Here we are, on Tuesday, February 9th, 2016, preparing to leave for Ken’s colonoscopy. It’s 5:50AM; we need to be at St Clair Hospital by 7AM. It’s only a month since the first doctor appointment and the flurry — can I call it a cocktail? — of anxiety, confusion, and uncertainty.

It all started back in November, when he found a cyst. We did all the things you do when you find something unusual on your body (“google it!”).  He monitored it carefully. The cyst was growing, which we knew would happen. That’s what sebaceous cysts do, after all. After a little while, there were two quite large cysts and a few small ones. We discussed in December whether a doctor appointment was warranted. Ultimately, because of where they were located (on his scrotum), they became uncomfortable, getting irritated when he walked or exercised. He started wearing larger adhesive bandages and scheduled a doctor appointment for early January.

Then, the infection started. Ken had planned to have his primary doctor look at his cysts and some hemorrhoids that had appeared in late December (we laughed about how he was nearing 55 and starting to “fall apart”).  On the Monday before his appointment, he said something like “do you think this redness is a problem?” as he showed me a heavily inflamed torso. Tough-it-out though he tends to be, he agreed that a more urgent doctor visit was warranted and I placed the call to his primary physician. The office staff was reluctant (“he has an appointment at the end of the week; can’t this wait?”) and we arrived at our first lesson:  if you think it can’t wait, follow your instincts and assert yourself. She reluctantly gave me their last appointment for the day (they close at 1PM on Mondays.)

Yes, infection, the doctor agreed. He gave Ken antibiotics, told him to see a urologist in 10 days to have the cysts removed and hustled us out the door. (The furnace was broken in the office that day and they were wearing winter gear to see their patients. It was bitter cold in the waiting room and the exam rooms. The whole fully clothed visit lasted minutes.) We were relieved to have an answer and medication. It made his stomach upset but we learned how to combat that (yay, google!) and waited for the infection to go away. Except, it didn’t.