So, I didn’t post on Wednesday, as promised in my previous post. It has taken us a little while to recover from being gone for a week. Between work, laundry and resuming regular daily life … well, we’ve been busy!
We met our plastic surgeon, Dr. Steven Kronowitz on our last day at MD Anderson. I suspect he is Seth Rogan’s long lost brother.
He and his team did a very good job of educating us on our options — radiation or not. I can go into those a little later. What I WILL say is if, heaven forbid, you ever have to go through this, I would like to give you fair warning about your visit to the plastic surgeon. It is humiliating. It reminds me of childbirth, actually … where you have to just keep repeating to yourself that these doctors deal with this stuff all the time.
They make you wear EXTREMELY attractive (**shaking my head**) underwear so they can evaluate you. First, the fellow surgeon measured, pinched and prodded every area of my body (or at least it seemed that way). Then, Dr. Kronowitz double-checked her findings. Then, they took photos. Then, they took video.
Alan describes it as “like our honeymoon.” Ha – we kid, we kid.
We ended with a final meeting with our surgeon. Surgery is set for Nov. 5. Unfortunately, that means my pre-op appointments are this Friday — Nov 2. That leaves a whole weekend in between. A weekend filled with a soccer tournament for both of the boys. We went back and forth on how we can accomplish going back and forth over the weekend. Should we drive twice? Should we fly and then drive?
One pretty neat service we heard about is a non-profit organization that coordinates with companies that have open seats on corporate jets. In our area, there are regular flights from Bartlesville to Houston we can likely use. And they are free! I have a feeling we will be trying to use that service in the upcoming year. Unfortunately, that service won’t work for us for Friday’s visit. My appointments start at 7:30 a.m. and run all day. I wouldn’t make it for that jet’s flight home that day.
But then something great happened. A guy I met back in April has somehow arranged for me to catch an American Airlines flight down there and back. Free. How amazing is that? I’m not sure how he is arranging this, but I am eternally grateful to him for helping us. This means I can get down there and back in time to watch the boys’ last soccer games of the season. That means a lot.
It gets even better. Bill Adams, part of my Lawton family, donated his airline miles to Alan so he could fly with me. That is a relief to both of us. I’m a big girl and can definitely face doctor appointments alone, but neither of us really know what to expect on Friday. Heck, two of my appointments are with Nuclear Medicine … that sounds serious, guys! I’m really glad I don’t have to navigate these alone.
Between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday, I will find out what time I report for surgery on Monday. Alan and I will most likely leave for Houston after church on Sunday. I’ll only stay in the hospital for one night. Since I have a follow-up appointment with the plastic surgeon on Thursday, Nov. 8, we will stay at a hotel across the street through Thursday or Friday.
We will spend the next few days scrambling to get things ready for being gone. Gone from home, gone from work.
My next few posts (this week, I hope) will focus on the great family and friends we have surrounding us. We couldn’t have gotten through this past week and the upcoming weeks without them.
In the meantime, thank you to all of you who have helped us. We feel very blessed.
Wow, that is so sweet of Bill! Our Lawton peeps are the best! 🙂
So now we have Chloe and Seth Rogan working at MD Anderson, huh? I always wondered what actors do between jobs….
Keri is so right. That was such a nice, generous thing for Bill to do. We really appreciate it too.
Jenny,
I just want to tell you that I speak for nearly 600 people in the American Airlines EXPLAT Facebook group when I tell you that your story touched us all and you are in our thoughts and prayers. It was so nice to meet you and Alan today. Good luck tomorrow and good luck to the kids at their games on Saturday! Highest regards, Ray Watson