Next Appointment

I got a call today from my GI and set up my appointment to go meet a possible surgeon next week (Monday, July 9th). The surgeon was highly recommended by my doctor so I am interested to meet him and see what he has to say. This is my first experience with any sort of surgery, so I'm not totally sure what to expect. I will be taking a list of questions I have created so that I feel really comfortable with the procedure and know exactly what to expect (btw, my friend/grammar nazi Nikki would be so proud! That last sentence ended in a preposition, but I felt compelled to go back and change it!). 

The doctor's assistant also told me that my lab work came back (to check on the good ole' liver) and that things have stabilized a little bit. I'm pretty sure that all the blood tests that I've had in the past few years have slowly been creeping up, so this is definitely good news. I had almost forgotten about my liver in the past few months...

I also found out tonight that it is really tough for me to tell friends about having this surgery. After dinner, I told a good friend from college that I was having this surgery and was holding it together until I started talking about the cancer risk. Apparently my brain decided that this is what I am the most scared about. I broke down a little bit, which I guess is allowed every once and a while, right? I know the odds are very scary (42% risk of already having a "synchronous" cancer), but I must hold on to the fact that they are still technically in my favor. Plus, I've got The Big Guy on my side and I trust that He knows what He is doing!

For now, I'm going to take another vacation with friends (for the 4th of July... my second favorite holiday!!) down to Florida. We are going scalloping on our second annual trip to Steinhatchee, Florida (Google it... I swear it's a real place!). I went last year with lots of good friends and I look forward to the trip again this year. 

I will update next week after the consult with the surgeon. Hopefully there will be some good news about the timing (not before school starts!?) and the actual operation (not a TOTAL colectomy?!). But, I'm not keeping my hopes up for anything at this point :0/