When I woke up,
I was being moved.
From the operating room
to the HCU.
Even through the haze,
there was something
I needed to know.
“Did the surgery happen?”
“Yes, it did.”
“Am I on a stoma now?”
“No, you are not.”
It was not stage four.
There had been no spread.
A stoma had been avoided.
Relief came,
along with the discomfort
of tubes connected
throughout my body.
Even so,
gratitude remained.