Over the last six weeks or so I've had a number of people comment that I appeared to be losing weight although I'm not making any conscious effort to do so, others have noticed that my skin tone seemed less natural. It all came to a head on Sunday in Rothsville when several of the players (who haven't seen me since the fall season ended six months earlier) made similar observations. On Tuesday morning Don called and asked me as a friend if I was indeed OK because the guys in the league said I simply didn't look good. It made me think how if all these people are seeing something I DON'T see there could very well BE something wrong. In the afternoon I went to my doctor's office where they have urgent care facilities, they ordered blood work which was immediately fulfilled. On Wednesday I had lunch with Jenny and her mother, there was a phone message from the urgent care directing me to visit the local ER as soon as possible. I reported in when I got back to the city and they did a catscan, the ER doctor took one look at it and told me I had stage four pancreatic cancer, there was no hope and I'd be dead within a month. I was then admitted into the hospital (which had me wondering why, if I'm dying what's the point?), the doctors there told me they would do a biopsy to see exactly what they're dealing with. I told them what the ER doctor said and they said that was completely premature and way off base (I'd call it irresponsible myself) because they hadn't done the biopsy yet. That took place on Friday morning, they found a blockage in my pancreas that was allowing bile to build up (they called it "obstructive jaundice"). The blockage was removed, the system was cleaned out and I was told I could go home later if I felt up to it. After sleeping off the anesthesia in the afternoon and having supper I was granted my discharge and was home by 7:00 that evening. The Stormers were at home over the weekend but I stayed in by choice, the following week had little going on which allowed for more downtime to relax. I've had one follow-up appointment thus far with more to come, they said things are looking better but it's still not 100%. I guess it takes time to come all the way back especially when you're sixty-eight but at least I'm in good hands. Take care, thanks for reading.
