A New Plan

We interrupt our irregularly scheduled writing for some breaking news on the current gastroentological dilemma.

Having grown concerned with the upcoming surgery, I wrote to my surgeon Dr. James to express my misgiving and second thoughts. He responded immediately and reflected his understanding of my concern. He scheduled a phone conversation with me for Friday the thirteenth.

I got my questions together prior to the phone conference. Part of my confusion was based on a couple of mixed messages that I had received from the doctor ( Dr. Matthews) who performed the colonoscopy and the surgeon (Dr. James) who would perform the "procedure."

 A few months ago , Dr James  had suggested that we schedule another colonoscopy a few months down the road and make the surgical decision at that time. I thought that was a good idea and agreed.

We went back to  Doctor Matthews who had done the original colonoscopy. He claimed that he didn't think further colonoscopy was a good idea. He didn't think that the mystery polyp could be removed in such a strategy. Once again, he recommended the surgery. In other words, he disagreed with the strategy of Dr. James and since he was the one who would be performing the proposed colonoscopys, we took his opinion as gospel.

I accepted his opinion and informed the Dr. James of my decision. The surgery was scheduled for Jan. 26th. A very invasive procedure with risks of its own. 

Now remember, this surgery is exactly the same kind of surgery I would have IF the polyp were cancerous which would include removal of the polyp as well as the lymph nodes and colon  in the surrounding area.

The more that I learned about the surgery, the more formidable it became until finally I called the surgeon Dr. James and related my concerns as mentioned in the first paragraph.

The biggest concern was that we would go through all of this and the polyp would prove to be non-cancerous thus rendering the procedure as superfluous.

Apparently, Dr. James was unaware of the opinion of Dr. Matthews.

Dr. James was surprised when I told him about the disagreement of Matthews. I could tell by his tone of voice that he understood my concern my and confusion with even greater attention.

I suggested that the proposed surgery was a "last resort" and he agreed. I wondered if there was a less drastic approach. A resort with fewer sharks.

Once again Dr. James went back to his first idea except this time, he made it clear that he rather than Dr. Matthews would perform the colonoscopy which perhaps is what he was inferring at first when he suggested the colonoscopy which I assumed meant that Dr. Matthews would be performing.

He assured me that the polyp had been tattooed and partially scraped during the first colonoscopy. He knew exactly where the polyp was located (which I didn't know that he knew) on the upper lateral section of my colon.

We came to the conclusion once again that we should get more information before embarking on the surgical procedure which I had agreed to and was scheduled for the 26th. A second colonoscopt would provide us with the informatioon that we needed.

Dr. James suggested that we schedule the colonoscopy immediately and still reserve the operating room for the 26th so we would have it if we needed it.

We agreed that we had a plan.

So now, I'm waiting to hear from Dr. James for the scheduled time of the colonoscopy which could be confirmed any minute now and needed to be scheduled if we were to maintain control of the operating room on the 26th.

 Today is Lynn's birthday and we're waiting.

Always waiting it seems.

The colonoscopy can yield several possible results; 

Dr. James was able to remove the polyp and determine that it wasn't cancerous.
Dr. James removed the polyp and it is cancerous.
Dr. James couldn't remove the polyp and couldn't make a determination if it was cancerous or not.
Dr. James couldn't remove the polyp but determined that the polyp was cancerous.

Obviously the first scenario is the one that we hope to manifest.

Now, don't get me wrong. A colonoscopy is no picnic but compared to the originally planned "procedure.", it's a walk in the park. If you know you need oa colonoscopy and have been putting it off for too long, let me urge you to get one done.

So, in summary. the mystery polyp will be gone one way or another by February. What comes between now and February is a drama that will unfold itself in the next coupla weeks. I'm as ready as I'm gonna get. 

Thank y'all for your interest and well wishes. The story continues.

And now back to our original irregularly scheduled writing.