In the fall of 2010, Neil asked me to make an appointment for him for a physical. Let me just say that a man who never asks for directions certainly never asks to see a doctor. I had finally found a great family physician and Neil decided he should get checked out, too, since I raved on and on about how thorough she was with me.
His appointment was at the beginning of December. (Wow. As I type this I realize that his first appointment was almost two years ago. Time flies.) He had all of the typical tests that a 51 year- old guy gets. Among the tests was the preliminary screening for colon cancer. No worries. When the results came back, the nurse called and told him to make an appointment for a colonoscopy.
A couple days later, the office called back and left a message on our answering machine. The nurse wanted to make sure that he made the appointment with the gastro doctor. Not only that, she told Neil to make sure he went to see him sooner rather than later and to make sure to schedule the colonoscopy right away. That sent me into a slight panic.
His colonoscopy was scheduled for 9 am on February 10, 2011. He had to be there at 8 am. Let me just say that at this point it was just a routine colonoscopy. So routine in fact, that I dropped him off, came home and went back to bed, (the outpatient center is five minutes from our house,) and waited for the call that he was finished and awake and ready for me to pick him up.
That is when my world stopped. Around 11 am on February 10, 2011.
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He was sitting up in the outpatient surgery hospital bed, already dressed and ready to go. He was wearing his jeans and blue plaid long-sleeved shirt. (I always tease him when he wears that outfit, especially when he is travelling. I tell him he looks so hot that the women must swarm around him. Yes, I am very jealous of other women looking at my man. Kinda funny…it’s not that he looks like George Clooney, but he’s mine!) When I saw him the first thing he told me was that he had just had the best sleep of his life. He said he never felt so rested. Must have been the Propafol…you know, the Michael Jackson drug. Just then, the gastro doctor came around the corner. I thought I was in Munchkin Land, that is how miniature the gastro doctor is.
I will never forget his exact words:
“Your husband came in severely anemic. In fact, I’m surprised that your primary care doctor didn’t pick up on how anemic he actually is. I know why he is anemic. He has a tumor. In fact he has a very large tumor. He needs to have it removed. And he needs to have it removed right away.”
One thing I learned from watching E.R. is that when a doctor delivers devastating news to a family, they usually back into the bad news. Like, “Your son came in with severe injuries from a car crash. We stabalized him for awhile, but then he coded. We did all we could, but he died.” They don’t start off with the bad news, they back into it.
Knowing that Dr. Munchkin Land was pulling the same trick as George Clooney, aka Dr. Doug Ross,
I blurted out, “So you are trying to tell me that my husband has colon cancer?”
“Yes, your husband has colon cancer.”
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Glad you are back and telling this story!!!! So grateful for the miracle of healing and health.