Again the outpouring of support is overwhelming thank you all so much. They took off Tom's bandage today and the incision is pristine, just a neat row of staples, no redness or swelling. I guess the next step is getting his gut going. That involves gum chewing, walking (which surprisingly he's able to do at the same time, not very fast though) sitting up and time. We thought we could speed up the process with lots of walking, so we had him doing turtle laps around the nurses station. The Doctor explained that time has more to do with it. Tom, exhausted from the exertion and in quite a bit of pain requested Valium and is now snoring away beside me. He's kind of cranky, having not eaten since Sunday and no food is allowed until the gut gets going. Over all, I think we are starting to ready ourselves for the fight.

Jan