Friday I went into the surgery center looking to be out by 3:30. The doctor had told Joanna that if I wasn’t out at 3:30 that it would be time to worry.
I went at High Noon bringing the necessary paperwork and with a slight amount of fear on my mind. I knew that Doc Chako told me not to worry. I remembered that a couple of my good friends at University Medical Center had told me great things about Dr. Thames, my surgeon. But in my world, a healthy amount of fear is warranted.
12:14 the paperwork was done and I was sitting in the waiting room with my parents. Joanna had given me a wave as I walked into the center. She was nervous and I talked to her while we waited.
12:28 each second brought to me a new degree of fear, fear of the unknown. Dad and I started making jokes about things not to hear during the surgery or what to do if we see the white light.
At 12:38 they called me back and the nurse asked me to do the thing that embarasses most men before surgery. “Please change into the surgical gown.” Now the surgical gown was short and it was cold in the room. There was NO way I was giving up my lucky socks. Yup, there was a fight for about one minute and she realized that she wasn’t going to win. So the socks remained.
At 12:45 she started the IV in my arm. I hate needles more than anything in the world, nothing worse than having a hard piece of metal in my arm. So I started to watch tv waiting for the surgeon.
The surgeon came in and talked to me and marked the sites of the various removals.
Then I waited…
and waited…
then the director of the center came in and said the words that I’d been hoping for.
“With all the areas that we are working on we have a problem sir. If we try for a local on everything we’d have issues with toxicity. And I know you prefer to live.” (more…)