Return of the King

Hi all,

good news Sam has left the hospital! I think I must have been a good 10-12 day stay this time round. Sam is feeling a whole heap better and over the next few days will get the chance to catch up on missed sleep and 40 or so meals he couldn't eat.

In all seriousness, Sam has loss a bit of weight during his recent ordeal and now will be a time where he can regain some condition. Sam did have radiation treatment yesterday afternoon and he is experiencing some positive results. His general walking stability has improved and some 'toe reflex thingy' is now responding correctly. Truly great stuff.

The Insoll house is undergoing the transformation from bachelor pad to wellness centre. Meditation classes start at 6 a.m. in the garden followed up by a small tea ceremony at 7. By the way you can now refer to me as Moonriver.

Sam has been receiving a number of thoughtful gestures recently. Notably some lovely flowers from the ex Hillcrest ladies and a large amount of fresh fruit and other goodies from Zoe, Nic and Kath. Impressively Zoe organised this from Brisbane which just goes to show why she is the reigning 'Admin Queen'.

Thanks for all your support

Cheerio

Sarge

Wind

Hi all,

exciting news!

Farts have been detected.

While the Ritcher scale readings are still to come through this is great news. I received an early morning text alerting me to this new development; I could not help but smile at excited tone running through it. Proving the old adage "Better out than in!".

I think it is safe to say that things will continue to progress along in this manner, I'm not sure how much detail you want to hear about the continuing progress of Sam's bowels. Perhaps it would be best to track his recovery via his current diet (of course if there is a strong out cry from the community for more detail I will ablige).

Sam's Current Diet:
Water
Soup (sieved)

It should not be underestimated how well Sam has come through this major surgery. And is a testament to his mental resolve and the care that he has been receiving. The general plan for the next couple of weeks is to let his body recover before heading back into radiotherapy. His body needs to heal completely as during the radiotherapy much of the bodies own healing processes will be disrupted.

As an aside, if you have any specific questions about Sam's health or condition let me know and I will post what I can.

Bye for now

Sarge

Soup

Hi all,

short post today. Sam has been up and about in the effort of stimulate his digestive system back into action. Reports of soup being consumed have come through, sieved at this stage, far too early for lumps the doctors say.

Good progress

Sarge

Sam's Current Diet:
Water
Soup (sieved)

Re: Contact

Hi all,

I have a small favour to ask, and it is a bit of a hard one to word without causing offence.

Over the next couple of weeks could visits, phone calls and texts to Sam be kept to an absolute minimum. There have been a few complaints from the nursing staff about having to field so many phone calls from friends wanting to see how he is doing. And Sam himself at times does not have the energy to read or reply to text messages.

I stress that this is just for the next couple of weeks until he is back on his feet.

The more energy Sam can put into healing the sooner he will be out of hospital and back to fighting the real source of his ills.

I will let you all know when he is contactable. Better yet, I hope he will contact you.

Until then I will keep you up to play and keep passing on your thoughts to him.

Thanks for your undertanding,

Sarge

Post OP briefing

Hi all,

Sam is doing very well post surgery.

He has a very fashionable scar down the middle of his stomach you might almost think that this was an elective operation. The best part is that he is no longer feeling constantly nauseous. He has been up and walking briefly which at this stage is extremely good news and shows that he has come through the surgery without any side effects.

Sam still has plenty of healing to do. The plan is over the next few days to slowly introduce food back into his diet and monitor that it is travelling through his system to the correct destinations.

Stay tuned over the next few days as I recount in detail the foods that Sam is eating and the current workings of his gastro intestinal system. Should be fascinating stuff.

Moral victory to Sam. Great work!

Operation

Sam is doing well, now.

The last 24 hours have been a little rough for the poor fulla. As a consequence of the steroid drugs and radiation therapy his digestive system has suffered somewhat of a shutdown. While initially this could be seen as good news(Barnes farts are notorious), as the situation continued, it appeared that there was a serious issue with his bowels.

Unbelievable! I sat with Karen (his mother, whom I shall write about soon) shaking my head as she told me the news that somehow his digestive system had become twisted and required corrective surgery. Sam was placed on the acute surgery list and was eventually operated on this morning at 10:20.

The surgery required that the stomach area be opened up and the affected piece of bowel located and removed, a serious operation that resulted in around six inches of bowel being cut out and the remaining sections being rejoined. The doctors also took the opportunity to extract a sample of a tumour which is to be sent to Sydney for use in making a vaccine. As I understand it this vaccine can be used after the radiation and chemotherapy to aid the immune system to kill any remaining cancer cells that may still be roaming in his system.

As it is now Sam is recovering in the post surgery ward. Hopefully over the next few days his digestive system will resume normal function. We are awaiting his first fart with mixed enthusiasm!

Will let you know more soon

Sarge

Welcome

Hello and welcome to Sam's cancer diary.

My name is Mark, most of you reading this will know me already but for those of you who don't I am a good friend of Sam Barnes and have know him for over 15 years. Yes sadly it is true that Sam has cancer. The details of which I will describe later, but for now I wish to declare my reasons for writing about his life in such a public way.

To put it simply Sam has a lot of friends.

A lot of friends who care deeply about his condition and wish to follow his progress and offer him support along the way.

Not a surprise I imagine to any of you. I am sure you can appreciate, if you took a moment to consider, the sheer amount of communication it would take to keep you all informed of his progress and to be able to relay your messages of support. Simply Sam does not have the energy to reply to you all individually, his energy must be focused on repairing his body.

So, yes the geek in me had to get a little IT on you all, I hope for any of you less comfortable in this arena it will be a pleasant experience, and set up this blog to provide you with regular updates on his health and allow you to share your thoughts with him. You can do both here. I will pass on all messages for him to read as his treatment continues. As Sam's condition improves I expect that he will wish to reply in kind to his friends and keep you updated himself. Until then I will do my best to keep you all informed of his progress.

Considering such heavy subject matter I will do my best to keep the content as light as possible. It is my intention that this be a positive experience for all concerned and will use as much (inappropriate) humor (and misspellings) as possible to lighten this serious situation.

I think that is enough of an introduction, please read the next entry for further details on The life of Barnes.

Please stay tuned and send Sam your thoughts

Cheers

Mark a.k.a. Sarge