February 5, 1997 – Pissing Contest
M. L. T. picked up J. so that we could meet with Dr. Peter Carroll, the Oncological Urologist that everyone said was the best in the Bay Area. L. C. met us at the U. C. Medical Center in his office. After a brief case history and yet another prostate exam, Dr. Carroll once again explained the standard of treatment for bladder cancer: radical cystectomy. We were encouraged by his some two hundred bladder removals and eighty urinary diversion operations. We felt that this was the man to do any cutting, if any was to be done. We asked him all the questions in Appendix 3. We left there feeling confident that Dr. Carroll could handle any surgery that I might need.
Later that afternoon, I saw my therapist, Suzanne Schmidt for the first time since November. She was going through some radical changes in healing herself, which included almost daily visits to Yokey Kim. We started a new therapy involving self-massage of the chakras (seven energy points within the body described by Indian yogis) and the mental and emotional pain associated with them. We were quite in synch during the whole session, which lasted over two hours. We seemed to be healing each other, but I still did not get a clear idea of how to treat my bladder cancer. I left her house feeling very good!
Suzanne had recommended that I try to see Kim every day, if possible, so when I got home I called him. He said that I could come in at 6:00 P. M., which I did. The second treatment was better than the first, in that I was more relaxed and knew what to expect.