All right, you win. You win. I give. I'll say it. I'll say it. I'll say it. DESTINY! DESTINY! NO ESCAPING THAT FOR ME! DESTINY! DESTINY! NO ESCAPING THAT FOR ME! Dr. Fredrick Frankenstein

90 days. 
2160 hours.                                   
That is what I have left before I have my surgery.   

I have come to realize that, even on the days when I second guess my decision, the decision to remove my stomach is the only option I really had.  So the quote from the movie “Young Frankenstein” is appropriate.  In the movie, Gene Wilder’s character, Dr. Frankenstein, has done everything he can to change his identity from that of his Grandfather, Baron Victor Frankenstein, the mad Doctor who created the first monster.  In the end though it is in his DNA.  He is genetically destined to continue to carry on his Grandfather’s footsteps.  Genetics…

So here we sit, my sister Melanie, my Mom and myself, all with this genetic code buried deep within us.  Our Frankenstein monster just waiting to rear its ugly head.  All three of us carrying on the legacy from generations past.  Will it even show itself?  If it does, then in what form?  DESTINY, DESTINY….  You get the drift.

I also realize that as strange as this is to me on days, it must also sound pretty strange to you all.  The question I get the most is “can you live without your stomach?”.  I can and I will.  There will be some stuff that will need to come off my menu for a time.  Some of my favorite foods like prime rib and pizza will be the first to leave.  The pizza light at Roger’s Pizza Kitchen will be dark for a while.  However, the Doctors assure me that over time I should be able to eat all my favorite foods again.  It will just be in smaller portions.  Then there is beer.  Yes, I will drink beer again, someday.  Most likely sooner than the Doctors want me to, but the beer drinking gene, like the CDH-1 gene, is buried deep within my genetic makeup. 

So I am 90 days out.  Did I do anything to mark the date? Nope, May 6^th was just another day for me.  I guess I did write this blog, but there is no 90 day count down on a calendar.  No start of a food pilgrimage that would have me eat my way around the Twin Cities.  I did go out and by a Ninja juicer that I will need after the surgery.  I brought it home and couldn’t open it.  It just sat on the floor.

I spent some time on the phone this week with the founder of the “No Stomach for Stomach Cancer” organization.  The foundation is dedicated to the fight against stomach cancer and the support for people with the CDH-1 gene mutation.   There are stories on their website of folks just like me with the CDH-1 gene mutation.   What they have gone through and how their lives have changed.  There are also stories of people who found out about the CDH-1 mutation only after stomach cancer had been discovered.  In too many cases these stories only go on for a short time before they end.  Yet, all the stores are full of life and hope.  These stories reassure me that I am making the right decision.

The surgery is set for Tuesday August 4^th.   I need to be down to Mayo sometime on Monday 3^rd.   I will most likely be in the hospital 4-5 days.  After that I will be out of work for about six to eight weeks depending on how I heal and adapt to my new lifestyle. 

HOWEVER, on August 1^st Hanover is holding its annual Hanover Harvest Festival.  Food, Beer, Bands, and Fireworks.  Since it is the final weekend before my surgery, we are thinking of having one last blast to send my stomach off in style.  If we do, will you join us?  Let me know..

Maybe we will find a way to throw Young Frankenstein a wall or something and have a mass showing.  It is a fabulous movie. 

I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed
Get along with the voices inside of my head
You're trying to save me, stop holding your breath
And you think I'm crazy, yeah, you think I'm crazy

(The Monster.  Eminem)