It started at 6 pm last night...."Fill the container with lukewarm water to the line and shake well. Drink all contents in a one-hour period." What an ordeal. The idea of a colonoscopy is bad enough, but my gosh they don't make it easy getting prepared. The concoction looked innocent enough, smelled a bit like lemonade...how bad could it be? WHOA....GAG BAD! It was like salty lemonade. An hour later... I was done... I was miserable...but I didn't have any idea what was coming up...or rather coming out!!
All night long...here it comes....get out of the way!!!! Ughhh. Okay, back to the recliner, relax. Uh oh.....out of the way!!! Ughhhh.
5 am December 16....drink a little more....move a little more....head to the Clinic. Its very conveniently located across the hall from the Doctor's office....convenient for him. Arrived around 7 am, changed into the stylish gown...start the IV. Last minute instructions and they wheel me off...here we go.
7:30 am - in the operating room, or it looks like it. Dr. Memon is there...get me in position...anesthesiologist comes over and says "nighty night".....
9:00 am - where am I??? My eyes focus, there's Donna and Dr. Memon by my bedside. He doesn't look too happy. Well? "Well, we found a mass..." A mass, what does that mean? A tumor. An angry looking one according to the lovely color glossies he gave me. What did he think? "Oh, its probably cancerous. But we can take care of that. Here is the name of a gastro surgeon. They'll be able to remove it. Pretty routine."
Just about the time he said "oh, its probably cancerous", I stopped hearing anything else. It was my worst fear. I had colon cancer. Now what?
11:00 am - Donna's on the phone with the surgeon's office making an appointment. Its Thursday, the 16th, she is able get me an appointment with the surgeon on the next Tuesday, December 21. Amazing...
December 21, 2010....First appointment with Dr. Newton, gastro surgeon. "So why are you here?" I said I have a tumor in my colon. He said "You're in the right place. We can take care of it." We said we would like the surgery as soon as possible. He said, being the week after Christmas it was unlikely I could get in before mid-January, but he would check for an earlier date. How about December 27? I'll take it....
December 27, 2010....5:00 am...up and getting ready to head to the hospital...7:00 am check in...sit and wait...they take me back at 7:30....Donna stays in the waiting room with Misty. Four and a half hours later its done. It took a little longer than he thought, the tumor was bigger than expected, he had to make a 3 inch incision below the navel so he could remove the section of colon with the tumor attached....
Out of recovery and up to my room. Laproscopic surgery requires only a 3 to 4 day stay. I was bound and determined to get out of there in that time frame.
I WONT CHRONICLE THE 3 DAYS I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL BECAUSE FRANKLY, I DONT REMEMBER MUCH.
I was discharged on December 30 after just 3 days...right on his schedule
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