With Ghosts and Saints All Around...
It's Enough To Give You Vertigo
In order to make the scheduled surgery date of Novemeber 3, a Tuesday, biopsy slides from Hawaii must arrive in time for pathologists at St. Likes to confirm the melanoma diagnosis. The weekend is made up of Halloween on Saturday, All-Saints Day on Sunday and Monday, of course, is a national Holiday of recovery. 
The samples had been ordered by phone at 3 AM on Wednesday October 28...That's Hawaii at 7 AM on Tuesday October 27. I know..wierd. A request is for an overnight delivery; Hawaii to Manila, is just a hop skip and a jump. Little did we know.
My chunk of shoulder has more airlines miles than my whole body. From Hawaii it flew (probably first class) to the deep south of the USA. From there, after being searched for explosives, the slides flew to Japan. From Japan these thin slices of meat went to Shanghai, where they were mistaken as rare form of sushi. Back to Japan the gourmet treats flew and then off to Guam. Finally from Guam it was booked to Manila. 
A cab was hired on Sunday for the 45 minute ride to FedEx at the airport, where an agent and his young son met us...you see, they made a special trip and opened the office just for us. Prettyu nice of FecEx. Back to St. Lukes we flew with the goods. What a way to spend All Saints' Day!
Tuesday morning, the pathologist gave out the "good news." It was Melanoma! I could have surgery at 4:00 that afternoon. But first a few other necessary steps. Belle wrote it on the board. Nothing to eat. Nothing to drink. Map your sentinel node, etc. etc. I love Belle.
Next: The Mac Attack
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