Heading Towards Healing!

Today we met with the new oncologist.  Today was a good day!  Our new oncologist is nothing like Dr. Jekyll that we had last week.

First of all, even though this facility is also in a high traffic area, it's in our high traffic area.  So we cut about twenty minutes on our drive each direction.  And the office was colorful and inviting, the previous place had all the ambiance of Driver's License Branch with longer lines and wait times.  The old place, because of the long lines, put the nurses stations nearly right on top of each other.  When they took my vitals, my temperature was 197.2' because I was so close to another patient the thermometer measured both of us.  The new place was spacious and friendly.  It had room for my wife to come in while my important numbers were gathered.  It was so swanky, I could have sworn I saw someone walk by with a tray of hors d'oeuvres, but it may have just been a tray of specimen cups, it's hard to tell from a distance.  What I am getting at is before we even met the new oncologist, we are already in love with this place.

The doctor walks in.  Talk, thin, older, soft spoken with glasses, kind of what you would expect a compassionate doctor that is getting ready to talk about very serious things to look like.  And what made me really feel at ease, he asked me to start from the beginning.  He had gone over my chart already, but he wanted to hear it in my own words.  I'm glad.  Who knows what Dr. Jekyll wrote on my chart?  I imagine it's something like, "Patient has cancer or something, somewhere in the lower half, wants some treatment, I wonder what's for lunch, Jimmy John's, no had that yesterday, wonder where the nurses are going, I thought I heard one say Arby's, that sounds good, although their chicken is spicier than it used to be, I'll just get a roast beef, that's always a safe bet, I wonder where this guy's going to eat, oh that's my patient, what's he still doing here, I think he just asked me something, just tell him he's good and we'll schedule another appointment next week, maybe I'll get Jimmy John's after all"  The fact that we are starting over from scratch doesn't seem so much like we are going backward in my treatment, it feels like a fresh start.  He listens intently to both of us and doesn't once make any notes on my chart about lunch.  He asks about my gastro-intestinal issues.  Dr. Jekyll's way of dealing with my GI issues was to just say that I didn't have any.  I feel like I am in a dream things are going so well.

After our initial conversation, we move to treatment options.  He agrees that chemo is the best option, BUT he wasn't completely sure, so he called a colleague he knew at Indiana University (nice place!) that has a little bit of experience with testicular cancer.  He was one of Lance Armstrong's doctors!  Now at first we are very impressed (and we still are), but I imagine Lance probably had more than one oncologist.  But hey, if he wants to work some Lance magic on me that will be just fine.  I don't need to win the Tour de France, I will settle for just being able to walk down to the end of the driveway without having to wobble and collapsing on the couch when I get back.  And how much Lance magic will he be working on me?   Will I have to follow in his footsteps and divorce my wife, hook up with Sheryl Crow and one of the Olsens?  I don't even like Sheryl Crow, and I guess if I have to take one of the Olsens, I'll go for Lizzie.  She won't be as stuck up as Mary Kate or Ashley, but she still probably has some of their billions.  Oh, the doctor's still talking to me.  He says he was leaning towards a single larger dose in my case and Lance's doctor agreed.  Dr. Jekyll wanted two smaller doses.  For those uninitiated to the wonderful world of chemo (including me until just a few days ago) although two smaller doses sounds like the easier option, it's actually worse.  It seems the longer you are on chemo, the more the side effects compound onto each other.  One large dose can get the job done just as effectively with far less complications.  Good news, except now I have to get that haircut.  He said I may loose a little from the treatment, but definitely not all.  If there is one thing worse than shaggy hair with widow's peaks, it's splotchy shaggy hair with widow's peaks.

Obviously I am still concerned about the GI issues.  I tell him about the appointment I scheduled with the GI doc to help regulate my medications during the rest of my treatment.  I ask for the exact dosage and name so I can take the information to my appointment.  He said he will send a note to that doctor, but "I will just tell Steve when I see him at the hospital today."  What?!?!  I know I am in a dream now.  Not only does he acknowledge that I have GI issues, and wants to work with me, he knows my GI doc on a first name basis and sees him everyday at the hospital where they both do procedures!  He does a quick physical exam, including lifting my shirt, where he seems my GI surgery scars and makes a comment about the "old way" that involved about an eight inch gash rather than five small holes.  Hmmm, someone should tell Dr. Jekyll if I am making up this GI thing, I went through an awful lot of trouble to create scars twelve years ago just to mess with him.

He explains my situation to me in depth.  He explains the differences in types of stages of cancer and that I am a "Clinical Stage I".  He is throwing out percentages of reoccurring, chances of living cancer free, all the stuff we never heard from the last guy.  We still have questions.  He keeps patiently answering them.  Should we hold off on the baby making?  An emphatic YES.  Wow, Dr. Jekyll said don't worry about it.  I would hate to think about the kid we may have made.  Who knows, they may have been able to glow in the dark and been their own night-light.  Do I need to stay away from babies?  Another very strong YES, and especially their dirty diapers.  That one I try to practice on a daily basis anyway, but I appreciate the reinforcement.  Dr. Jekyll also told us not to worry about that.  If there is one thing worse that creating your own luminescent child, it is turning your friend's kids into glowworms. Dr. Jekyll said my bathroom routine doesn't have to change, where this doc says I could get seriously ill if I floss when my white blood cells are at their lowest and for the duration of my treatment I will always have to flush the toilet twice.  I am still not quite sure I understand this one.  I have already been accused of having atomic turds.  Maybe it is just to flush the incandescent pee to keep fireflies out of the house.  Whatever the reason the water company will thank me.  Then he tells us there will be plenty more that we haven't or won't think to ask that we will need to know about as well.  That is why they give all of their chemo patients and their families/support system a "class" on what to expect, what to do, what not to do.  I am waiting for someone to come around the corner with a camera and tell us this is all a prank.  This is so different from our last doctor and so exactly how an oncologist appointment should go.

We finish up by scheduling our next several appointments including the class, chemo, blood-work, follow-up appointments, as well as taking blood-work right now to make sure my white blood cells and platelets are high enough to start chemo.  This can't be real.  Someone pinch me.  OOWW!!  That wasn't a pinch, more of a stick with a large needle and two vials of blood, but at least I know I'm not dreaming.  This is real.  She tests the blood real quick and clears me to start chemo.  I am heading towards healing again!  November 15th, that's when I can breathe.  That's when I can say I'm done with "treatment" and only have to worry about "observation".  Two doctor's appointments next week.  Chemo the week after that.  Ten days later I will feel like crap.  But within two weeks or so of that, I should feel like a new man, or at least half a new man since I lost one of my dangling bits.  A definitely cancer free man!  I can't wait.  Today is a great day!