Six Weeks

That's when I'll be in Cleveland, six weeks from now. I spoke to the great lady I had spoken to last week, again yesterday, and she said she was going to give my records to the triage nurse in the GI department and have her assess what appt I needed - GI or Colo-rectal surgery or both. She said if I didn't hear back from her by Wednesday to call her again.

But amazingly, she followed through and called me back today. **I'd like to say again, how helpful, responsive and accurate everyone I have spoken to at CC has been.**

Anyway, the verdict from the triage nurse was that I needed to make an appointment with both departments due to my complex case and numerous abdominal surgeries. I need to see the top GI, the one I wanted to see and one of the top guys in the surgical department.

Unfortunately the first available appt with the GI is not until Wednesday, October 27, I will see the surgeon that same afternoon.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed in this timing. I know that CC is a busy place and that this timeline is typical and that in the grand scheme of things six weeks is not that bad. But living this each day, six weeks seems like forever. Getting through each day takes a lot of work and knowing that nothing will move forward until the end of October is a little daunting. But on the flip side, as long as I can stay status quo, not get any worse, that's all I can expect. Right?

I'm happy though that it's on the books and that it's with the best doctors. And most importantly that my fear they would say I didn't need to be seen there didn't come true!

The scheduler told me to plan on staying at least another day in case I need tests, etc. So for now we'll probably leave Tuesday night and come home Saturday. But we will definitely book tickets that are changeable in case I need to stay. Other than that we won't know what the plan is until we see the doctors. CRAZY.

I still feel the same -- bad nausea, no real appetite, pain over the right hip and in the lower abdomen. It's not getting worse and over time I'm getting used to it, which is good and bad.

One more crazy fact, my appointments in Cleveland happen to fall two days before the one-year anniversary of my k-pouch surgery. Can you believe that? Another year has passed, hopefully this trip will provide the answers or at least a path to answers that I so desperately want and need.

The countdown to Cleveland is officially on...