Michael recovers well from surgery

THURSDAY 4 OCTOBER 2007: Michael is in good spirits and recovering well from surgery to remove his oesophagus.

The operation, on Saturday 29 September, took just over five hours, with surgeons removing his oesophagus and many of the lymph nodes in his obdominal area. Tests on the extracted tissue wont be completed until next week.

In the meantime Michael is recovering well, despite his left lung collapsing soon after surgery. He was walking the following day and every day since.

Although normal for patients to stand for a little while the day after surgery and maybe walk a few steps, it's not that normal for them to be doing laps of ICU.

'Michael is very focussed on his recovery and will do anything to speed it up. The staff are quite amazed at how far and how fast he can walk,' explained his wife Penni.

He was transferred to the ward on Monday afternoon and, over the next few days will undergo a series of tests.

'He's certainly not out of the woods yet but he is making wonderful progress. If the results of the tests are good, they will start taking out some of the multitude of tubes going in and out of his body,' said Penni.

'Then he will be able to walk further and faster still!'