My Appt.

First..I weighed in at 249.8...up a bit, but that is after a delightful indulgence of the Thanksgiving holiday :)
I met with Dr. Summers today who is a general surgeon. He said that we will take a closer look at my colon with a colonoscopy (which will be scheduled soon probably for the end of Dec.). He said that due to my age, he'd like to remove a portion of my colon because he has seen more aggressive forms of diverticulitis in younger patients and strongly believes that I will have more severe bouts with it in the future. He said it is much wiser to do surgery when the colon is not irritated than to wait on another attack and for it to worsen. (BUT, we will decide for sure what will be done once he's looked at my colon!) Some of you have been shocked by this news of surgery and the severity of all of this. I am too! I think that many of us associate diverticulitis with older people who just get a tummy ache when they eat the wrong foods, but it is varies greatly depending on the person and the severity of it. Pockets develop in the colon which are called diverticula and when they get infected and flare up it can be excruciating pain. Some people have just a few "pockets" and others have a large area of the colon that are infested with these pockets...thus the wide range of treatment options for different people. This is pretty serious stuff. I used to roll my eyes at family gatherings when my family would say "Keep granny away from the nuts, peas and corn!" I thought "Big deal! If granny wants to eat it and then get a tummy ache..oh well!" I never in a million years imagined myself having a severe problem with it and surely not having part of my colon taken out!!!! He said I'd be in the hospital for 4-7 days and then resting at home for 2-4 weeks. This is worse than what I had imagined.
I didn't mention that Dr. Summers is an outstanding doctor who has worked with my extended family over the past 5 years and he's a Christian!!!! yay!!!
Then, I headed over to the Women's Clinic to meet Dr. Sam (a newer female doctor there). I had quite a funny experience. The nurse showed me to the room and told me to strip down to just my socks and put on the gown. She instructed that once I was undressed and ready to flip a little red switch. Many of you know about the "little red switch." An odd sense of panic comes over you when you know that you are butt naked in a little office with your hiney exposed out the back of your gown and you are supposed to flip this little red switch which then indicates to the doctor that you are "ready" for her grand entrance. I don't know what my problem was but after I was prepared in my gown, I lunged for the red switch and then quickly jumped up on the table. Thank goodness there were no cameras in there..what a sight that would have been. Oh...but it gets worse.....I'm sitting there waiting and I look down at my legs- ahhhhhhhhhh! How on earth could I have forgotten to shave in the shower????? My legs were beyond the hairy mammoth stage. I knew I had to tell the doctor before she discovered it! So, she came in...we chatted...we laughed...we chatted some more and then I broke the news to her..."Well, I am super embarrassed, but I forgot to shave my legs." She said, "Oh, I thought you were going to say that you were embarrassed because you have your gown on the wrong way." What? What??? Holy smokerooos..sure enough I had the gown all screwed up and she probably was wanting to die laughing from the moment she walked in the room and saw me! Long story..but basically I'm having a pelvic ultrasound tomorrow afternoon and we'll decide how to proceed with this cyst.
Gotta put kids to bed...
good night,
k