Day 36, Year 7: The Ugly Truth
Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Weather: Overcast with Drizzle Early; Temp in Upper 40’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Mark got the results of his colon tumor biopsy today and the results were as we had been told to expect. The ugly truth is that the tumor is cancerous. Mark was expecting this, so it was not a surprise. Yet we had hoped against hope that the result would be different. But Mark is definitely a man at peace with himself and the world and he is upbeat and ready for the upcoming battle. Last night there was a flurry of emails between our friend Dick Wiklund and his friend who is the head of surgery at Mass General. By this morning, it was decided that Dr. Patricia Sylla at Mass General in Boston will be Mark’s surgeon. Dick’s friend is taking a couple of weeks of vacation and he felt that we would be better off with a surgeon who can deal with things sooner rather than later. Dr. Sylla’s credentials look incredible, and Mark will meet with her on Monday. Tomorrow he has a CT scan here on the Cape. He will then hand-deliver all of his records to Dr. Sylla on Monday. We suppose she could say on Monday that the surgery needs to happen immediately, but after talking with her office assistant today, that is most unlikely. The office assistant said things just don’t happen that fast, and that having the surgery in the first or second week of the new year is the likely scenario. So we are going ahead with our plans to head to New Mexico on Tuesday of next week. But flexibility is the name of the game. We are prepared to change plans at any point to do what is recommended.
Again, we want to thank those of you who have sent well wishes. It is so uplifting to get emails of support from friends. So thank you so much.
