Still Not Dying

That was the view from the window of the endoscopy unit yesterday. It looks kind of magical, with those rooftops and spires beyond the trees. But isn't that a gloomy sky? I had several conversations yesterday with people whose first impulse was to complain about our wet and chilly spring. It's 55º F (or 12.7º C) this morning as I write.

Today's the last day of school, when we have our annual luncheon with speeches for the leavers and that kind of thing. Normally it's mighty warm -- I've been known to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts in past years -- and we prop the doors of the gym open for more air. But this year, I'm thinking not! In fact yesterday I wore a sweater and a jacket to the hospital.

So, yes, my colonoscopy went fine. The doctor found four polyps which he removed, and he said they didn't look dangerous. Interestingly, they were all in the ascending colon, the part nearest the appendix, which is not usually where cancers develop. The transverse and sigmoid segments of my colon were clean. He took a few random tissue samples for biopsy to try to see why my calprotectin levels were abnormally high on my recent blood tests. I'll get all those lab results right before we leave for Argentina and Brazil at the end of the month.

So here's what I think all this means. I think the root cause of all my discomfort and inflammation is too much stomach acid, exacerbated -- as much as I hate to admit it -- by alcohol and coffee. I think it has affected my lungs, giving me a chronic cough and the slightly thickened airways (bronchiectasis) we've seen on past CT scans. I think it flares up into acute gastritis at certain times, like when I fly to L.A., forget my stomach medication and drink a lot of martinis, and then takes a while to settle down. I suspect the calprotectin was elevated because of the gastritis.

And of course in my mind I turn all of that into cancer, because, well, I'm crazy.

I have one more medical adventure, and that is an ultrasound on Sunday (!). The doctors want to take a closer look at my spleen, which has been shown by several scans to have some sort of cyst or bump on it. It was the only abnormality flagged on my CT scan from early May -- they called it a hemangioma, a benign growth of extra blood vessels, like a birthmark -- but the bottom line is no one's quite sure what it is. I'm not too concerned because primary cancer of the spleen is rare and everyone seems pretty certain it's benign, but it might still need attention. Such growths usually don't cause symptoms but I suppose I might be feeling it now and then. Who knows.

Isn't this fun? Talking about my spleen?

I spent yesterday morning partly in the garden, when we had a brief period of sun, and partly on the couch. I even got some things done around the house, like vacuuming and laundry. I felt pretty darn productive considering all that was going on with my abdomen!

I did indeed have beef broth for lunch, and I was actually surprised that I felt so normal. I can see why some people like to fast. It was kind of liberating not having to think about food. Maybe I'll make it a habit! (Probably not.)

As you can see, there's still lots happening in the garden, despite the chilly weather. The pink Asiatic lily is just opening, and that foxglove (above) is possibly my favorite out of all of them. If I save any foxglove seeds it will be those.

The actual process of the colonoscopy didn't begin until 4 p.m., but I had to be at the clinic by 3:30. I had a very chatty Italian nurse named Marta who told me all about her most recent pizza delivery in which apparently the drivers ate one of her two pizzas, and then insisted the restaurant had only sent one. "I'm never getting takeaway again," she declared. I told her I'd never heard of such a thing, but come to think of it, Dave's tortilla chips didn't arrive from Chipotle last night. Hmmm...