September 21

From Friday through the weekend I had bouts of pain and some relief. Didn't feel really great but was able to function. (I have been know to have a very high pain tolerance). Monday Steve and I headed to the appointment with Dr. West. We met with him in his office and got a run down on what the report said. To our and especially my surprise the cyst was 14cm (5.5 inches). "How on earth could something that big be inside of me and I have no clue?" Apparently there is plenty of extra room in there for things like this. Who knew? Here is what I remember from that visit: "Most of the time these large cysts are benign. There is nothing that I can say (after the exam) that would make me think that this is cancer, BUT there is no way I can tell you that until we get in there." Oh, yes we are going to have to remove it and you will have an incision."Okay, I think. Still no reason, YET, to board the worry train. Just decided and convinced myself that I was not going to worry about the unknown. When/if someone gives me something to worry about I would deal with it when the time comes. Right now, it seemed like a waste of good energy. He explained that there would be a frozen section of the cyst sent to the lab while I was still "out". If things were okay, they would stitch me up and I'd be on my way. If it came back positive he would be removing my appendix, lymph nodes and omen-tum. There would also be "staging" biopsies taken in numerous places. Oh by the way, this guy looked and reminded me of Steve Martin. Same kind of hair and a pretty good sense of humor. I really liked him. He was kind but didn't mince any words. We left there and went to Burger King for lunch. So much for the healthy diet, what the hell, lets just have a burger and fries.