Sigh of relief

I walked out of the office shortly before 11 this morning and the first thing I noticed was the sun. Warm on my back. Ahh.

An hour earlier, give or take, I'd made my tithe of three vials of blood and was waiting to see Dr. Lee Zehngebot. I'd arrived early, so I read my book and relaxed, if that's possible when you're waiting to see an oncologist.

So in the treatment room, Dr. Z walks in and sets me at ease. "The scans looked great." That's great news, coming up on a year after my surgery, which was a year ago this coming Sunday.

He was far more concerned with the state of the newspaper business. What would become of papers? Where are they heading? Did I see the New York Times' version prepared for the iPhone? (I did now!) We talked Kindle (from Amazon) and the New York Daily News (not doing as well as he'd thought) and the fate of the Sentinel (it's still going strong and will be here for some time to come).

I asked about my liver, since he'd mentioned it on the phone. His answer, "It looks funny. But it will always look funny." That's because my radiation treatments in 2007 cooked a portion of the liver, which we already knew. I didn't even crack my regular joke about that, you know, that the docs forgot the onions.

And I mentioned that my stomach is beginning to feel weird again and that I think I need to see Dr. Philip Styne once again. I can't quite say what's wrong, but I know something is. I'm not digesting as well as a month ago, so either the stricture is tightening again or I need another shot of Botox into the pyloric valve. Or both. Or neither. I'll call Dr. Styne later today.

I also need to see a cardiologist, he suggested, after I noted some discomfort from time to time in that area. He reminded me that just because I'm doing well in my fight against cancer doesn't mean that I shouldn't keep an eye on the other parts of my body.

So the bottom line is I don't have to see Dr. Z until the day before my anniversary in April of the coming year, with some CT scans soon before; I need to call Dr. Styne; and I need to get a cardiologist and get some tests.

Sun on the back; it's going to be a good day.