 2026.
Monday, June 1, will mark three weeks since my surgery at UCSF in Mission Bay, and just over two weeks since I was released from the hospital to start the process of recuperation.
We are still ensconced in a pleasant house on a flag lot in Redwood City, right on the border with the luxury estates of Atherton. The house is hidden down at the end of a 350-ft tree-lined driveway, shared with the neighbors, according to my quick foray into measuring distance in an online mapping program. The house is owned by one of Meda’s sisters, who generously offered it for our use during this post-surgery recovery.
The isolation means that it is normally very, very quiet. It also creates an irritating and continuing error in Google Maps. If you look up the address on Google Maps, you are directed to the next street, which is considerably close physically to this house. Unfortunately, there is no access to the house from that street, despite Google’s insistence, leading to repeated lost delivery drivers, ride share drivers, etc., as we’ve been relying on these services since arriving.
There were two significant advances during a visit with my surgeon’s nurse practioner the following day. First was the removal of the external drain tube coming out of my belly to remove fluid from the surgery site and deposit it into a collection bag. The drain didn’t hurt, but it was inconvenient at best, and required careful effort to hide it under a couple of layers of clothing so as not so gross out friends and neighbors or scare small children.
After it was declared unnecessary, removal was simpler than I ever expected. I asked if the removal would hurt, and the answer was an equivocal “not usually.” The tube was held in place by a suture or two, and after carefully cleaning the site, the nurse practitioner began to snip and remove the sututes. She asked me to breath deeply, which I did, while averting my eyes. Snip. Suture gone. Snip. Another gone. As I steeled myself for the main event, I was surprised to hear her say, “All done.” The tube had been pulled out without my feeling a thing.
For those wanting more detail, here’s a selfie taken just before the removal. You may not want to click for a larger version. The selfie shows the drain tube in place. The collection bag was dangling below, just out of this photo. Also visible are three of six incisions through which the Da Vinci Xi surgical robot and its tool set were introduced to do their thing. The incisions are sealed with surgical glue, and are healing at their own pace.
Of more longterm importance, however, was approval for me to “graduate” from a diet of pureed food to “soft” food, a category which includes “real” food including soft fish, well-cooked chicken, some ground meat, white rice, pasta, etc. Pureed food and I never really got along, so I envision this as a huge step forward.
But I quickly learned that it’s much harder to start eating again than to stop eating. I thought I could just sit down and enjoy a feast. Nope. I’ve pivoted to tiny amounts of real but soft food, and even then my stomach is slow in learning that it’s all right to eat. So the process of ramping up has been slow and gradual. But I woke up this morning feeling much better than I have all week. Progress that I can feel!
I’ll defer a medical update until early next week after another blood test and two more medical appointments via Zoom.
I do expect that we’ll be heading home within the next couple of weeks. I’m hoping for more details after a Tuesday appointment with my surgeon’s office. He’s calling the shots for now.
