CANCER: It Takes TWO, Baby....

So, Monday was another day filled with MD appointments. Jeeez-US! I now understand why so many old people spend their time talking about doctor's appointments. That's all there is for them to do.....And it takes ALL DAMN DAY!

Ok, so the purpose of this appointment was to get the coveted SECOND OPINION. Truly, this is the Holy Grail of the US medical system. And, in this case was a good use of my time. Here's why:

Details- always need to start with these, right?

Location: Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Time: 9:30 AM check-in, 10:00 AM appointment with the MD (who showed up at 10:40...just sayin'...)

The Players: ME- duh; Michelle Nitz- objective listener; Dr. Andrei Shustov- MD Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology, University of Washington (AKA, Lymphoma BAD ASS) and Karen Schiavo- ARNP, Nurse Practitioner, Hematology Malignancy

Yes, it was quite a cast...and Karen complimented me on my shoes.

So, I get there, right....And let me tell you this place is nothing like my serene and idyllic Swedish Issaquah. For starters, the place is FILLED with sick people. Gross. And they only have ONE very lame gift shop and no concert pianist. WTF?

Ok- but on to the serious stuff: Dr. S introduced himself and very, very clinically confirmed that I do, in fact have Stage II Hodgkin's lymphoma. He further classified it as Stage II A, as I have none of the symptoms associated with this stupid disease. (I'll blog about symptoms later, you freakin' hypochondriacs!)

He then explained in full detail just what the treatment plan will look like. He basically confirmed what the good Dr. K told me. However, he also told me what the four drugs will do to my body and more importantly, to my cancer. I won't go into that. It's boring and I can barely remember it. The take-away is this: This treatment has been around for 40 years. More importantly, it was an Italian MD who came up with this plan. Oh, and it works! I feel better already....

He also corrected a few things:

1) A round of chemo is actually TWO sessions. I have four sessions ahead of me, and will complete treatment in September. Dr. K failed to mention that minor detail. He'll hear from me when I see him again...

2) I will be bald. He was pretty certain about that. He said there's a few of his patients who keep their hair. But, they are not the norm. Oh well. I'm thinking baldness will set in around July???

3) I cannot, under any circumstances play in soil. Totally busted Dr. K's statement of: "of course you can garden." He's gonna hear it from me when I see him again....

4) He confirmed the whole national study he wanted me to participate in. It works like this: I do my first two rounds of chemo. Then I undergo another PET scan. If the results come back PET Positive, they will consider my cancer defeated. I will continue on with the remaining two rounds, but will have successfully kicked cancer's ass. If the results come back PET Negative, they will change the course of my chemo to some way stronger stuff that will, in his words: "knock me on my butt." The reason for the PET scan is that it is a predicter of success. Kinda cool...

Dr. K told me if I got a PET Positive, I wouldn't need to do the remaining rounds. Oops!  The plus side is that this is a national test with national standards set  by the NIH. So, it's pretty prescriptive. Just the same, he's gonna hear it from me.....

5) SCCA, unfortunately was kicked out of the study due to a backlog of paperwork. (Thanks to the crappy funding public research institutions get from our state, they had to lay off the person who's job was to manage the paperwork...)This means if I am to participate in the study, I will need to stick with Swedish. Dr. S confirmed what I already knew: "the drugs are the same no matter where you get them. So, stick with Swedish." And, well there IS the piano player....He stated if I wanted I could come back to him- especially if I get a PET Negative result.

But, even if I went to SCCA he would treat me as if I were in the study. Just wouldn't be able to share my health data into the study.

In short, I fell in love with this lovely Eastern European scholar. He was direct, funny, and has deep respect for the Italians- when it comes to medicine- and, well shoes....

I closed our meeting with the following: "not for nothin' but I hope I don't need to see you ever again...." So much for love.....

UP NEXT:

Dr. I. Edward Freimanis- L'enfant terrible of the surgical world, and my biggest cancer groupie...He's putting in my sexy chemo port this Thursday. He's also gonna do my bone marrow biopsy, while allowing me to sleep through the whole thing. BLESS THIS MAN!

Friday April 11- ECHO cardiogram and CT Scan

More fasting and ingesting of radioactive stuff. So much fun!