Nick's Welcoming Committee! (Back at the hotel after only six days in the hospital. He was pretty excited at this point. :] Notice the wonderful banner that my sister made for him!)

One of the first things that I noticed about Nick was his smile. I think everyone would agree that Nick has one of the most gorgeous smiles and that it is almost constantly present. He is one of the most optimistic guys I know and he’s able to see the silver lining in almost every situation (even cancer). The only time Nick’s smile ceases to show is when he is in pain - real pain. There have only been a handful of times that this has happened. One of those times was when Nick started feeling pain in his abdomen from what turned out to be a tumor. One was after Nick’s initial appendectomy and de-bulking surgery and one was this past week.

Before Nick went into surgery on Tuesday, we chatted about everything that didn’t matter. When it was finally time for his spinal morphine injection; the nurses told us that it was time for me to leave. I said a short prayer and reminded Nick that God would be with him throughout the surgery. We held it together pretty good as we said our goodbyes. I told Nick that I loved him and that I would be right across the hall no matter how long it took. Nick told me he loved me, that he wasn’t scared, and that he’d see me soon. After many kisses and a last hand squeeze, Nick looked at me and I realized that both of our eyes were starting to glisten. That’s when he flashed me that genuine smile. I can't tell you how much it comforted me. Not once during the nine hours away from Nick did I tear up again and I am sure it was that smile; It felt like a promise from God that no matter what everything would be ok.

After surgery Nick was in a lot of pain. He did a lot of sleeping and in the few minutes that he was awake, he was still very tired. When we talked to him, it was hard for him to talk back and he only did so when necessary. When we joked around in the hospital room, he didn't participate. And, when Nick's dad performed funny little dances to try to get Nick to laugh; he couldn't even crack a smile.

Then the clouds parted… :] Yesterday morning Nick woke up and said he was hungry with a little grin (which was a first since before the surgery) so I knew things were looking up. Once he had a little bit of applesauce, Nick's huge smile finally made an appearance - that's when I knew that we were finally on our way! Nick was feeling so much better and it was so apparent! He had scrambled eggs as his first solid food and then progressed to part of a Jimmy John's sandwich for lunch and continued to smile throughout the day. Apparently, that smile worked its magic on the doctors too. Around 5pm - he was discharged from the hospital!

We're now staying down the street from the hospital for the next couple of days and then will be seeing Dr. Loggie tomorrow for a follow up. If Nick is cleared to fly, then we could be home as early as Tuesday! We are so happy to have a real bed at the hotel now, but we are even more excited to sleep in our own bed soon. We know that Nick still has a long road to full recovery and we definitely still need prayers. The results of the surgery have been amazing so far, but there are still many things to pray for. :] We should be getting the pathology reports back from everything that was removed in surgery on this coming Wednesday.

No matter what results we get from the pathology report, we will still need to make a very big and hard decision of what treatment we pursue from here. I'm trying not to focus on it too much and just focus on Nick's recovery from this treatment, but the decision is definitely looming in our future. Since there isn't any real research on the best choice for us and no doctor will be able to make the decision for us - we will really need the Lord's guidance on the best path to take from here. No matter what we decide – I will always savor that smile. :]