So the Doctor Said...

The last time I was at the University of Iowa was with my mom and brother to determine if my father actually had pancreatic cancer...wrap your brain around that one!

We found The Pappajohn Pavilion, elevator I, fourth floor and entered the Oncology Clinic. It was HUGE. No, I don't mean overwhelming, I mean big. It was filled with people as various nurses came out of various hallways and yelled (I'm not exaggerating) peoples first name with last initial. We had checked in and I was doing my homework, the typical family history worksheet, when I hear, "Kimberly B!" I get my vitals taken, answer a few questions and am lead to a consultation room. Mark and I wait. I'm not complaining. If you would have seen the shear volume of people out there, I was thankful to be in a room before dinner time. It was 1pm. In comes the nurse, Virginia. She was wonderful. More questions like, "Do you know why you are here?" I lay it all out and then we get to meet my new best friend. Dr. Ahmed. She is so cool. She listens, she gets me in all of my quirkiness, and she and I are so totally on the same page with the same game plan. I skip like Dorothy on the yellow brick road to our treasure hunt of chest xray, EKG and other pre-op appointments.

Here's the deal: If you don't like to read/hear about "girl parts", then close now and walk away from your computer...

Okay, I now assume if you are still reading you are up for hearing things like: Full hysterectomy. Yep. On Thursday, July 7th, the day after my birthday, I will be undergoing surgery to remove all of my girl parts, the fatty covering of my intestines (the omentum) and anything else she finds that she wants to take out of me that I don't absolutely need. A 4 -6 hour surgery. I'll be in the hospital for 3 to 5 days...

I left that building with such a great feeling of trust and caring that I didn't even mind hearing that I will be on clear liquids 48 hours before my surgery. That's not entirely true. If you know a Benesh, you know we don't like people messing with our food. But I've just decided I'll eat birthday cake next year.