I *really* like Keavin's comment... was thinking something along those lines last night. Having joined this clientele' only 18 months ago, it's not just somebody who built our instruments on the other end of this thread, and I've never once felt like I was just a client.
As an aside, to reiterate Ms. W.'s advice, one of my co-workers (and close friends) was diagnosed with almost exactly the same cancer this Fall. She immediately had the orthoscopic surgery, and after some time off to recover, is back on duty, completely cancer-free. Get it checked!