Phew.....a whilrwind last few days.  We decided to go to Edmonton for the CAT scan which was booked for this morning and decided that while we were at it we would also see the Edmonton surgeon to get a second opinion.  As I had mentioned, the Calgary surgeon was a little ambivalent about how beneficial this surgery would be for me and recommended another procedure where they basically put a probe into the tumour and burn it.  There is a fairly high probability that my cancer will return at some point and he did not see the point in minimizing my quality of life by putting me through this big surgery.  The Edmonton surgeon on the other hand also recognized the fact that this was a long shot but it is still a shot. He felt, as did Bill's brother Dick, that my tumour was too large for this type of treatment.   He explained all the surgical risks to us, was very straight forward but exuded a confidence that he could in fact perform this surgery.  Of course they always give you odds and mine have never been wonderful.  I really try not to focus on odds and statistics preferring to view my situation as just that....."my situation." When I was first diagnosed my odds were 5% chance of survival for a year.  The odds have now jumped to 25% for a five year survival rate so I am quite satisfied with that.  Admittedly, some of you are probably sitting there reading this and thinking "oh my, that's not great."  But think of it this way.....if I don't have the surgery my chances are 0% so what would you decide?  To me it's a no brainer.  Of course I wish this wasn't happening at Christmas time but I have no choice on that.  I will have the surgery either the week of December 17 or the week following Christmas.  They will be giving me a call shortly to tell me when my surgery date is booked for.  If things go well I am looking at a 5-7 day stay in the hospital and about a 6 week recovery period at home.  From what I could gather, this surgery, although deemed "a big one" will not be as huge as my first surgery.  My first surgery took over 8 hours whereas this one will be about 3 hours.  I shouldn't need a feeding tube which I am very grateful for and should be able to eat within three days of the surgery.  All of these things of course are dependent on how well I respond to the surgery and if I have no complications.  So I am planning to be cooperative on both fronts!

So by 1:30 today I had had a CAT scan, went out for breakfast with my friend Colleen and her husband Jim, met with the surgeon and had a plan and touched base with Bill's brother and my angel, Dick.  A full and eventful day!

So now the dilemma of what to do about Christmas.  Once we have my surgical date we will decide but we are thinking our Christmas may not happen on the 25th.  We may be celebrating ours just a little early this year just in case I can't be home for the 25th!