Dr. Tseng suggests we switch the surgery from St. Vincent to Good Samaritan Hospital and from Thursday September 16th to Monday September 20th.
He gave two reasons.
He is more comfortable working with the staff at Good Samaritan because they are more familiar with how he works, which reduces the danger of removing the wrong organ. Actually, he didn’t say the part about the wrong organ. I made that up.
Also he wanted the surgery rescheduled from Thursday to Monday so he could follow my progress for a week straight. This is a very good thing since problems that occur on weekends get routed to the on-call doctor, which is almost never a good thing.
This was all plausible, so we agreed to the change.
Truth-be-told, there is actually a better reason for the change.
The shopping is much better in NW Portland than in the gift shop at St. Vincents. Anne and Marcia can now hang out part of the time in trendy shops in NW Portland rather than being stuck in a hospital waiting room.
This will be a more pleasant way to spend their time while I’m off doing drugs in the operating room.
You can start working on a list of your favorite drugs, so that the hospital staff will have them ready for you on the day of your surgery. You might want to prioritize the list in case a drug needs to be specially ordered or purchased through the black market. Just sayin’.
My only criteria for the drugs is that they keep me out during the surgery. I don’t want to be waking up in the middle of the procedure and saying “Damn! Is that my stomach in that bucket? I didn’t want to be seeing that.”
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It sounds like the pain management after the surgery shouldn’t be too bad. They say I’ll recover faster if I’m not in pain, so it’s their goal to keep me as pain free as possible. That works for me.
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It is also my understanding that when I leave the hospital they will have me off all pain medication. That seem pretty encouraging. Of course, you don’t know what it’s going to be like until you’re in the middle of it, but is seems fairly promising. We’ll see.
Gary, The challenge goes on, your sense of humor goes on and sounds like recent tests are encouraging.
Glad you’re having a break to get back in the pool. I see why you chose this surgeon…I mean anyone can open you up, but a robot, my god that’s really high tech. You take care…Ellen
Best wishes to everyone on Sept 20 – you, your surgeon, the whole hospital staff! Anne and Marcia, too. May everyone be having a really great day! I hope you’re getting to enjoy some really good food these days between end of chemo and surgery. 🙂
Ellen – I really am excited about the robot surgery. Well, maybe not excited, but encouraged anyway. I was not looking forward to the long recovery time involved in the old fashioned “fish gutting” surgery techniques. This will be so much better.
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Linda – I hope the surgeon has a “great day” on the 20th. As for myself, I’ll settle for a tolerable one. I am enjoying my food these days. I imagine adjusting to small meals eaten slowly will be a challenge. I am currently appreciating food more than ever.
Hi Gary,
Wow, we had no idea of the struggles you have been going through since May. Our absentee neighbor, Jeff, passed on your blog info. I’m glad he did. Wishing you and Ann all the best. Glad to hear you are swimming again. That’s always good therapy for me.
See you around in the neigborhood soon.
Julie, John and Indie.
It’s definitely been a challenging year. It’s not so bad right now because the first round of chemo is done and the surgery isn’t until the 20th. In another three or four months things should be back to normal. At least that’s the plan.
Way to go, Gary! I’m counting on you coming through all of this just fine because I can’t wait to read the book that I think you have inside your head. Your writing style would make a best seller…
When this is done I totally intend to move on without ever looking back. Cancer will not become part of my identity. I will not be having “Cancer Survivor” tattooed on my forehead or printed on my T-shirt. Even considering writing a book about it is out of the question.
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Thanks for the encouraging words though. I agree that I will be coming through this just fine, but there will be no book when it’s over. You’ll have to settle for the blog. I appreciate your encouragement. Thanks again.