This morning was our consult with the surgeon. Dad, Mom, Jay and I drove out to the Clinic. Dad is a terrifying driver. I honestly thought we were going to get into an accident on the way to the hospital. Jason and I kept each other laughing in the back seat. Between talking about bananas, characters from In Living Color, crazy people on YouTube and cancer/colon jokes, we had a very pleasant drive.
It wasn't until we were almost there that we began discussing the severity of it. Jason started telling me about various procedures, tubes, the amount of pain, bloodwork, etc. At that point, I'll admit, I started freaking a bit. I didn't...I DON'T want to have this done. I don't want more pain. I don't want scars. I don't want BIG scars. I don't want radiation or chemo. I don't want any of those things, but for once, I want to live. I believe that once this is all over, I'll finally be able to do just that. I think my quality of life will be better. I think I'll be able to get rid of what doesn't matter in my life. I think God will finally give me the job I've been waiting for. I certainly hope that this is what post surgery means for me.
At the hospital I had to meet with the financial coordinator, sign in and do a questionnaire on the computer before I could even go into the waiting area. When we were calling in I had to warn the nurse that I had my entourage with me. I was weighed (it was almost 8 lbs more than on the Wii Fit) and then we were shown into the exam room. The nurse was taking down all of our family's medical history and we kept joking about it. She didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor. MaryAnne, Dr. Vogel's head nurse, came in and took my vitals. Now THERE'S a woman who can take a joke. She was sassy and sarcastic. I liked her. Dr. Vogel came in shortly after that and we spoke with him for quite a while. I remembered him from Jay's surgery after I saw him. Jason actually said to him, "You actually performed a surgery on me a couple of years ago." Dr Vogel replied, "Refresh my memory...or pull your pants down and let me have a look at your bottom." I knew at that point that I liked him as well. I figured that he should be able to keep up with my family's joking and sarcasm if he's going to be cutting me open. He went ahead and examined me and had me sign the release so that I didn't have to come back again before my surgery. He also sent a geneticist over so that we could figure out why I have cancer at such a young age.
She seems to think that I have a genetic syndrome that was inherited from a parent and leads to certain types of cancer like colon, liver, kidney, stomach, etc. If they find that gene from my biopsy they'll test Mom, Dad, Sarah and Jay. I'm praying against that. I don't want to think about this coming back and having my whole colon removed before this one has even been taken care of. The geneticist had to get the whole family history as well. She started asking about Sarah and then the boys. She said, "So, they're both relatively healthy?" Dad laughed and said, "Yeah, they're just mean." To which she laughed and replied, "Mean is not a genetic diagnosis." I have to say, she seemed pretty nice, too.
After THAT, she sent ANOTHER person in to meet us. This woman was from the colon cancer registry. There is a register for people diagnosed with this specific cancer that keeps people informed of any breaking advancements, news, fundraising, etc. The woman we met from that was VERY kind. She made sure that I knew she was on my team now and that she'd be there for my surgery. She was very encouraging and told me to keep my head up. She was very maternal, giving lots of shoulder pats and hugs. I think it'll be good having a mix of humor and understanding. I'm going to need people I'm really comfortable with, especially if I'm going to end up having to work with them for a while.
I had to go downstairs and get some pre-surgery blood work done. On the way down I was telling Jason how I was going to ask Dr. Vogel if he could give me a six pack while he had me open. I figure I might as well come out of this looking awesome! :) Anyway, I had to get 5 vials drawn. One guy did 4 of them. He was very sweet and I barely felt a thing. Someone else had to come draw the last one just so they were certain it was my blood and they could verify the blood type. She wasn't nearly as good. I found this relatively humorous because I had actually just asked the gentleman, "So, someone else has to come and poke me? What if they aren't as good?" And...she wasn't even close!
We were finally done after all of that. We got back into the car and then had to make the obligatory calls. I think we all stayed on our phones until we got back to our cars in Painesville. We then had a VERY rushed lunch with Jenny at Panini's. I basically inhaled half of a sandwich since Jason and I had to go back to work. The rest of the day at work was not very different than my time spent at the hospital. The one advantage of that is that it went by very quickly.
Day Ten: Accelerated
Song of the Day: What Faith Can Do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7elxC8LXfzE
Verse of the Day: John 11:4
When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
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