I’ve tried – sometimes without a lot of success – to post here on a fairly regular basis, but things do sometimes get in the way. Starting in a few days, there will be what could be an extended gap … perhaps ten days or more.
About a month ago, my doctor gave me the cheery news that I have prostate cancer and, early next week, the damn thing is coming out. (The sooner the better, if you ask me!) A number of tests followed the nasty biopsy and the good news is that it appears to be confined to the prostate. That simplifies things a lot and made the choice of surgery easy for us.
But here’s the interesting part: The surgery will be done by a robot … operated by a doctor, of course. The Queens Medical Center in Honolulu has one of these machines and it’s really a marvel. For one thing, it allows the doctor to get a close-up view of your innards that’s enlarged several times, meaning he can do very precise work.
Another plus is that it’s much less invasive. Without the robot, surgeons make what appears to be an eight- or nine-inch incision in the abdomen. With the robot, the procedure is done through five small holes … so small that no stitches are necessary once the procedure is over. The recovery time is a lot less, too.
In a detached way, I find it interesting that I’m finding this whole experience, well, interesting. Not scary … in fact, not even worrisome. (Gee … maybe that’s something to worry about.) Well, there is one thing: I came across a photo of the doctor who’s going to be manning the joy stick. He looks like he’s 12 years old.
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