Long day...

Remember that previous blog about them running like clockwork? Not today! The first appointment went very quickly: a blood test. They called me in moments after I signed in and the woman taking my blood was very nice and even commented on how "pretty" my blood was. It did have a nice luminous dark-red quality. She said she would like to get nail polish the same color (and she didn't look like the goth-type). So far so good.

Next appointment was with my main cancer surgeon. We saw his nurse first & she informed us that our doctor would like to take one last look. This involved taking 2 Fleet enemas. Good morning Markie! We got that handled and our doc came in the room for the final exam. I tapped my foot. He tapped his foot. I assumed a "wide stance". He pulled out his Olympus Prot-o-scope 2000. You know the drill...

I cleaned up & after a quick cigarette, one of the nurses explained the "prep" for the surgery. This one is a little different than the colonoscopy prep, but the results are the same. Our doctor came back to talk about the test results and surgery. Good news: all the tests came back as expected and there was no evidence of any "extra" cancer. This means we can move forward with the surgery!

The Surgery: We pretty much knew what this entailed, but we, of course needed to talk about all the possibilities. Depending on exactly what they find when they go in there tomorrow, the surgery could turn out about 10 different ways. We know the cancer is up against my bladder. They may take a little, a lot, or all of that. Depending on that, they will need to reconnect the pipes coming from my kidneys. It's possible that the pipes can't be connected on one of my kidneys and if that's the case, it will need to go too. Prostate may need to go. Part of my colon near my rectum will need to go. Could be a little. Could be a lot. The way the blood vessels are connected to my small & large intestine pose special problems as well. Because of my first surgery (5 years ago) I don't have all of the normal blood vessels. So it will be a special problem getting it all sewn back up. Our doctor has actually published a paper on this specific issue, so I feel we're in pretty good hands. Actually all the folks we talk to have extremely high regard for our guy, so we're feeling pretty good about that. Anyway - it's a complicated surgery. It's a big surgery. Should take about 6-8 hours total. He made a point to tell us that although the risk of death was low, it was not zero. Infection is a possibility. Bleeding is a possibility. Something could pop/bleed/etc. But, we're in good hands at a great facility.

After that appointment, we went to meet with the anesthesiology department. They were running late. WAY late. Cliff notes version is that it took 5 hours to get to be seen. The first nurse made me quite nervous (and this was after me calmly getting the surgery story earlier). Anyway, there was nothing special about me & putting me to sleep for the surgery shouldn't be too complicated.

While waiting, I checked email and saw that a bunch of dragonboaters will be meeting at the dock tomorrow to send us good vibes at sunrise. WOW. You guys really touch my heart. I told Sheila & a tear came to her eye (as did mine when I read it). It is great to know that you guys and so many others are thinking about us, praying, hoping & wishing good things. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We check in for the surgery at 5:15 AM tomorrow.