Most recent stay

This most recent hospitalization was not so fun. Mayo has a lot of cool nurses, but I can't say that I really got attached to any of the Spectrum Butterworth nurses, except for the last night and morning I had some cool ones who just hung out and talked for a while. Those are the best -- the ones who make time to interact and tell stories and whatnot and care about who their patients are. Yes, they are all competent nurses, but some of them are only concerned about my immediate needs and don't really care about me as a person. There's a big difference and it shows. Perhaps my attitude toward them makes a difference too. Anyway, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the stay in general. No cranky nurses or doctors, no getting me up at 3am to stand up and take a walk. The only odd thing was that a Doc came in at 3 am and appologized for not coming in the night before. So instead he woke me at 3 am to find out how I was doing. I told him I was tired and needed some sleep and could talk to him coherently in the morning. He kind of understood. I don't know why docs make their rounds at 3am.

I did have some wonderful visitors. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I understand that midweek is not necessarily a good time for anyone, so no hard feeling toward any of you who would have liked to stop by but just couldn't. I was only in from Tuesday through Friday, so it was a short stay. Anyway, I really appreciated the visits and good times I had with some of you. Thanks so much!!

I'm happy that I had all this done at Butterworth. My doctor was competent and did a great job. No sense in going all the way out to MN to have a simple surgery done. I feel pretty good already. I was up and walking 2 hours after surgery and felt alright. I think I'll feel fine within the week and get back to normal activities. I've already told most of you that I'm reading a pretty cool book called Brothers and Keepers by John Edgar Wideman. I spend a couple of hours at Schulers trying to find a good new book to read. I haven't finished it as anticipated. It's about two black brothers -- one becomes an author and scholar, and the other becomes a murderer. Quite a story!

Well, that's enough for now. If anyone has a good book suggestion, I'll take it. But I won't finish this book for another month at best, so I may have quite the queue lined up by the time I'm done with this one.

Good night all!

more doctors

I've been introduced to at least 2 more doctors since the last update. These two doctors, surgeons, scare me. Neither one of them are terribly gleeful, except for the twinkle in their eye's when they eye knifes and scaples. I'm not sure if it's delight or just reflection of the room light off the shiney metal. Physical principles make it difficult to figure out just what's going on. Both surgeons think that cutting in to me is the best way to go, so I will grudgingly concur, because that's the only real choice I have. What's another scar in the crowd? I've been investigating surgical cuts, and it seems that there are a great variety to choose from based on the surgeons chosen target. Most of them are vertical (standing up; they are all horizontal when lying down), but some are horizontal. Most physicians seem to stay away from diagnals and arcs, although sometimes they are handy too. My doc want to go laproscopic -- 3 rather small incisions that will let me go home and get back to regular activities in days, not weeks. That would be best for me, given that I probably have many surgeries that lie ahead. As I read it, every incision adds to the myriads of scar tissue already in my lower abdomin. And that makes subsequent surgeries more difficult, as the doc will have to traverse all the tissues to get where he wants to be. It all sounds very unpleasant to me.

In the world of "regular life", I was weeding and reading today. I started a new book, The Last Days of Pompeii. I think I started the first chapter before but was not intreagued. Now I am. It looks like a good book. I finally finished my last book, The Promise of Paradox, given to me by a thoughtful uncle.

So a few days have gone by

It may seem to you like months have gone by since I've written anything. To me it seems like just a few days. For those of you who don't know, I've grown a beard, trimmed it, let it go long, and now am thinking about getting rid of it until No-Shave-November comes around again. But, as with everything else in my life at the moment, is no certainty. One thing that is certain is that I have to make it through today, and I may make it through tomorrow. Even though today I feel that I could make it to 90, my oncological surgen says "not so". I live to prove him wrong. In fact I scoff at him, and so does my disease, which at least is schrinking. Although I make no claims that it is gone, even now. We gotta wait and see what test the doctor will order next to give some better resolution to the matter.

It's strange to me that the best method we have for seeing cancer traces is by looking for them. One would think there could be a blood test that shows the percent of cancer left, or the amount that has been erradicated (big word I use infrequently, sorry if I use it wrong). It seems so primative that it's just somebody's eye examining a high-tech photo. Yes, I understand these things. I'm an engineer. In engineering, we have better ways of testing for things. But alas it is not so.

You may want to know what's on my to-do list. I'm ready to share with willing readers. Today was a great week. I had cousin and aunt visiting. They left. We did fun things, like finishing "The World's Smallest 1000 Piece Puzzle". We went exploring Michigan (a favorite past-time of mine), buying art work (in the form of cards), going out to eat. I also get to spend a fair amount (20 hrs per week) working at a job that I find fun and interesting! I also have lots of energy for walking, and apparently can run to chase a dog who is crossing the street without permission. I didn't know I had that in me yet. So the energy is there when it needs to be. And naps? well, they are almost a thing of the past, except that I know they are still good for me.

And what's next for me? Well, some of you read on CaringBridge all about what's going on, some of you haven't been there yet. I may or may not have some of my liver removed. But the liver is an amazing organ -- vital. And it seems to be the only organ (besides skin) that can regenerate itself quite successfully. So my fear of having that done has subsided quite substantially. And it's possible I won't have to have it done at all after all. What I do fear is the potential of having lung surgery done. That is scary, and might leave me with a little less ability to do things when I'm done. I'm very hopeful that it will end up better than I'm expecting. So I'm hoping the lung thing will be a non-issue.

It feels like an awkward place to leave a post, but it's late, and I have to go to bed, just like any good little boy.