Surgery: who, what, when, where, how, why

Kim and I have been worried about finding a doctor to perform my surgery. We independently verified that the doctor that was recommended by my gastroenterologist has a good reputation, but his specialty is vascular surgery. I was finding little help for identifying excellent local specialists from either insurance company or employer resources, because I couldn't find anyone with detailed knowledge of local doctors. The outgoing (retires the end of December) vice president of our Information Technology team found out about my diagnoses and kindly asked to speak to me. He is somewhat familiar with colon cancer because his mother-in-law had surgery for the same ailment last Friday. He also is aware from personal experience what a major hassle it is without employer provided health care coordinators to try and negotiate the Bermuda Triangle between patients, insurance companies, and health care providers. He contacted a few friends with ties to the medical profession and got a referral to a surgeon who specializes in colon and rectal surgery at UCI (University of California at Irvine) Medical Center (which is actually located in the City of Orange 20 or so miles northeast of the UCI campus). What was even more amazing is that I was able to get in to see him only hours after I called his office. He is also an in-network provider with my insurance company. His name is Michael Stamos. He is certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (http://fascrs.org) AND is the Chief of Colorectal Surgery at UCI. I found several articles on the Internet that referred to him. Here is is UCI bio webpage. (http://www.ucihealth.com/findadoctor/bio.aspx?hsid=99026867)

I had a lengthy discussion with him on Monday and found him to be very knowledgeable and easy to talk with. His answers were reassuring. Based upon the tests he has seen so far, he is not convinced that my cancer is as advanced as stage 3, but will be treated so until proven otherwise. He wants to get his hands on the actual pathology slides (not just the written report) so that they can test for the specific type of cancer cells to know whether it is heredity related. He operates laparoscopically, unless an unusual need arises during surgery, as he feels it is best for doctors and patients. He and a pathologist plan to remove all lymph nodes associated with the section of the sigmoid colon to be removed. He estimates the operation will last about 2-1/2 hours, that I will be in the hospital for 5 days and 4 nights (if all goes well) and will recover and hopefully be able to return to work in as little as 2 weeks. He felt optimistic about my prognosis. I felt good about working with Dr. Stamos and we have set a surgery date for the morning of Thursday, November 29th, much sooner than he thought he could fit me into his schedule (due to another patient needing more radiation prior to surgery). Talk about everything falling into place!

Dr. Stamos had me get a chest x-ray and more blood tests before leaving the UCI Medical complex. The medical center is a huge complex of buildings (not unlike a compact college campus), with lots of construction taking place. Due to limited parking, I followed the recommendation to use the valet parking ($2 with validation, $5 w/o). I can count on one hand with fingers to spare how many times I've used valet parking in my life. I have to mention that I got lost while trying to find his office. While trying to follow the directions I was given I unintentionally ended up walking into the unmarked and open back door of the surgery department, past a "sterile" storage room and ended up walking by the open doors of operating rooms with patients. Yikes! I asked for and received a guided tour to the elusive office. Needless to say, I had overlooked a door the first time through that was obvious the second time around. Someone also later moved a large plant into the middle of the walkway I took to drop a hint that it was the wrong way to go.

After I got home, UCI Labs called to sheepishly admit that they had not taken enough of my blood to perform all of the requested tests (an obvious goof) and that they needed me to come back in. So, I'm headed back this morning for another poke. Then I have an EKG test this morning before going to work.