And the beat goes on...

Ken went with me today and held my hand while the doctor did the biopsy. I'm really glad he was there with me. Beforehand the doctor described what I would feel as being similar to a bad period cramp. I can honestly say it's not. Felt rather more like someone taking a pair of needle-nosed pliers to my innards for about 20 seconds. Much sharper but much shorter in duration than a cramp. Lot's of twinging (that was similar to a bad period cramp) for about an hour afterwards. And more bleeding than I expected but not more than a normal period day. Less than what I've been lately experiencing during my periods.

We get the biopsy results in a week and the doctor said he would make sure I could get the results via a phone call (so I don't have to miss anymore work time than necessary).

Surgery date was set for November 13th. If there is a cancellation, then I might get in sooner. If no cancer, I can look for 2 to 4 weeks of recovery time. If cancer, then 6 to 8 weeks with radiation treatments mixed in and extending past that.

In any case, I'm going to a very good hospital (Henrico's Doctor's Hospital) so I'm content with that. The doctor is still taking the optimist role and talking about doing the surgery laproscopically. It ultimately will be determined by what the biopsy shows. He says he hopes to save my ovaries so that I'm not completely nailed by menopause all at once and the ovaries can also continue to produce some testosterone so I have a little libido. I'm thinking there must be a way to replace that if they do have to remove the ovaries or they poop out altogether. I can live with hot flashes but I think life would get pretty darn dull without sex.

I'm slowly plugging away on the Secret of the Stole. I think the pictures of the stoles completed through clue 3 look very much like snow falling or frost on cold window. I'm still on the first clue but I'm pretty sure I will have time later to catch up. I really need to take a picture and get it posted.

I'm also still working on my purple socks. I may twist T's arm and see if I can get her to turn the heel on the second sock this coming weekend so I can finally get past that point and onto the final stretch with both of them.

I'm going to meet with the gang specialist with the FBI for our area tomorrow. I'm oddly excited about this as he's talking about starting a task force -- something we desperately need. Might mean more work for me in the long run, but if we can break up and prosecute some of these gang members I think we will all be much safer.