August 29th, 2008: Early in the morning following my hip replacement surgery, my Dr. came in to tell me that the hip replacement had gone very well indeed. And, he added, after I had been sutured and glued back together, he did the standard practice of X-raying of my entire pelvis. When looking at the X-ray, he noticed a large mass on top of my perineum next to my pelvic bone with a lesion onto the bone.

Geo: "A mass?"
Dr: "Well, I'm a bone Doctor, not an oncologist, but I want to make sure that it isn't a secondary site."
Geo: "You mean a secondary cancer site?"
Dr: "Right. So I've scheduled you for a complete MRI today to find out if there's a primary site and other secondary sites. Then we’ll do a biopsy."
Geo: "I can't believe this. I don't feel a thing where you're talking about."
Dr: "I also looked at the original X-ray I took of your pelvis in mid-May when you first came into my office."
Geo: "And, what did you see?" "
Dr: Just the faintest hint of a lesion on the bone. I could barely see it."
Geo: "So it's grown that much in just three months?"
Dr: "Yes."
Geo: "Whew. I'm stunned. Yes, let's do the MRI and find out what this is."
Dr: "Right. But this is Labor Day weekend so we can’t do a biopsy until next week."
Geo, going into shock: "OK. Uh, thanks for the new hip. Whew, whew!”

End of the doctor's visit. Later in the day, I was taken downstairs to Radiology and an MRI was performed on my head, neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis. Good news! No primary sites or other secondary sites. However the mass that was revealed was surprisingly large: about 6.5 x 7.5 centimeters. That's a lot of growth for just three months.