You Can't Tell the Players Without a Scorecard

Next up in the provider rotation: the surgeons.*

The colonoscopy has confirmed what was suggested by the CT scan. I’ve got a mass at the point where my ascending colon becomes my transverse colon and while it’s not yet blocked off the passage completely, it’s getting pretty darn close. The only option is to cut me open, and cut it out.

In the afternoon the surgeon comes by to lay out the procedure and see if I have any questions. Call me vain, claim I have misplaced priorities, but to my mind there is one and only one question: 

Am I going to get through this without a colostomy bag?

The surgeon, of course, won’t answer. He can only explain that they won’t know until they get in and see what exactly they're dealing with. (Yeah, that’s comforting.) He also lets me know that he won’t be the one performing the surgery as he’s going off rotation. The new surgeon will come by in the morning to introduce themselves and answer any questions that may have occurred to me in the meantime.

Replaying the conversation in my head, I later realize it was something of a milestone. For the first time since I walked in the door at the urgent care clinic a medical provider has said the word out loud to me: cancer. 

* If my final tally is correct, I will have seen twelve different doctors during my week in the hospital: two hospitalists, two gastroenterologists, four surgeons, and four anesthesiologists. And those are just the ones I actually saw. The number doesn’t include the radiologists, pathologists, and others working on my case in the background. It’s going to be interesting to count the Pro Fees when the bill arrives.