Me and the Cancer
Me and the Cancer
I went to see Dr. Karen today. It was overcast and gloomy and rainy but that did not dampen my spirits. I was in a good mood today.
We had what has become our routine visit. I write down a bunch of questions that I think or sometimes Doug thinks of between visits. This way, I am certain to get all of my questions answered. Dr. Karen is used to seeing me open my composition book. Some of my questions have become standard ones by now.
My tests from last week were all normal for example. Dr. Karen did say that my potassium was on the low end of the desirable scale. I had run out of bananas the day before the test. Dr. Karen wasn’t as concerned then.
I wanted to know how the CT scan went. I also wanted to know if she had ever tried some of the contrast or dye liquid. Karen said that she had not. I encouraged her to give it a try and take a sip. She will probably hate me for suggesting the taste testing if she ever does go through with the testing.
Anyway and more to the point, I wanted to know about the two lesions on my liver. They were the focus of the scan. Karen said that my lungs were clear. This is obviously good news especially for me since I lived with heavy second hand cigarette smoke for about twenty years or so until my mother stopped smoking.
Karen said the lesions were still the same size as they were a year ago. This is good news for me because it means they are probably not cancerous since they haven’t grown.
I asked Karen about the idea of a lesion biopsy to once and for determine if they are cancerous or not. The biopsy was suggested by another doctor who filled in for Karen on my last visit. Karen liked the idea of the biopsy as well. She wanted to check first with a radiologist about conducting a biopsy. Later, Karen came back and said the lesions were too small for a biopsy.
Curious, I asked just how big the lesions were. Karen said one was four millimeters in diameter and the other was six millimeters in diameter. Together, they were both a little less than one centimeter in diameter. The sounded nice and small to me. I converted the lesion size from millimeters to inches and found out they were less than four tenths of an inch in diameter combined.
Nice.
I had been thinking one night on my way home from school about the tumor remnant that was left inside in October 2007 when Dr. Takahashi removed the bulk of the tumor and part of my colon. I was stuck in traffic because of an injury accident and I knew that I wasn’t going to be going anywhere fast. I asked Dr. Karen what happened to the remnant.
Karen said that the tumor remnant had been behind my left ureter when the operation was completed. Now, she said that the doctors could not see it on the CT scan or the MRI. She thought it might have been dissolved by the Oxaliplatin – Xeloda chemotherapy procedure.
That works just fine for me.
Dr. Karen said she wanted to schedule another CT scan in a couple of months just to make sure everything was fine. Since I am not scheduled for any biopsy or other surgical procedures in the near future, Karen put me back on the Xeloda regimen. I don’t really like the regimen since I have to take seven pills a day. But, I will take the pills because they are helping me and Karen asked me to do that.
I had my vital sign taken as usual at the clinic visit including my blood pressure. It was on the high side 141/83; probably because I hadn’t taken my daily medicine for blood pressure yet. I usually take the medicine at breakfast but I overslept and had to skip breakfast.
One of the nurses said my blood pressure was up because I was in a room full of nurses.
I went along with the thought line. I said that I referred to this appointment as my date with Dr. Karen and the Nurses.
The same nurse corrected me and said that it should only The Nurses.
Fascinating thought.
I’m fairly certain she was joking with me although there is one nurse who is very interesting to me. I will have time to explore that idea since I will be back at the clinic in three weeks.
I wonder if the comment was only coincidental or intentional because St. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow.
More fascinating thought.
Be well and stay happy.
I went to see Dr. Karen today. It was overcast and gloomy and rainy but that did not dampen my spirits. I was in a good mood today.
We had what has become our routine visit. I write down a bunch of questions that I think or sometimes Doug thinks of between visits. This way, I am certain to get all of my questions answered. Dr. Karen is used to seeing me open my composition book. Some of my questions have become standard ones by now.
My tests from last week were all normal for example. Dr. Karen did say that my potassium was on the low end of the desirable scale. I had run out of bananas the day before the test. Dr. Karen wasn’t as concerned then.
I wanted to know how the CT scan went. I also wanted to know if she had ever tried some of the contrast or dye liquid. Karen said that she had not. I encouraged her to give it a try and take a sip. She will probably hate me for suggesting the taste testing if she ever does go through with the testing.
Anyway and more to the point, I wanted to know about the two lesions on my liver. They were the focus of the scan. Karen said that my lungs were clear. This is obviously good news especially for me since I lived with heavy second hand cigarette smoke for about twenty years or so until my mother stopped smoking.
Karen said the lesions were still the same size as they were a year ago. This is good news for me because it means they are probably not cancerous since they haven’t grown.
I asked Karen about the idea of a lesion biopsy to once and for determine if they are cancerous or not. The biopsy was suggested by another doctor who filled in for Karen on my last visit. Karen liked the idea of the biopsy as well. She wanted to check first with a radiologist about conducting a biopsy. Later, Karen came back and said the lesions were too small for a biopsy.
Curious, I asked just how big the lesions were. Karen said one was four millimeters in diameter and the other was six millimeters in diameter. Together, they were both a little less than one centimeter in diameter. The sounded nice and small to me. I converted the lesion size from millimeters to inches and found out they were less than four tenths of an inch in diameter combined.
Nice.
I had been thinking one night on my way home from school about the tumor remnant that was left inside in October 2007 when Dr. Takahashi removed the bulk of the tumor and part of my colon. I was stuck in traffic because of an injury accident and I knew that I wasn’t going to be going anywhere fast. I asked Dr. Karen what happened to the remnant.
Karen said that the tumor remnant had been behind my left ureter when the operation was completed. Now, she said that the doctors could not see it on the CT scan or the MRI. She thought it might have been dissolved by the Oxaliplatin – Xeloda chemotherapy procedure.
That works just fine for me.
Dr. Karen said she wanted to schedule another CT scan in a couple of months just to make sure everything was fine. Since I am not scheduled for any biopsy or other surgical procedures in the near future, Karen put me back on the Xeloda regimen. I don’t really like the regimen since I have to take seven pills a day. But, I will take the pills because they are helping me and Karen asked me to do that.
I had my vital sign taken as usual at the clinic visit including my blood pressure. It was on the high side 141/83; probably because I hadn’t taken my daily medicine for blood pressure yet. I usually take the medicine at breakfast but I overslept and had to skip breakfast.
One of the nurses said my blood pressure was up because I was in a room full of nurses.
I went along with the thought line. I said that I referred to this appointment as my date with Dr. Karen and the Nurses.
The same nurse corrected me and said that it should only The Nurses.
Fascinating thought.
I’m fairly certain she was joking with me although there is one nurse who is very interesting to me. I will have time to explore that idea since I will be back at the clinic in three weeks.
I wonder if the comment was only coincidental or intentional because St. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow.
More fascinating thought.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 7:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home