Another overdue up-date

Well, with the "Travel Bug" rapidly approaching, I thought I owed ya'll an update about my little "venture" to Oahu at the end of January. As my luck would have it, after getting through all the Cancer stuff with a clean bill of health, those pesky Doctors just wouldn't leave well enough alone until I'd had a Sigoidoscapy followed by and especially lovely Colonascopy (the spelling is intentionally wrong, and reflects my attitude about the whole thing). God Bless her, that's what I have Amanda for!


Oh, and I must make one little Public Service announcement here... For those of you OVER 50 - do not, I repeat, DO NOT put off having the little scope episode with your Colon and Intestines. While it may be a bit uncomfortable or distasteful, EARLY DETECTION is what it's all about, and there's no other way to tell, and the alternatives are 100 times worse, I kid you not. Trust me on this one Folks, there's simply no way around it.


And sure enough, after the Colonoscopy there was "one little Polyop" that they just couldn't get to come away... And so, off to Oahu. Although ably attended by Dr. Janet Abidar and Dr. Eric Matayoshi (Head of the Department at Kaiser on Oahu) my little four day stint for the Laproscopy turned into eight! The photo above was at about Day five, when I was blessed by an overnight visit from Amanda (with Kelly closely monitoring things by phone), as I was at about my worst. Note the cot on the right hand side... they brought in a roll-a-way for her to sleep on... she has a knack for charming everyone on the Staff, and getting whatever she wants.

We had some "issues" over Meds, but once that was straightened out, and they re-opened the incision to let it drain (Oh that was Fun!), things started getting better.

Amanda flew back to Oahu to collect and return with me to Maui, and we were blessed to make that trip in the pouring rain! But it was great just to get out of the Hospital and back to Maui. As with during the Cancer treatments, I opted to just stay at Amanda's (Parents - treat your Children well - they can make all the difference in the rest of your life!)

Oh, and in case you might be wondering, the "tab" for that little visit came to almost $32,000. Thanks to my (albeit pricey) Kaiser coverage it was only several hundred dollars out of pocket to me. Amen.

And here I am, on her couch, two weeks later, and the smile can best be attributed to the handful of Popcorn I'm enjoying, as that's the first I'd had in over a year! It was good - however, note the two bottles of water close at hand, and the gum... Guilty pleasures do come with a price.

The upshot of the whole thing is, "they came, they saw, they took, and they left!" Everything checked out OK, and seems that although the little bugger was NOT Evil just yet, had they done nothing it was sure to turn sour in another 6~8 months, and then it would have been UGLY.

So - head my advice and stay on top of things... not for my sake but yours and your Loved ones.

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." - Robert F. Kennedy