Short and sweet

It's almost come full circle, now. Yesterday I visited the first specialist doctor that I saw here in the US, the guy who did my colonoscopy and confirmed the Mexican doctor's diagnosis of Stage IV cancer. The estimates he gave me of what he could do were really kind of theoretical; he didn't have very high hopes that I would make it back to him for his projected role in my cure. His job is to remove the intestinal tumor that started it all, and then to stick the plumbing back together again.

So there we were, face-to-face again and this time with the very real and very immediate prospect of surgery. I said that everyone's done their part so far and now, it was his turn. There was something of a challenge in my tone, as if I were daring him to exceed his own expectations as the other surgeon had done. He picked up the gauntlet and put me down for May 12th. Though he reserved his options for whether I'd need any temporary (or permanent) ostomy, he offered hope that it would be a "one and done" operation. In order to get the big picture, though, he will have to make a pretty large incision. He'll go in from the front with a cut from just above my belly button to right at my pubic bone. This will give him the room to work and make the best decisions. Sounds good to me.

In the meantime, my job is to get as well as I can so as to be in good shape to withstand the procedure. Today's lab results were encouraging but not perfect. Out of 16 variables, 5 of them were outside the normal range. White cells were low, platelets were less than half of normal (though up from radiation days) and the other stuff seems like small change.

Ok, so this wasn't exactly very short nor sweet, but it's the news.

Thanks for listening,

Clem