Road to Recovery: Day 6

Another rough night. They had to put a gastric tube down his throat to extract the bile he had in his stomach. He will have this for a few days, my poor brother. Keeping faith that these bumps in the road will end soon. His strength amazes me during times like these.

Road to Recovery: Day 5

We had a rough night again. He had an incident with a few stitches popping off, but he’s ok. He’s gaining strength each day. Taking one step at a time :o)

Road to Recovery: Day 4

Well as each day goes by the pain gets a tad bit more tolerable. He's reaching success one step at a time, literally. He walked to the nurses station and back with the assistance of a walker and sat in a chair for a couple of hours. Very proud.

Road to Recovery: Day 3

Exciting news late last night we left out of ICU and into a regular room. He was able to get a better nights rest with help of better Meds. He sat up in a chair for about an hour. Tomorrow he shall conquer the walk.

Road to Recovery: Day 2

Well I'm beginning to think the surgery was the easy part. Still in ICU. Last night was pretty rough. Didn't get much rest due to his incision. Still can't eat or drink anything. They adjusted his Meds so hope that helps. On a bright note he was able to sit in a chair for an hour and did physical therapy. Taking one day at a time.

Road to Recovery: Day 1

My brother is still in ICU at MDA. They took the breathing tube out. He has had physical and breathing therapy today. He has severe pain and about 50 staples in holding the incision together, but staying strong.

4th Surgery Update

After 12 hours of surgery there were no major complications. Doctors believe that they removed all tumors. My brother is sleeping peacefully and his heart beats strong! My family and I THANK YOU for all your prayers, positive thinking, love, and support. Go Mexican Armstrong!

No Fear! Feeling super strong and ready to save my life!

3rd Surgery Update

9 hours into surgery going well. Progressed from Abdomen now on to working on removing tumors from aorta. Making progress! Next update 8 o'clock

2nd Surgery Update

7 hours into surgery Mexican Armstrong still going strong! Next big update around 7pm.

1st Surgery update

Surgery began at 9:05am. Vital signs good. Beginning to remove main tumor mass. Next update noon.

CT Scan a Mexican

I just drove in and barely made it in time for my 3rd CT scan, the second one performed here at MDA. I'm right in the middle of drinking the first of two Barium drinks necessary to perform a CT scan. This will be the first among several test that I will have to go through to reassess the current state of my tumors.

I plan to get back to Austin as soon as possible. It's been a 50/50 split between Austin and Houston over the last few weeks. Which is a good thing. When in Austin, I have to take care of myself 100% of the time. Something that I feel is quite impressive for still having undergone 11 rounds of chemo in the last 9 months. But it is not without struggle. Chronic pain and neuropathy still plague my body which limit the amount of tasks I can perform or how I perform them. Nevertheless, I still manage. I've promised myself that now that the neuropathy in my hands has subsided enough to allow for typing, I would complete the many of unfinished blogs I have from earlier in this cancer battle. I also plan to move forward and pick up where I left off for the formalization of MexicanArmstrong.org as a non-profit charity thats main purpose is to raise awareness for testicular cancer.

"Are you taking a picture of yourself?"

"Yup, I'm having a lot of fun!"