[Originally written on December 20, 2014]
Well,
things are moving ahead quickly. I received a call yesterday to go in for a
consultation with the surgeon in New Westminster this morning. It seems it must
have been urgent because they told me I was double booked but the doctor would
see me when he could. We were in and out of there in less than an hour.
Wonderful!
The
consultation was with Dr. Granger, who told us that 80% of his surgeries are on
exactly this sort of issue. Everything seems to be fast-tracked now. Surgery is
scheduled for this coming Monday, January 5th. (The doctor’s
receptionist had already scheduled my surgery by the time I
came out of the examining room! Some poor person’s surgery got bumped for mine.
I asked her to tell that person I was sorry and she assured me she’d already
done that. He told her he didn’t mind and that he understood completely. Hmmm.)
The process
will consist of two stages, both of which will take place on the same day
(Monday). The first will be at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster where
they’ll inject some sort of radioactive isotope and take numerous pictures which will guide the surgeon in
finding the lymph node or nodes that he will remove at the same time as he
excises the remainder of the tumor in the lower part of my leg. The actual surgery
part of the process will take place at the Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody
immediately after the Royal Columbian adventure.
Recovery
from this kind of surgery at this location in a body usually takes longer,
especially if there’s skin grafting required. And that’s very likely in my case.
“Longer” means many weeks. “Many” leaves lots of room for variables. Nice.
Also
scheduled for this week (Friday, January 2nd) is my appointment with
the cancer dermatologist in Surrey. There’s still a CAT scan to be scheduled
too, although a PET scan is probably not going to take place at all. Dr.
Granger said the CAT scan will reveal more precisely what they need to know.
I’m very
grateful for the quick responses of the various medical professionals involved
in all this. God is graciously providing all that we need right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I welcome comments on these blog posts. In fact I encourage them. However, I will moderate comments and will not publish any that appear to promote some sort of cure for cancer or tell me that if only I had lived my life in this or that way I would never have found myself experiencing what I am now. My intent in writing this blog is to tell you about my adventure and about ways in which I’m discovering that I can deal with it now that I’m already in it. It’s my deepest desire that if you read these posts and you are facing some of the difficult circumstances in life to which we are all susceptible, that you will discover some hope and peace and strength to carry you through it all. And that you’ll recognize and be grateful for the source of that hope and peace. For me, that is God and the relationship that I enjoy with him. Oh, and I really want you enjoy a good laugh with me too as you read this.