No surgery date yet...

Today I met with my colorectal surgeon Dr. Buie to discuss the details of my upcoming surgery. We didn't book a date for the surgery yet but I did get lots of useful information about what's going to happen. I should also say it is a great relief that Penny and I both really like Dr Buie. He's polite, calm, knowledgeable and most importantly he made us feel like he had all the time in the world to discuss surgery plans with us and answer all of our questions. I hope I run into more doctors like him on this adventure.

Today's discussion focused on the details of the surgery. Pre-surgery I will need to have an MRI and a CT to see what damage, if any, the radiation and chemo did to the tumor. I will also have to have a consultation with Dr. Sutherland (my liver surgeon) to discuss the options and timing of my liver surgery. Depending on what Dr Sutherland decides, I might have liver surgery at the same time as my colorectal surgery, or it may be after. He may also decide to do some exploratory or partial surgery on the liver. Once all the tests are done and my consultation with Dr Sutherland is complete I will meet with Dr Buie again to arrange a date for surgery. He did say that surgery will be some time in January.

Dr Buie also discussed a number of other interesting pieces of surgical information:

• I will not need an NG tube before surgery and probably not after either.
• Recovery from surgery will take about a week in the hospital (at the Foothills in unit 102 or 71) and then a month at home.
• I will likely need a temporary ileostomy that would be reversed ~3 months after the initial surgery.
• There is a chance I will need a permanent colostomy.
• He also said if you want to travel, now is the time. He said if we booked a trip he would try and work the tests and Dr appointments around it. Maui anyone?

I'm feeling much better this week with most of my bodily systems functioning normally again. I have a few outstanding complaints but they are minor compared to the discomfort I was in 3 weeks ago. I will update some more as the tests and appointments get checked off the list.

If you haven't seen the latest BOND show you should go and see it. It's a lot of fun.