So here's the deal

I had a good conversation with Dr. Lee Zehngebot on Thursday evening, who explained what they know -- and don't know -- about what's going on in my body.

Dr. Z said he consulted with a radiologist and they both agreed that I'm just going to have to be confused and frustrated for about three months.

That's because it's safer for me to wait that time and have a new series of CT and PET scans that it'd be for doctors to punch holes in my body to extract biopsies from where they'd need to extract them. A CT scan last week showed a 2cm by 3cm thingie in my chest, not far from the body cavity where the esophagus, the pulmonary artery and other important organs are located. A PET scan this week lit up a tiny spot in my carina in the bronchial airways that may or may not be something to worry about.

But pulling a biopsy from either site has risks and Dr. Z said the safer course is to wait. And wait. And wait.

"I know I'm scaring the crap out of you. But I'm in the scaring-the-crap-out-0f-you business," he told me.

One upside, though, is he wants me to have yet another endoscopic exam, but this time using E.U.S., which is endoscopic ultrasound. Basically, they'd be looking at these growths from the inside-out and that might help the docs determine the density of these masses or what they are.

My gastro-doc extraordinaire, Dr. Phillip Styne, doesn't do these procedures, but one of his partners does, and I'll be calling Dr. Styne on Monday to set things up.

So for now, to quote the Three Stooges, it's time to "hurry up, and go to sleep," or in my case, I guess, hurry up, and slow down.