Pre Surgery thoughts - March 28th

March 28th - When I check into the hospital on Monday, wearing new underwear, my summer flip flops and royal blue toe nails it will have been nearly a month since Dr. Chow told me I had Colon Cancer.  The waiting has been the hard part… the very hardest.  The unknown seems easier. I think the healing will be a new struggle … a struggle to get back to stuff of everyday life.  I had a good chat with RD last night, which is always good because he is one of the 3 people that know me the best, (maybe the very best) he knows my tendencies and mindset and can usually get his point across by letting me draw my own conclusion.  Plus he has had more surgeries and health issues than I can remember.  i.e. he knows about healing. I have the next month mapped out … surgery, hospital stay, home stay, watch Breaking Bad, back to work at 10D, Blazer game on the 16th, Spring practice and Beaver Spring game beginning of May. Bring on the summer.  His point was maybe I should take it easy and heal. So I am reminded … I have cancer, time to heal and healing is not always on a schedule of "to-do's" and though I have a tough time admitting it,  I am in for a struggle…. maybe even a fight.

Over the past weeks I continue to be amazed and blessed by Love and caring community, friends and family. I don’t use the word blessed very often … ever…. because it gets over used in the Chistianese language of conversations and I have a tough time speaking that language. "Bless her heart"  “Have a blessed day” “I was blessed when the grocery clerk had a coupon for the apple juice”, “It was a blessing to find the rest stop when we did”  etc… you get what I mean. For me, it always seems like an overused word and description with out true meaning and thought.  However today… I know that I am blessed. What is blessed?  As a noun … “God's favor and protection”… and I am.  From the moment of my conception I have been blessed. I won’t begin to list the examples because if you are reading this you already know many of them and YOU are one of the blessings God has given to me.

I’ve appreciated your support, prayers, thoughts, concern and I thank you for the kind words about this page. I also appreciate how many of you have actually read this page. It really is a time saver for me, you read this page you get the basics and if you have a more specific question you ask it and we don’t have to go through the whole process of information while we get to your main question.  “HOW DID YOU KNOW?” The quick answer was I was paying attention. I’ll leave you this time with the following info and a quick statistic I have learned.  The statistic is this.  The greatest decrease of colon cancer over the past 10 years has been the over 50 group … the greatest increase has been the 40-50 yr old group.  I'm in that one as are many of you. The first thought is “Our diet must be getting worse”  maybe … but it could also be that we are healthier and paying attention to our health by noticing the signs.  Be aware, I was and caught a killer.

There are some common signs and symptoms of colon cancer. And … then there are the not-so obvious. Especially when you’re dealing with colon and rectal cancer in us young adults. Here are the common signs and symptoms of CRC. I had a few of them, which is what lead to my talking to Dr Cleary, then after I was diagnosed realized I had quite a few symptoms:

•   NO SYMPTOM AT ALL
•   Diarrhea (that will not stop) that lasts for more than a few days
•   Constipation (you can’t “go” to save your life) that lasts for more than a few days
•   Unintended or unexplained weight loss (or weight gain) (I didn't have this symptom :)  )
•   Vomiting
•   Narrow stools – poo looks pencil-thin
•   Change in stools – poo just looks different, smells different
•   Gas, bloating and cramps
•   Weakness and fatigue – no energy at ALL
•   Anemia
•   Feeling like you need to go poo – and still feeling like you need to poo once you've gone
•   Killer abdominal pain and discomfort
•   Blood in stool (although not always visible.) Blood can be rectal bleeding, dark stools or blood on the stool, although the stool will look normal.
•   Passing a large amount of blood

Love to you all and your families. Thank you for the prayers. Thank you for your concern. Thank you for supporting my family with Love and Caring.

Today will be a good day and tomorrow too … and so will the day after tomorrow.  Gotta go … but here is something you could do send Lori, Brooke, Connor or Elizabeth a quick email.  They are not really talking with anybody and not really sure they want to talk with me about the next few weeks.  Their email is first name @hodgert.com  (lori@hodgert.com) etc…

Dave

Note:" Just sayin'", "In Christian love",  "In my authenticness", If I offended you with my "Christianese" comment and "wrecked" you ... don't be so thin skinned,. lighten up  ... I am still "blessed" and "covet your prayers".