11/08/2012:
9:22: I get an email from a client with some requirements for an application they will be using in their new restaurant..
9:30: I get up out of bed, let buster out, and then get my stuff together for my shower.
9:35: I follow up on the email.
9:40: I jump into the shower.
9:50: I jump out of the shower.
10:00: I am in the van, heading to my office.
11:00: I get together stuff for a client, who I am going to try to go install today before my Dr. Appointment with Dr. Page.
11:15: I head out. First I am going to go get my blood work done for my Chemo on Monday if I need it.
11:50: I sign in for the bloodwork, and sit, and sit, and sit.
12:25: Still sitting.
12:45: I get called to the back.
12:50: She sticks me, fills the 2 viles, has me sign my name, and I am out the door. I am done, all that for 2 viles of blood.
1:00: I am back in my van. It is too late now to go over to my client’s office, so I just head home because my mom is bringing me home a hamburger poboy to eat before heading over to the doctor’s.
1:10: My mom get’s home, and we eat and talk.
1:45: My mom and I head on over to EJGH to meet with the doctor to go over the test results from the PET Scan.
2:00: We get there, I head in and sign in. They go over all the questions, to see if anything has changed, nope, it’s all the same, I still live where I live.
2:15: We are called to the back. The nurse takes my vitals, and asks me how everything is going, and if there are any new developments, or pains or changes.
2:45: The doctor comes in and starts going over the PET Scan results with us. He is not too thrilled because the results are showing a new mass in my neck. Everything else is going down, but if this is a new mass, we are going to have to stop the chemo, do a new biopsy to figure out if its the same cancer or something else. If it is the same cancer, then we will have to change the chemo regimen because that means that the chemo is having no effect on the chemo. We will have to use the MOPP chemo which came before the ABVD and is more powerful, but the only thing is there are drug shortages for those chemo drugs. If it is not the same cancer, we will have to figure out how to treat it. Dr. Page says either way this is not good, and he has not seen this before. Great, just my luck. Dr. Page tells me that he has not met personally with the radiologist yet, but he will be going to meet with him to go over all three PET Scans to see if the mass was on either of the other PET Scans. He tells me that he will call us as soon as he finds out something, as I have another doctor’s appointment for 3:30.
3:15: We head on out, with not the greatest news, but waiting on a call back. We drive to the parking garage closer to the other doctor’s office. I check in, and am seated in the hallway so that I don’t have to be around the others who are there because they are sick.
3:30: We are called into the patient room.
3:32: My mom gets a call on her cellphone, it’s Dr. Page, he briefly talks to her, and then talk’s to me. The good news is that he found the mass on the original PET Scan, but it really didn’t show up as much on the second PET Scan, why, he is not sure, there are many factor’s with the timing of the second PET Scan being the day after a chemo infusion, which is not a good thing, and also my sugars were about 180 going into that PET Scan which is not a good thing either. However, it is good that he found it, and he said for me to continue my Chemo treatment scheduled for Monday. I get off the phone with him as Dr. Jacob is waiting to see me.
3:37: I update Dr. Jacob on my PET Scan and give him a copy of the PET Scan for his records. I then explain to him about my coughing, which is also waking me up and keeping me up sometimes at night. Also the last time I coughed this morning made me get a headache and pressure in my head. Also I asked for some sleeping pills on the nights that are not my Chemo week to help me try to get back into a regular sleep pattern on those weeks. I also asked for some cough syrup to help me stop coughing at night. He also prescribed me some antibiotics and some Alegra D. I then mentioned to him the findings of my last PET Scan that said something about having a paralyzed vocal cord. He said that he had a machine that he could look down my throat to see my vocal chords, but he doubts they are paralyzed. He then sprays this solution up both of my nostrils, which tastes disgusting as it drips down my throat. He then leaves the room for about 15 minutes while the solution numbs my nose and throat. He then comes back in, turns on the machine, hooks it up, and looks inside both nostrils. He then decides to go up my left one and use that one to go down my throat. He then makes me say A and E in series as he looked at the vibrations and characteristics of the vocal cords as I said those vowels. He then pulled the tube out, and said everything looked fine. He wrote my prescriptions and said that he wanted to see me back in 2 weeks. I thank him for everything as always, and we head out. I make my appointment for the day before Thanksgiving. My mom makes her appointment for the same time as she still has to follow up from her Thyroid removal that he did back in April.
4:30: We are back in the car, and we head back to Dr. Page’s office. I want to get a copy of the first PET scan if possible. I also want to make the appointment for my next meeting with him since we have a better feeling about everything
4:40: We go to the back and get the print outs of the first PET Scan. The nurse says Dr. Page should be out shortly, as he is with a patient. We said that we would wait. Dr. Page is done with the patient, and talks with us briefly again. The game plan as of now is to finish up the 6 cycles of chemo therapy, do another PET Scan and then start Radiation. Dr. Page says I should see him again after the Chemo is done, somewhere the week of January 7th, 2013. He says I should be able to get my oncologist to make the appointment for the next PET Scan. I tell him that my Oncologist office is the one who scheduled the PET scan for the day after my Chemo, which was not the best timing. I even told him that I called his office 3 times about when the PET Scan would be scheduled, and they did nothing to change the timing of the PET Scan. I felt better with him scheduling the PET Scan. He said that he would then have his nurse schedule it in December when they call me up to schedule my January appointment. He also commented that he had a hard time fighting with my insurance company about approving this PET Scan. We wanted to know why they wanted to fight him, and what about so that we could call up and complain to them, but he said not to worry about it, that it is his job to fight them. We thanked Dr. Page again for everything!
5:00: We are heading home.
5:20: We get home. I lay on the sofa and watch some TV. During the process I doze off.
7:00: I wake up, and go to my bed to doze off some more.
9:00: I get up out of bed and eat some left over Fettuccine Alfredo and Chicken Parmesan.
10:00: I am laying back down on my bed. I do a few things on the computer.
11:45: I am dozed back off….
11:59: Still sleeping, what a long day!
