Subject: How I spent my day. (Ed wrote this on January 28) by Little Eddy St.Germain A few of you have an idea of what's been happening, others, nada. Now that there is some definitive word, rather than let you hear it through the rumour mill, I thought you'd rather hear it straight from the horses ass. I spent most of today (28 Jan 09) in intimate physical contact with my gastroenterologist. It was called a colonosopy (for you scientific types, that's Latin for "I'm glad I wasn't awake." Operative results: Rather large polyp removed from the area where the transverse colon meets the descending colon (scientific types, that's tucked under your rib cage on your left flank.) Big Mother tumour, located where the ascending colon meets the transverse colon (scientific types, that's tucked under your rib cage on your right flank.) It's large enough that its almost entirely blocking the lumen (scientific types, that's the inside diameter of the intestine.) Aggravating factor: The procedure was supposed to be last week, but I failed my blood test. My hematocrit (scientific types, that's a measure of red blood cells in the system) was 22 (normal is around 45.) After several days of gobbling ferrous sulfate (you always suspected I literally chewed nails, didn't you?) and eating prunes and red meat, it went up to 24. Tx: Tomorrow, I make arrangements for a couple of out-patient blood transfusions. That should zap the hematocrit up to acceptable levels. Hopefully next week, the friendly, local surgeon dude will go after the Big Mother. Not the tumour itself, but the intestine a few inches (or feet) on each side of the tumour (a "resection") and then an anastamosis, or sewing the two ends of what's left together. -----------------