For some time now, I have had a secret. (I knew that would get your attention! I am not pregnant, don’t worry.) Well, it isn’t that it is a secret, it is just private and personal and ‘family business’ as Debbie’s family says.
So this might not be a surprise to some of you. Some of you are fully aware of what I am about to write; others are not. Those of you that had no idea, I am sorry that you have too read about it on here, but that’s just the way it is sometimes.
Travel back in time with me for a moment or two…Thanksgiving week, November 2008: David isn’t feeling well. On Turkey day he has a scheduled appointment at 1:15. I know, but we figured it would not be busy…and it was not! They called and told us to come in earlier because we ‘probably have other plans for the day.' Whenever we could and they would get us in. So after David gets home from Flag Football, he showers and we go to Kaiser. We meet with doctor #1. He says he will refer us out to a specialist. So we set up an appointment, #2. (You didn’t think that I was going to give up the outcome yet, did you???? NAH!) So we meet with doctor #2 and she doesn’t like what she sees either and sends ‘it’ out for a biopsy. Yeah, UGLY word,
BIOPSY. So several days later and after playing tag with doctors, we finely get the results from the test. They said that it was positive for cancer. So we go in and meet with yet another doctor. We will call him doctor #3. (Original, I know!)
As we are sitting with him he starts asking us questions:
Doctor 3, “Does Colon Cancer run in your family?”
David, “No.”
D3, “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
David, “Yes, I have 5 brothers and 1 sister.”
D3, “They all need to be checked. Do you have any children?”
David, “Yes, we have 2.”
D3, “How old are they?”
Kori, “12 and 14.”
D3, “They need to be screened, no later than 25 but not before age 20.”
Doctor 3, “So no one in your family has a history of Colon Cancer?”
David, “No.”
Kori “Excuse me, I’m sorry, can I ask a question?”
D3, “Yes, please.“
Kori, “Are you telling us that he has Colon Cancer?”
D3, “Uhhh did you not know that?”
Kori looks at David then looks at D3 again.
David and Kori, “No.”
D3 looks to his computer screen and then apologizes to us because he thought that we knew. I said to him, “Maybe I am just dumb for not thinking that because it tested positive for cancer that he actually had Colon Cancer.” (Does that make sense?) Of course he assures me that I am not dumb. I looked at David, “Did she ever say to you that ‘you have Colon Cancer’? Because, I think that if we had heard ‘Colon Cancer’ that we would remember.” Of course David agrees with me, because we had never heard those two words before:
COLON CANCERThere are many things that I have heard at the doctor’s office before. In fact, humor me for a moment, let’s play Family Feud.
The top 5 answers are on the board. Here is your question:
Name something that you hear at the doctor’s office?1. Bend Over
2. Spread Them
3. Open your mouth and stick out your tongue
4. This might hurt a little
5. You need to lose some weight
Colon Cancer was not on my list.
