We met with Dr. Tseng today. This was a pre-surgery consultation prior to having him and his robot rebuild my guts on Monday.
We anticipated this might be one of those meetings where the doctor scares the bejeezus out of us by spelling out all the horrible things that can go wrong.
It wasn’t like that at all.
Dr Tseng was extremely encouraged by the endoscopic ultasound results showing the chemo had caused the tumor to disappear. He was also excited the biopsy results showed no cancer.
His enthusiasm for my prospects for a total cure were tremendously encouraging.
He is the third doctor (Meyers, Shumacher, Tseng) who was visibly excited by the positive implications of the endoscopic ultasound and biopsy results. When all your doctors are excited by your prospects the excitement is contagious.
Dr. Tseng said these results significantly improve the prognosis for a successful outcome of cancer treatment. He also indicated my positive body habitus would decrease the likelihood of problems in surgery.
“Positive body habitus” is “doctor speak” for “the guy’s not too fat”.
He’s still going to remove the whole stomach. That’s the only way to be certain the cancer is all gone. Plus I’m still going to have to do another nine weeks of chemo following the surgery.
Oh well. That’s the way it goes.
But after that I’m done.
Living with a stomach built out of spare parts is going to be a challenge. I’ve known that all along.
What will serve as my stomach will be about the size of a small potato. Meals will be very small and very frequent. This will take some getting used to.
Over time the new stomach will stretch. It might eventually end up holding as much as an old fashioned stomach, but only time will tell.
Another issue is my body may have problems handling sugar, which could mean drastically reducing the amount of sugar I can eat. This is a major disappointment. I love sweets.
But, hey, a frustrated sweet tooth is a small price to pay for not being dead.
The tiny stomach, and possible inability to eat sugar, will result in my being very thin. This means with a minimum of exercise I should end up with totally ripped abs. Which is something I’ve always dreamed of.
Consequently, my ripped abs will no doubt leave me the envy of the pot bellied men of the world. Or then again, considering the price I will pay for those abs, they might not envy me at all.
Anne said that he said your results were “awesome”. You have the coolest doctor ever.
Great news … except for the not eating sugar part, of course. My dad weighed in at 116 pounds as a young adult and was advised to eat 6 small meals a day. It can be a nice habit to get into, but of course by middle age he was gaining a little too much weight! Hugo’s grandmother who lost 3/5 of her stomach somewhere along the way, would tell you it will indeed stretch. I wonder if you can replace those desserts with chips, dips, mashed potatoes with cream cheese…? Probably not, huh? Sigh…
We send all good thoughts for next Monday!
Dr. Tseng also said using acupuncture and Chinese Herbs was “cool”. Which was a pretty cool thing to say. Particularly for a doctor trained in Western medicine.
The not eating sugar thing isn’t etched in stone. The bottom line is everyone’s body reacts differently to the procedure. You don’t know how your body is going to react until you’ve lived with the mini-stomach for awhile. Having difficulty digesting sugar is a common problem people have, but there is no guarantee it will be a problem for me.
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As to replacing deserts with chips, dips, and creamed cheese. I’m not all that fond of chips, dips, and creamed cheese. I want ice cream, cake, pie, and chocolate.
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I already eat four or five small meals a day because it prevents low blood sugar and is a generally healthier way to eat. The adjustment shouldn’t be too difficult, other than the meals at first will be really really small.
Hi Gary,
Nice walking home with you today.
If you get thin with ripped abs, I will totally envy you as it would be so unfair. I want to be thin but I also want cookies at Starbucks. Life is hard.
I’ll be thinking of you Monday and saving up my best jokes,.
JOHN
I’ll try not to flaunt my abs at the pool. Though I’d probably look pretty good in a Speedo, I’ll refrain.
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Don’t forget my mentioning that I will no longer have the stomach for your jokes following the surgery. Perhaps you could take up singing.