All sounds too familiar

Dusty is currently in the operating room having an endoscopy done.  His spirits are high and we are feeling positive.  We haven't been able to read the doctor's body language or moods but today we should be able to get our first sense of results.  We will get pictures from the endoscopy and will be able to compare them with the pictures of the tumors pre-treatment.  I warned Dusty that the pictures may look worst than before because now he will have a lot of dead and burned tissue.  But we should be able to tell from the doctor's response if there are any more tumors.  But, trying not to jump to conclusions but it is hard.

While Dusty and I sat in our little curtain cubicle waiting to start fluids and take vitals, it is hard to not eaves drop on the other patients in the other cubicles.  Everything we heard was so familiar.  "I was diagnosed with Barret's Esophagus." "I had acid reflux for years." "I had a hard time swallowing."  "I had chest pain."  It was all so familiar.  I just wanted to pull back the curtains and tell everyone that it will be okay.  Dusty is proof.  He made it through the treatments and is preparing for surgery.  I remember being that couple in the curtain for the first time and being scared to death of what they were going to find.

Now, I'm sitting in the cafeteria waiting for Dusty to be finished and I'm eaves dropping again.  There are two residence students sitting near me and talking about what they are going to focus on in their carreer.  One said she wants to focus on gastro oncology.  I seriously can't get away from it anywhere.  She said her father passed away a year ago from esophageal cancer and since then, she knew her path.  Where are my earbuds when I need them?  She started telling her friend about the stages that they went through and his treatment.  He started out as stage 2 (my heart dropped, Dusty is stage 3), but then when he came to MD Anderson, they found more tumors and he ended up being stage 4.  I was relieved to hear that he passed from stage 4, not stage 2 or 3.  Although, I feel for her and understand a little of what she went through.

Gotta run!  Dusty should be done soon.  I'll keep you all posted on how well we probe the doctor for answers.  He can't give us much because that is the oncologist job, but I'm definitely going to try!