Surgery “coming soon”

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I received word about 7 a.m. this morning that I am now scheduled for surgery at the University of Californa San Francisco Moore/Baker Hospital in Mission Bay the morning of May 11.

Surgery will be done by Dr. Mohammed Adam and Carlos Covera, both experienced surgeons at dealing with biliary tract issues such as mine. I don’t think I could be in better hands.

This is major sugery. As I understand, it will involve removing the cancerous bile duct, “resectioning” my liver (cutting out a section, as yet to be determined)and then rebuilding an artificial duct to get bile where it it needs to go.

I will likely be in the hospital at least a week, then released for rest and recovery. But it’s unlikely I’ll be able to fly back to Hawaii for a couple of months.

We’re still working on our travel and lodging logistics, but have great family support.

I’ve haven’t spent that long without access to my computer in, well, forever! Digital withdrawal? I travel with my iPad, which is easier to carry and fine for routine things, but I might try to find some way to take my laptop with me.

And my special thanks to all of you who have shared your feelings and support here and on Facebook. Everyone tells me that a positive outlook is essential going forward, and you’ve all been part of supporting me in that process.

Below, patient artwork displayed in the ground floor of the UCSF Precision Cancer building.

Facing an uncertain future

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What  I have been diagnosed with is a rare and aggressive type of cancer.

Selfie outside the Precision Cancer building at the UCSF Mission Bay campus

It has scared the crap out of me, and I am just starting to call it out by name in order to face it directly. 

Cholangiocarcinoma. AKA Biliary Tract carcinoma. Or just bile duct cancer.  Its specific location earns another label, a Klatskin tumor.

It’s a nasty cancer. The general prognosis is dismal. 

But it looks like I could be among the few who are candidates for “curative” surgery, the only way to beat this thing. Tests done this past week at the University of California San Francisco Precision Cancer Building in San Francisco’s Mission Bay appear to have found no evidence the cancer has spread beyond the original location. That would seem to make a surgical approach in my case more viable.

i’m awaiting the “official” assessment of the surgical oncology option, which I expect to get soon.

Ths is, of course, only a very short version of what has been happening over the past seven weeks as the process of diagnosing and devising a treatment plan has been underway, initially in Hawaii and then in San Francisco.

The selfie was taken early Monday morning, April 13, as I waited for the building at UCSF to open so that I could check in for another CT Scan. I was probably looking more beaten up by the end of the week.

Please keep those positive vibes coming!

I didn’t see this coming

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My parents both lived well into their 90s. Both died closer to 100 than to 90.

My dad didn’t retire and transfer his small restaurat supply business to a longtime employee until the end of 1998, weeks after his 85th birthday. He took overnight fishing trips on his 28′ fiberglass fishing boat that had once belonged to Duke Kahanamoku for most of another decade, enabled by a younger crew that handled the boat while my dad went along for the ride.

I used assume that the combination of their excellent genes provided a layer of protection that mere mortals didn’t have, which meant that I would be likely to follow them into a similarly long life.

Silly me.

I should have known this was a far too simplistic view of how our bodies work!

I’m still 16-months short of my 80th birthday, and six years short of my dad’s retirement age.

And now I find myself skating on the thin edge of mortality with a potentially (but not necessarily) life-threatening malady that I’m trying to beat by seeking out top-notch cutting-edge medical treatment in San Francisco. I’ve become a medical commuter.

I’m rolling with it, and right now feel better than any time in the past 6-weeks.

Back on March 16, I announced that I would be taking a “leave of absence” for medical reasons. That has proven more difficult than I thought. Although I’ve tried to press concerns about current events into my mental background, I’ve still found plenty of things to share that might otherwise appear prosaic, but now feel very special–sunrise on a rainy day, the sparkle of sunlight in a cats eye, bits of Hawaii memorabilia found in my files, ginger blossoms along our driveway, stories worth sharing from times past. Small pieces of life as it moves along.

I do appreciate all your positive vibes, and am maintaining an optomistic attitude as we move forward a step at a time.

Saturday at dawn

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Today has offered a respite from the past several days of rain.

We walked down to the beach park to watch the sunrise. Didn’t see the sun. And we didn’t run into any of our regular dogs.

Here’s my favorite image of the morning.