Who Knows?

Learned at Rehab today that I'm scheduled on Thursday for a lung diffusion test, a meeting with the surgeon and his nurse, and an assessment by anesthesiology. Glad I asked at Rehab because the nurse in charge (I'm sure she has a more job specific title) not only looked it up, she ran a printout of the times and places of them all.

Rehab is becoming more challenging -- although not breath-wise *shrugs* Mostly it's my arms and legs that are being stressed. Figures...now that today was my penultimate visit...oh well *sighs*

I'm thinkin' I'd be in some terrific shape if they'd just let me finish the eight week program, but the surgeon wasn't wanting to postpone until after graduation weekend. Current guesstimates are that it will be a month or so before I'll be ready to return to this Rehab.

Questions for the medical staff:

What is the surgeon's infection rate? Any place to learn this other than from the surgeon himself??

How much antibiotic cleansing should one do before surgery? Ms. Mag says 3-5 days prior to surgery I should shower with chlorhexidine (Hibiclens). Staff at Rehab thought that was excessive/ridiculous. What do you know?

Given that I remain a candidate for a resection, lobectomy or a pneumonectomy, with no complications:

How long will I be on a ventilator? Will I have a chest tube? For how long? Just what does that entail? How long before I will be up and around in the hospital? (We understand 7-10 days in the hospital.) What kind of pain medication will be administered/self administered? What kind of Metamucil product will be accompanying any pain medication? What dietary restrictions/changes might be expected? (I can't imagine they'll suggest an antioxident rich diet, but they might surprise me.) I'm hoping someone can smuggle in some Naked Juice...

Kevin will remember to ask about internet access *grins*

Please add to the list or post any answers/comments that you might have.

Managed to do a bit more yardening up in front where creepy Creeping Charley and Dandelions have an all too good footing. On the brighter side, daffodils are still popping up, creeping phlox is in full bloom. I've seen growth under two of the new rose bushes I tried last year, two of our Celedine Poppies have blossomed, the two grandiflora trillium in our front yard are glorious, and the yard is blue with wild violets. That's just looking down, which is kind of difficult to do these days with the red buds, apples, crabapples, and pears in bloom overhead.

One of the two eggs in the nest in front of Mom's screened porch hatched a new cardinal. She can't see it yet, but she's seen the female cardinal sitting on the nest. I found it when I was trimming the juniper. I forgot to check tonight to see if the second one has hatched.

The photo is of Bardo, our barred owl who's been here at least three years now. Last week Kevin caught sight of him in our creek, just 20 feet from the house, drinking and having a bit of a bath, but he wasn't there long enough to photograph. Kevin took this photo using the distance lens; Bardo is actually in a tree across our ravine. We're discussing selling some his photographs...

What else do we want to know? We have until Wednesday to field more questions.

I hope this finds everyone well.

Where To From Here?

Today's photo is one that Nancy sent to remind me that while our gardens are very different, there are some things that we do share. Our lilacs are holding their own; they're not growing as quickly as I hoped, but they're alive and producing a few more flowers each year. Mom brought back a cutting from her walk up the lane this weekend and the blooms are opening nicely.

Lessee, where have we been the past couple days...

Monday at rehab, I learned that the U pulmonologist wanted the Spirometry tests redone, and that was scheduled for this morning.

Since we had a couple sunny days before some rain was scheduled to blow in, I spent the rest of Monday and most of yesterday clearing and cleaning the yards. My hope is to have the yardwork set for the rest of the summer -- one of the nice things about growing perennials.

I've been having a weekly massage this past year to help with enhancing relaxation and minimizing stress; I've also noticed other benefits to my muscles and relief of arthritis, as well. Both Dad and Mom benefited so much from massages that we really regret not having started them earlier *sighs* So, in the spirit of strengthening my body systems prior to surgery, we've decided to do two therapeutic massages a week, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, until the surgery on May 4th.

I'm not doing anything with regard to eldercare beyond daily visits, but now that I have all this medical stuff scheduled during the day, I seem to have less time than when I had full-time jobs. Both Monday and Tuesday evenings I spent trying to finish up Dad's estate paperwork. I'd like to have that, along with all of the business records, in order prior to the surgery.

This morning was the second Spirometry test (lung function test). This time, however, I was dosed with albuterol for one of the runs. It appears that my lung capacity is not enhanced much by an inhalant...at this point, anyway. I could tell from the little I saw that I did better on this run than I did at the other hospital. I actually expected to since we've been working on daily physical and breathing exercises. I'll post those results as soon as we have them.

From there I went to Respiratory Rehab. They didn't seem to mind that I was 30 minutes early. There were high school students there shadowing the staff, and they seemed happy to have a willing guinea pig *smiles* Today they increased the speeds, reps and resistance of the routine. I'm still not anywhere near breathing hard from the routine. The Physical Therapist asked today if she could speak with the surgeon with regard to the current pace I can run as well as what he anticipates for following the surgery. Unfortunately I won't see her again until Monday, but I'll let you know what I learn through her.

Kevin and I continue to walk. Although last week we went out -- along a sidewalk with no tall grass -- and came home with over a dozen ticks...most of them on Kevin. Quite the tick magnet! We got Trooley a collar and took him to the vet today. Not sure how we'll keep them off us...

As I've been thinking about putting together a 'Spa Package' for our guests, and since I'm supposed to be doing things to relax, Dede and I are planning to venture out next Wednesday afternoon to see what's available locally. Should be able to write this adventure off as both business and pleasure; we'll be sure to let you know what we find. Seems to be a trendy gathering activity these days, so if we don't find what we're looking for then, we'll try again. If anyone has suggestions, please pass them along.

Am also exploring yoga. If you have any suggestions or directions, do let me know.

Last Saturday we learned of another friend who has stopped smoking cigarettes. Yeah, Micheal! *cheers* What a great thing to do for Earth Day!

These rains, while cold and windy, are making a huge difference in the greenery. Ron said he could actually see the flowering almonds tree blossoms open yesterday. Our Lancifola and Crispula hostas are up over eight inches, ringing the gardens in green. This year it's even more dramatic since we left the leaves as mulch.

Virginia Bluebells are now up, ferns are pushing up with the daylilies, lily of the valley is ready to flower, white trillium is in full bloom, and the rest of the woodland plants are poking through. Kevin cut both apple and pear flowers for Mom yesterday. Tulips are popping up along the lane, mayflowers are leafing and our redbuds are providing a wonderful color companion to the flowering crabapple. Jury is still out on the new garden in front of Mom's...I've ordered some fill-in plants, just in case *winks*

We started "the sCenario" originally to be able to inform all of you about what we were learning and the decisions we were facing. It's been a wonderful vehicle to get information from all of you, as well. Now, with everything on hold for a while, I'm not sure that there will be much new -- outside of the garden -- to write about.

Kevin and I have found it enlightening, as it's provided a unique communique between the two of us which helped highlight for us differences in our perceptions of what we've been hearing, seeing and feeling. And, it's providing us a nice record of what's happened: "Have you had any blood drawn since you've been at the U?"...I don't recall that I've had, but let me check our diary...nope, no blood draws done here...uh, nice stick *grins*

Don't know that we know how we 'feel' about all of this, nor that anyone is interested. Rollercoasters of emotions, thoughts, concerns... And we know there are a few more ahead of us. Our cousin, Carol, said that she and her husband began as soon as they could to live as normally as one can after hearing that one has a definable time left, and that makes sense to us.

I waffled between living the natural consequences of my life-choices, i.e., not doing a medical intervention, and availing myself of life-extending technologies, i.e., having the surgery. I try not to re-examine that choice too much now that we've made the decision, but I'd be lying if I said I don't have second thoughts. Ours is surely the priciest decision, I will say that!

We're pretty much moving day to day, like everyone else we know; keeping body and soul together. Knowing who wants or needs to know about all of this is still difficult. We haven't gotten to everyone, so if you know of someone who would be interested, please give them the address of "the sCenario."

This all further emphasizes for me the uselessness of the the greeting, "How are you?" For what it's worth, we're preferring, "Nice to see you!" as the greeting de jure; unless of course, you really want to stick around for a couple hours to hear how we are. *heh*

Let us know your thoughts. We can kind of converse through the comments fields here, as Nancy and Katie did. Both Kevin and I check here daily to see if anyone else has commented. If you're having problems with that, call or email us and we'll see if we can help you figure it out. Or, just call or email -- that still works just as well.

The weekend should be beautiful here following all of this rain. We've no guests aside from family and friends scheduled, so we have plenty of room until May 4th if you're up for a spontaneous visit.

If you're local, consider taking your walk here.

Yardening As Rehab

Yesterday was the first day of Respiratory Rehab at the U. I'm spending time on the treadmill, the push bike and stairsteps. In addition, exercise to strengthen chest and arm muscles, as well as thigh muscles have been prescribed. The only thing that's different is that I'll only be doing two weeks of rehab instead of the prescribed three. We're pretty sure that I'll be back there following the surgery.

Thursday a friend decimated her garden for a rebuild, and we inherited boxes of day lilies, lily-of-the-valley, snow drops and a sedum groundcover. So I spent the rest of the afternoon getting most of those planted. Of course, no garden that we have is ready for new planting, so spring clean-up slowed the planting. The up side of that is that there's plenty more walking and bending left for me for today's exercise.

The down side of it is that I wasn't as interested in going for our evening walk last night *sighs*

I forgot to note that Thursday was the day that we first noted the serviceberry trees in bloom (white), as well as the three flowering almond trees (pink). We think that our magnolias survived the Indian Winter that we had a couple weeks ago. (We have Indian Summer in November; Kevin and I think we should also have Indian Summer *grins*) We're keeping a close eye on the crab apple, redbud and some of the dogwoods.

The scilla, hyacinths, bloodroot and daffodils have regained their bearings, both trillium are making good headway, and the wild ginger is poking up, along with many of the hostas (and the Virginia bluebells will be in full glory next week, Sara). Let us know if there are any plants we can plan to corral for you (the way we do wild geranium for Katie). (That goes for the FaeryDogMother, too.) Not much that we grow will survive where NancyTurtle and DonnaMarie live.

This seems the perfect segue to tell you all how much I appreciate the comments and to apologize for not knowing how and where to comment on the comments. Kevin has now educated me in blog-iquette, and I hope to do better with that.

We should also let you all know that we won't have any room for visitors the weekend of May 11-12. After that weekend, we're wide open and would love to see you.

Use one fewer sheet of paper product and tell someone you love them...my version of green peace for today.

In the Blink of an Eye...

So did it seem like maybe things were going too well?

Met with the surgeon again today. He now has the PET scans from hospital one, and it doesn't seem as cut and dried to him as it did with the first surgeon we met with. He showed us the scan -- it's like they have a bunch of cross sections of Diana's torso that they can flip through like a deck of cards. (I found an example CT here). To me, it looked like some white blobs and some black blobs, but to him, it looks like the tumor is much closer to the left aorta than anyone had mentioned earlier. There's no way to be sure until he's actually in there looking at it, but there's a chance that he'll decide he can't resect the tumor. If that happens, they close her up and we go to plan B -- radiation and chemo.

Given that, he doesn't want to wait too long, so we're scheduled for surgery on Friday, May 4. That gives Diana 6 sessions of pulmonary rehab. Because of the change in plans, today's anesthesiology assessment and the pulmonary function test were cancelled and will be rescheduled the day before the surgery -- they'll be done with her pre-surgery workup. Home that night, and back the next morning for what's probably a seven day stay.

Surgery will begin with a mediastinoscopy -- they make an incision above the collar bone and run a tube with a camera and tissue sampler to biopsy the lymph nodes along the lung. If those come out clean, they move on to make an incision on Diana's left side to biopsy the lymph nodes they can't reach with the mediastinoscopy, and to get an actual look at the tumor from the outside of the lung. If all that's good, then they resect the tumor -- he's still saying a pneumonectomy is probable, but they still might be able to save the upper lobe.

We also got copies of all the medical records. Sure enough, somewhere between the intake interview and pulmonary tests, green tea extract had magically appeared on Diana's list of medications. The case manager was kind of mystified, but she says she demands to see her own records every year.

From the records, we found out that the tumor is really staged as a 2a (2T0N0M). The difference stems from the second dimension we found in the reports, i.e., the tumor measures 5 x 3 cm making it large enough to be a Stage 2...not as good as a 1, better than a 4.

In the meantime, we've got 15 days to studiously not worry about the stuff that go wrong. Well, at least nobody's ever going to accuse the surgeon of blowing smoke up our butts...

New Work

First day of rehab:

Got lost *aaarrrgh*

But, I got myself found and was able to complete all that was required today. It was basically an orientation to the facility and staff, and the establishment of some baselines. Blood pressure, weight, waist measurement, and oxygen level were taken. I was given a quick quiz to learn what I didn't know about the pulmonary system and filled out a few more forms.

That was followed by a 'six-minute walk' while attached to a physical therapist who ran the stopwatch and monitored my vitals. I forgot to wear my pedometer this morning *thwaps self* and she wouldn't tell me how far I walked. But I know I did alright because I could tell that the therapist was moving much faster than she's accustomed with rehab patients. *grins*

The space looks like many health clubs except that all the people using the equipment are older and more infirm than I. I got some funny looks as I breezed by them on the six-minute walk; one man commented that it seemed like I was 'flying by.' *shrugs* There are treadmills, pedal and push bikes, arm ergometer, steps and therabands (rubber bands of varying resistance); the standard program is eight weeks. The staff was warm and welcoming.

I get the feeling that doing rehab prior to surgery is a new idea. We all think it makes perfect sense, yet everyone at the hospital seems surprised that I'm there and for only three weeks...Mon/Wed/Fri for two hours every morning.

In the meantime, we meet with the primary surgeon tomorrow morning to discuss taking a biopsy of my lymph nodes. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be assessed by the anesthesiology department (for both the biopsy and surgery, should they be done separately) and will have another respiratory stress test following that. Just learned of the stress test this morning, so we'll know more about that tomorrow evening.

Then Friday it's back to Resp. Rehab. I'm needing to schedule and calendar -- much like having another full time job...

Did manage to spend a couple hours with Mom on her porch while we pruned the juniper so that she'd be able to see her waterfall and pond. I expect I'll be able to find a couple hours of yardening to do every day, especially now that it's a part of both my rehab and relaxation program *grins bigly*

Today we saw pulmonaria, Virginia bluebells and tulips in bloom. May you blossom as well.

Cure-ious Thoughts

Spent the weekend cleaning up storm damage and starting to prep the gardens so that we'll be in a better position to take a couple months away from working outdoors *sighs*

We were told not to expect any results yesterday, so we scheduled errands.

Before I left, Respiratory Rehab called to say that they hadn't received any results yet, but that they hadn't forgotten about me. Well, we expected that...but apparently she didn't. *shrugs* Less than a minute later, the Cardio Dept. called to say that they had just gotten the results and that I should be fine to do rehab. *cheers*

I asked her to call Respiratory Rehab, which she apparently did; there was a message from the pulmonologist when I returned saying that I should report for Respiratory Rehab on Wednesday morning. *grins*

Well, cancer is certainly a trendy thing to be dealing with right now. On the heels of Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow, yesterday's "Talk of the Nation" focused a good part of the show on cancer and the blog, MyCancer by Leroy Sievers, being carried on their website. It provided some interesting links and thought provoking topics.

We've noticed also that the evening magazine shows are beginning to feature the progress made on cancer fronts. Lastly, it seems I read from morning to night, and daily we find websites with more info, or we meet someone with more helpful info, experiences and suggestions and a willingness to share.

There was an interesting discussion during the NPR show regarding the ways people describe their relationship(s) with cancer. In my reading, I'm finding that cancers are like pregnancies -- each one is at the same time similar to many and yet very different from most. How we talk about it seems to have more commonalities: fighting cancer, coping with cancer, managing cancer, dealing with, and, more and more frequently these days, curing cancer (much to our surprise and delight).

I wasn't sure where I stood on the issue, but after some thought regarding the power of language in my life: I don't like the fight metaphor any more here than I did in the boardroom. I feel I'm 'coping' with a lot of things, but not the cancer per se. I don't feel that I'm 'managing' this, as it's clearly in the hands of 'specialists' and 'experts,' and most immediately it doesn't appear that chemo or radiation (things that manage, not irradicate the cancer) will be utilized; so far, I feel like others are 'managing' it, both with and for me. 'Dealing with it' just doesn't seem proactive enough for me...*ponders*

Maybe since I'm being allowed a 'rehab period' prior to an impending surgery, and since Kevin is requesting that I don't do anything else but take care of myself, I feel like I'm...Working to Cure this cancer.

Reading, researching, exploring alternatives, organizing, networking...much like many jobs I've done. Although I must say that no previous job that I've had required that I get eight hours of sleep each night, or consume all of these antioxidents, or do things that I find relaxing -- would that they had *sighs*

So, to all of you who have joined us here, or in your calls, emails, thoughts, prayers and well wishes, thank you for being a part of our Work to Cure this cancer.

Two More Days

We decided that Kevin didn't need to be at the hospital for this scan since: there was little statistical risk that the stress test would do me in, and we expected to get no new information during or following this round of tests.

As a matter of fact, everyone involved with my recent stress tests has been astounded that: I've completed it, I didn't need to collapse after it, I stopped because my legs hurt, and not my heart (I'm carrying that 25 extra pounds again *sighs*), and I didn't need assistance in walking immediately following it... *shrugs*

The myocardial perfusion scan began at 8 a.m. with an injection of a radioactive tracer dye (half life of which is 6 hours). During that time, I overheard that they think I'm taking green tea extract -- which I am not -- so now we're trying to learn how we can best access my new medical record to correct that and any other errors that might already be traveling with me...

The first set of 'at rest' images of the heart were complicated by the tracer dye also illuminating the bowel -- an anomaly of my anatomy -- which made differentiating the heart muscle more difficult (providing a crappy picture *heh*) and resulted in a second set of images being taken. Each set lasted about 15 minutes.

The third set of images which followed the treadmill stress test didn't require a follow-up set of images. But, we were provided no information regarding the tests and don't expect to until the beginning of next week, as the prep sheet said it would take 48 hours to get the results.

This test will help the pulmonologist prescribe the level of rehab I can handle for the next three weeks. No one has indicated how much gain is expected by this rehab period, nor if it might be extended to the normal eight week course of the rehab. We're guessing that regardless of the lung improvement, the length of time would be compromised by the growth rate of the tumor, which no one seems able...or willing...to address.

In the meantime, we're now able to take walks again and will monitor my/our blood pressure both before and after since we're now both dealing with an elevated blood pressure issue. Now that Mother Nature has settled down a bit, our walks have been most enjoyable.

We're now two weeks into our new care plan for Mom, and things are working pretty smoothly. *knocks on wood* It's allowed me time to get the lawns cleared and to get out into the gardens to do some clean-up work. We're feeling more rested in the mornings since we don't have to listen to the next-door monitor all night, and it's nice to be able to plan things that might take longer than forty-five minutes to an hour, or, to do things spontaneously! *grins* Mostly it's given us some very welcomed Alone Time!

We lost many daffodils to the recent cold snap, but some survived, as did most of our tulips -- which should be up next week. *cheers* Around town, early hostas got frosted, as did Magnolias, but our leaf mulch and woodland canopy protected all of ours.

A very difficult part of our new medical adventure is learning what questions to ask of whom, and how to be savvy consumers of medical personnel, procedures, products, prices (and costs), and politics. We sure appreciate all of the input in addition to the support from our family and friends.

And to everyone who so kindly asks what you can do, or how you can help: the best thing you can do for us right now is to appreciate your friends and extended families. *hugs*

A New Cans o' Worms

So I'm sitting here in the Cardiology Clinic at the U, waiting for Diana.

Since last Thursday, we're reliving the experiences of Henny Penny (okay, not Henny Penny. who was the character that had to get something from someone who wanted something from someone who...?). Anyway, the pulmonary surgeon won't do the operation until Diana has had some pulmonary rehab to improve her lung function, and the pulmonary rehab folks won't let her do that until she's been seen by a cardiologist.

I should back up:

Monday morning, we came back to the U for a brain MRI. It seems that there are three places that a cancer like Diana's might move -- the adrenal glands, the bones, and the brain. The PET scan ruled out the first two, but not the third, and the U surgeon wants all three ruled out before he goes chopping up people's lungs.

Of course, we hadn't really been worried about brain tumors until they started looking for them, so we both kind pussy-footed around that part all weekend. The MRI was first thing Monday morning, and I asked our case manager to let us know ASAP, so by 1pm Monday, we got the legally-defendable phrase that there "were no obvious signs of brain tumors."

Tuesday, I dropped Diana off again, this time to begin pulmonary rehab (8am) and to take the 'VQ' pulmonary test, which is supposed to tell more about exactly which lungs are doing what. During the rehab, something on her EKG didn't look right (something about dropped ST segments associated with ischemia (low blood oxygen?), and her blood pressure rose pretty dramatically, pretty quickly leaving them concerns about high blood pressure. The VQ test got pushed back from 10:00 to 11:00. This test involved blowing nuclear gases into her lungs and x-raying the oxygenation in each lung. Nobody has talked to us about those results yet.

My latest discovery is that this hospital doesn't seem to have any WiFi access, so I can type on Diana's shiny new MacBook, but I can't look anything up. We're hoping to provide Diana internet access while in the hospital; maybe the recovery rooms are different

Later that day...

Today's meeting seemed somewhat superfluous since the doctor read Diana's medical record while she was sitting there, listened to her back and heart and then scheduled a Treadmill Perfusion Scan to assess Blood Flow. It will be similar to the initial treadmill test that opened this can o' worms and initiated all of this cardiac concern. The poop sheet they gave us says:

"A myocaridal perfusion scan is a two-part imaging procedure which uses two redioactive tracers, a camera, and a computer to produce pictures of blood flow to the heart muscle during rest and after stress (walking on the treadmill or by using medications called adenosine or dobutamine). The scan will tell if there are areas of the heart muscle that do not receive enough blood either at rest or during stress.

Once those results are in -- early next week -- Diana will be put on an appropriate respiratory rehab program to help build up the right lung. That program is normally eight weeks. Diana is scheduled for three weeks with follow-up exams. We're guessing that at that point they will either schedule Diana for surgery or order her to complete the rehab program in preparation for surgery.

While complaining of no pain, Diana is experiencing a dull ache on the left side of her chest. She thinks it's because her brain knows someone was cutting in there... Sometimes after sitting or reclining for a long time it aches a bit, but it goes away quickly. She hasn't taken anything for pain in a couple weeks now.

The first week of eldercare has worked well. It only took half a dozen people and a day care agency to replace what Diana was doing...

We're doing what we can to learn more about our options and appreciate everything that our family and friends are doing to help.

We're also trying to relax...

A Trip Across the River

So the U was...a very different experience.

First, we met with a pulmonological oncologist (obligatory med student in tow), followed by the oncological thoracic surgeon (with the same med student).

Everything was kind of tentative, since Hospital I had couriered over everything but the xrays, PET and CT scans. After the U appointment, we went back to Hospital I, picked those up, and hand delivered them.

The lung guy stressed how lucky we were that we'd found this 'early' -- despite the size, the cancer is probably a stage 1-A or 1-B. One is good, four is not.

The surgeon was apologetic that he wouldn't be able to tell us much without seeing the films. He's done about sixty pneumonectomies, and a couple hundred lobectomies. "This is all I do -- cancer surgery."

He's also a lot more cautious -- he wants a brain MRI (Monday morning), three weeks of pulmonary rehab (starting Tuesday morning), and a differential VQ scan to learn more about exactly which lungs are doing what. He was more concerned about Diana's current lung capacity than the first guys.

We both felt better about all of the people we met today at the U, and they made a good case that a serious tertiary-care hospital is going have a lot more resources to deal with any contingencies. They answered all of our questions frankly, in terminology we could comprehend, and with compassion.

We think we're staying there. The U surgeon seemed very amenable to working with folks from across the river or with whomever we wanted on our team. We didn't get that feeling from Hospital 1. The oncologist from the Hospital 1 team has a sterling reputation, but we haven't met his parallel from across the river.

Tough enough to make decisions like this without having to deal politics along the way...

The first surgeon said that he was ready to "trust the PET scan" and take the lung without biopsies of the lymph nodes. The new guy will do a separate procedure to get biopsies of assorted "N2" lymph nodes (the yellow-colored ones on the lung model). That may happen the same day as the surgery, or he might do it ahead of time.

So that's a pretty different timeline than we had two days ago. Still, we've turned over care of Mom to our new "staff" -- we've got 24/7 coverage, and even a couple of backup options. Now to reframe Diana that taking care of Diana is enough of a job for now.

Tumor Opinions

Seems clear that surgery is the best option.

We met with the first thoracic surgeon this morning. We meet with another surgeon on Thursday (4/5) and from what we've learned this morning, we could be in surgery early next week.

Initial feelings are that we're pretty comfortable with the surgeon we met this morning. He looked us in the eyes and answered our questions directly, making sure we understood everything. He's done a couple dozen of these operations over the past thirty years. When asked who he would have do the surgery on himself, he answered, "My partner." *sighs* He was almost pleased to hear we would be getting a second opinion from a surgeon that he knows and respects.

As much as Diana hates shopping, this is really frustrating. We don't recall 'Shopping for a Surgeon' in any of our Consumer Education classes, and now there's almost too much information. *argh*

Although, they keep referring to her as 'young' which constantly surprises her. Times certainly have changed quickly...

So, let us know what you think we should be asking in our comparative shopping adventures. We'll be sure to ask and to post the results.

We'll post again on Thursday once we've gotten our second opinion.