Opportunities and Choices

Thursday, December 16, 2010.  We arrived at "Radiology" right on time. The fish in the aquarium didn't notice the dark, cold, spitting rain we walked through to get to the warm hospital lobby.
Kregg checked in with the front desk. He showed the woman a piece of paper and told her he was supposed to get some kind of shot. She told him to take a seat and someone would be with him shortly.
He had sat in the lightly worn blue lobby chairs and waited before. He strolled over casually hoping that he wouldn't have to wait long. He didn't bother taking his hat or his coat off.
I sat down next to him and asked to see the piece of paper he had shown the woman upon arrival. He handed me the folded paper from the back pocket of his baggy wranglers. As I opened it, I could see it was given to him by Dr Reddy his oncologist. It had written on it that he had a consultation with Dr Park in Radiology on December 16th for an ablation. I didn't know what an ablation was, but I quickly looked it up using my iphone. Main Entry: a-'bla-shen. The process of ablating: surgical removal or by melting or vaporization. Kregg had told me that Dr Reddy said there had been a "spot" found on the cat scan in his abdomen area the week before and that he was going to recommend getting an ablation which was like getting a shot.
Hoping to prepare Kregg for a consultation and not a procedure, I told him that I did not think that he was going to be getting the shot today. I was sure since we had never met with this doctor before that the doctor would want to decide for himself if Kregg was a good
candidate for an ablation. Kregg was not happy to hear that he had to just come to the hospital to talk to another doctor. "Why can't they just give me the shot?" "Why do they have to always talk to me and have me fill out more paperwork?" I let him complain and carry on a few more minutes then I looked at him and said, "You don't have to do any of this. You don't have to have anything done. You have a choice." He was quiet and leaned back in his chair as he adjusted his hat on his head.
After a long wait, we saw Dr Park, the radiologist, and he explained to Kregg that he had a 3 cm tumor in his adrenal gland. The options were to do nothing; to freeze it; or to burn it. His recommendation was to freeze it which would require a procedure that would come with some, but little risk and an over night hospital stay.
Dr. Park said he could perform the procedure before or after Christmas. Kregg elected a date after Christmas. We left knowing that the doctor's office would call Kregg to confirm either
December 28th or December 29th for the procedure.
The morning took much longer than either of us expected and Kregg didn't get a shot, but got another opportunity to extend his life from a Radiologist with an offer to perform an ablation. At some point opportunities and options will run out for Kregg. I am thankful he has made the choice to accept the treatment. It reminded me that everyday each one of us has opportunities and choices to make. My hope is I am not too busy complaining about something and miss the opportunities God has planned for me along the way to enrich my life.