Getting Ready

I had my pre-op appointment today with Dr. Paz. My parents went to the appointment in Pasadena with Steve and me and we warned them beforehand about Dr. Paz' arrogant and supercilious bedside manner. We arrived 15 minutes early and I knew we'd be sitting around for a while waiting for the doctor. And we did. We waited and waited. But that prompted a funny conversation between the four of us about waiting for doctors who are always running late. And it dawned on me after we had that conversation that as long as you're waiting with good people and there are interesting conversations happening, well then it's not really that much of a waste of time. So in that respect, Dr. Paz gave me a huge gift by making me wait.

Finally the nurse called me in for my appointment and my parents started walking to the examination room with us. The nurse, who was a little bitchy, told us that the examination rooms were small and they only allowed one other person in with the patient. So my parents sat back down in the waiting room and then I was a bit irritated. We entered the room and the bitchy nurse was right...the rooms were pretty small. After the nurse took my vitals and left the room, I changed into the little open-in-the-front gown and then waited again. FINALLY the doctor came in and of course I asked him right away if my parents could come in. He said that we could all meet in the conference room after the examination. The examination, it turned out, was just Dr. Paz listening to my heart and lungs with his stethoscope.

I got dressed and we all went to the conference room. This was the first time my parents met Dr. Paz and we all commented later that he was not very arrogant or condescending. In fact, he seemed a little humble this time. Hmmm... I was a little skeptical. Dr. Paz began his presentation of what to expect from the surgery with statistics. I really hate the statistics and I truly don't want to know them. He said that with the surgery, there is a 70% chance of having the cancer return at some point. That means I have a 30% chance of being cured. I'm ok with that because in order to have statistics like that, somebody has to be in the 30%. I am in the 30%. But it was very confusing because he said that most patients that have metastatic colon cancer in the retroperitoneal lymph nodes almost never have surgery because their situations are not good. I, however, am the exception. He said that there are so few patients who have ever had a situation like mine that they really don't have any information to say unequivocally what my outcome will be with the surgery AND the chemo wash. Interesting...

I've gotten to the point where I listen but I don't ever believe the doctors are talking about me so I think I only half listen. Anyway, I listened as much as I could take in but then I wanted to get out of there and try the vegan thai restaurant. So I thanked the doctor for his time and told him I'd see him on July 29th. Then we went to the vegan thai restaurant, ordered take out so we could eat at home with Mike and Keira, and sat in bad traffic on the way home. We got home, had a great meal with great company, and laughed and had a wonderful time.

I have recruited my brother, Michael, to substitute author the blog for me while I am recovering from surgery. We are all so lucky he agreed to do it because he's probably the smartest and funniest guy I know. You will all enjoy reading whatever he writes, I am certain. He's an 8th grade English teacher, a good dude, and can really write his ass off. I'm so excited for us. In the meantime I will be getting ready for July 29th and blogging as much as I can until then.