Unexpected support: 22 years ago, out of the blue, a testicular tumor was discovered in me, or rather, I discovered it myself. Within 24 hours, the tumor was removed as an outpatient procedure. Further treatment included lymph node removal along the spine. For this, a long abdominal incision was made during the operation, from the sternum to below the belly button. It looked a bit scary. I was glad that no metastases were found. But the stapled suture did look creepy. The next day, completely unexpectedly, four friends appeared on the hospital visitors' mat: Marlies, Heiner, Manfred, and Clemens. They were eager to see the staples and were visibly uneasy at the sight. But then they started joking about it, which relaxed and encouraged me. That did me a lot of good at the time. Imagine the staple in conjunction with other staples on a 40 cm long incision.
