ANTHONY R. VIZZARI | ARCHTOGRAPHIST

The Statue of Liberty: A perfect symbol of freedom, long journeys, and triumph over struggle. This a photo post card I found a month ago... now part of the collection. Well, we are headed back to Chicago tomorrow (Tuesday) morning! We met with Dr. Botha this morning and he gave me the OK to take off, if I felt up to it. Well, I'm ready to get home. We're not out of the woods, I'm only running on 30% of a liver and my WBC is high. He's not worried though. We just need to keep an eye out for ascites (excess fluid build up in the body cavity...). If this were the happen, I've have a fever, a ton of pain, swelling and general badness. The fix is basically being admitted to a hospital to drain the area. This happens in about 10-15% of patients, but if it were to happen, it can easily be treated in Chicago. I won't have my next set of scans for a few months when we will look at how the liver grew. Immediately, I'll just need to monitor labs and take it easy. T...

Today Andrea and I went to a local antique mall about 15 miles from the hotel. Partly, we just wanted to get out of the hotel. More importantly, we wanted to see how I would handle being in a car again. Pot holes and such were a jolt, but the highway was a breeze. All in, my 60 minutes in the car today tooling around was tolerated well enough. I got some great exercise walking this huge indoor market. Strangely enough, I was very conservative and purchased only one small photo and an old mini 1920's tin of laxatives , with all the pills and directions still inside. ....and no, I won't be taking them. I did come across a creepy drawing of this woman. She was hiding in a dark corner of the store, with the reflections on the glass frame making it look as if she was alive and trapped inside. Otherwise, I'm still in pain but taking it slow and trying to power through it. The medication helps a ton. I just have to keep reminding myself that it's going to take a while to get...

Today was a little more difficult with respect to pain. Some days are just going to be better than others. Nothing major, the pain is mostly related with my bowels being so slow because of the pain drugs (ironic I know - which causes all kinds of problems). I've been working with the nurse to try a few different remedies. As crazy as it sounds, It has been 10 days since I was last outside of the hospital, since the hotel is also attached. As the evening approached, Andrea and I took a real outdoor walk. I was a bit slow, but I'm picking up steam -It was nice just to get some fresh air and smell "stuff" again. This photo was from one of the gardens around the hospital campus.

Oh that? That's just a quarter inch hole in my right side where I had one of my drainage bags (drains excess fluid from the cavity around the wound). The hose going into it was about 14"-16" long, nasty. It's still leaking, but should stop by Sunday (hence my leak towels). If not, they will sitch it up. There is one on the other side that has healed well. My first day in the hotel... Morning view from the hotel window... I love it. -smoke stack. This is my first official blog entry post-surgery. I’m on meds, so excuse any typos in advance. It feels like a decade, or, maybe just a few days since I’ve taken the time to write? The last few weeks have been brutally intense. It seems that I may have lost track of the days and sequence of things, even prior to surgery. Now, as I start the recovery process, I am starting to come back to life, albeit, in a fog and fighting abdominal pain. I don’t walk fast and can’t move anything of consequence. I try to perform simple ro...

We dropped off the 4 booths for Europe on Monday and hit the road for Omaha... The booths look so small and scared for their ocean journey. I'm going to miss them! Oh well, we just got in two new 17's, a 14 and an 11 last week. So, 4 leave and 4 new ones come in. We got into Omaha early Monday evening. It was an easy drive and we're all settled in. Tomorrow is pre-op stuff, then the big game on Thursday.

I'm almost done with a large booth order for Europe... I can barely get a minute to breathe this week. The order ships Monday morning, then we head to Omaha for the surgery. Dr. Botha confirmed that my liver is now big enough to move forward. I feel like the guillotine blade is right over my head... The pressure is on the get so much done by Monday. After surgery things will be much much slower. FYI: The photo is of a photobooth bulb I took just for reference. I like it though... My fingers are dirty. I'm going to miss working in the shop for a few months. I'm going to miss the smell of grease and stale chemistry.

Circled is the left lobe of the liver. This piece would eventually grow to become a full sized organ, if all goes to plan. It has a few tumors throughout, but manageable via wedge resections. Here you will see my largest tumor, outlined in red. 6-7CM. Note the IVC (inferior vena cava), and next to it, the 2CM tumor outlined in red. This needs to be dealt with before it grows into the IVC . UPDATE: 1 year of scans was "officially" reviewed. It appears as though the tumor growth is stable in the liver, that is, minimal. So, that's good. Also, another NET patient asked me about the possibility for future resections after the liver takes its new form (post 2nd surgery). The answer, from what I have been told: You are limited in some cases, but you can still resect if necessary. RFA, Spheres, etc. is a more likely option though... Also, if all goes to plan, the liver grows back to its full size and you have a 100% functional liver & tissue. Dr. Botha showed me an exampl...

After getting back to Omaha, we visited the Market District again. Found this in a store window... Ruff!!

On the way back from Walnut we stopped at a casino... 4th rate for sure. We spent about $20 on slots between us... It was fun, but also a little depressing... watching suckers glued to the slots pumping the machines while exhaling mass amounts of smoke. No glory or glitz.