11:30 am is the New 9:30 am

Apparently they were having a "buy one get one free" day at Duke's Morris Cancer clinic 1A.  At least that is what it looked like by the mass of bodies crammed into every nook & cranny.  I haven't seen so many people in one room since the opening day at Nordstrom Rack.

The appointment today was a follow up with the surgeon, Dr. Tyler, that did Joe's surgery back in February and the appointment wasn't until 9:30am.  When we arrived and checked in, Joe got a seat inside but I had to go sit in the hall.  After about 5 minutes, Joe texted me that the seat next to him was now empty and to run in ASAP, so I did.  And there we sat, until 10:30am when they called him back for vitals.  However, we were foolish enough to think that surely we would not be sent back to the lobby and would go from vitals to an exam room.  Oh how wrong can 2 people be!  So back to the lobby we went, however, now our old seats were gone, the seats in the hall were filled so we had to go all the way down past the elevators before finding two to sit in.  But someone must have been looking after us because within 5 minutes, Joe's buzzer went off and we made the trek down the hall, around the corner, past the elevator, back to clinic 1A and carefully criss-crossed through the maze of humans to the waiting nurse.  So at approximately 10:45am, we were in an exam room.  Now we are on a roll, right????.....wrong.....the 3rd year medical student came in at 11:25am....yep, 1 hr 55 mins since our scheduled appointment time and the first person to come in for an examination is a 3rd year med student...not even a resident.  However, he didn't stay very long and left the room to go get Dr. Tyler.  That took until 12:05pm....that's 2 hrs 35 mins from the appointment time before seeing the doctor.  But enough complaining.

We had informed the med student of Joe's hernia and when Dr. Tyler came in that was his first inquiry. Joe was then on the table making the hernia pop out (it does it really obviously when he is laying down and lifts his head like he is going to do a sit-up....which I assure everyone he was not doing a sit-up then and will not ever be doing).   Dr. Tyler is of the opinion that he would like to go ahead and get the hernia taken care of as soon as possible before there are any complications.  Of course, the oncologist had said they preferred to continue with the chemo regiment and hope there would not be any complications with the hernia.  But, Dr. Tyler says if they can go ahead and get it taken care of now, there should be minimal disruption of his chemo treatments.  The procedure would be done laparoscopically and Joe should only be in the hospital a couple of days.  Many people have this done as an outpatient procedure, but with Joe's other health issues, a couple of days in the hospital would be a much better route to go.

So, next Monday afternoon we have an appointment with the surgeon on Dr. Tyler's team that would perform the surgery, Dr. Perez.  Hopefully his schedule will be flexible enough to accommodate the schedule preferred by our oncologists, Dr. Zafar and/or Leigh Howard.  Getting them on the same page might be the tricky part. Joe feels pretty good about going ahead and getting it taken care of.  We both have been a tad bit nervous about the possibility of the hernia causing complications with his intestines.  So going ahead and doing something to prevent that from happening seems better than just hoping it doesn't.  If there were to be an obstruction caused by the hernia, then it would be a much bigger surgery.  Although neither of us are thrilled with yet another surgery, better safe than sorry has never seemed more apropos.

We are so grateful for the continued prayers and concern expressed by so many people.  Thank you so very much.