I got a nasty surprise Thursday morning: bright red blood on elimination. Diane and I got on the phone with my surgeon, who indicated that this wasn’t an uncommon thing, and that next week he’ll see about putting me on some medication to slow down my gut.

In the meantime, he said that taking a trip in state should not be a problem. So I decided to accompany Diane in going to Bakersfield. She’ll be able to check in on me better with me on site.

The trip down was not too bad. It took about five and a half hours all told. I napped for part of the way, and we had an unabridged reading of “The Fellowship of the Ring” in the cassette player for entertainment.