It’s 6:30am as I fly into Sydney. I remind myself of how lucky I am to have been born here. One of the Qantas cabin crew hands me her copy of Mindful Magazine as I disembark. “I want you to have this.”
I have promised myself not to cry but still my eyes water, “thank you so much.”
It’s 11am as my parents and I walk into the surgeon’s office. I sit between them a mix of Irish and Fijian-Indian. I lean forward and hand the Professor my scans and lab results.
“I model and want to avoid scars. My LA doctor said I would need to have laparoscopic surgery.”
“I can perform hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery to be safe, but there’s a 50/50 chance you may need a ileostomy bag. Just for 6 or so months.” He hands me some photos. “Avoid Googling it, you will only see the worst stories.”
I am totally Googling ‘ileostomy bag’ when I get home!
“I’m guessing you are probably famous…and”
“I’m not famous!” I laugh.
“What’s that brand Victoria…?”
“Victoria’s Secret? I worked with them on the TV show 2 Broke Girls.” I blurted out too quickly then blush. I blush again when the Doctor examines my stomach in the room next door.
“I want to schedule your surgery for early next week. I could schedule it for tomorrow but I would like you to have a PET Scan first… Funny how there are animal names for scans… CAT scan, DOG scan… Just kidding about the DOG scan.” He looked at me and smiled. At that moment I know I am in good hands and I don’t need to see any other surgeons. The truth is, I am eager to farewell this tumor once and for all.
Love, Kerry Doyle xx
Photo cred: me
Love, Kerry Doyle 