I have a plan

I guess for those that know me, having a plan is not a surprise. For me though, planning borders on having an OCD. It’s probably what made me relatively good at what I did before cancer. I liked having a plan. Not having a plan made me uncomfortable. Today’s blog entry segue is that I moved my chemo doctor’s appointment up to yesterday from next week. Two forces drove this change. First, I have some new pains and small inflammations in my tongue and necks area which may not be surgery (which was 3 weeks ago today) related (i.e., they could be disease recurrences) and as such are causing me a fair amount of anxiety. And second, I didn’t have a treatment plan. That was driving me absolutely nuts.

I e-mailed my chemo doctor at 4 A.M. yesterday morning asking if I could move my appointment up and the why behind this request. A minute later he e-mailed me back and said to come in at noon. One will never be able to say these dedicated people don’t work hard long hours. I waited about 3 hours yesterday, but that’s a story for another day. I spent about 45 minutes of high quality time with my doctor’s Physicians Assistant (PA). PA’s were not a profession with which I was familiar before entering Cancer World. These are highly trained and educated professionals that work as a team with their doctor. They do exams, answer questions, provide insight, suggest options, etc. At times it is hard to tell the PA from the doctor. I then met with my chemo doctor. We discussed chemo drug options in some depth and put a solid plan on the table. Here it is:
1) CT scan for a new baseline – 11/20 (Tuesday)
2) Clinic appointment – 11/21 (Wednesday)
3) Chemo begins – 11/26 (Monday)

We haven’t come up with the exact chemo drugs just yet. My doctor wants to give it a little more thought and also talk to some of his colleagues. I’m in good hands so I’m okay with that. Until we get the scan results and decide on the drugs, we won’t know the frequency or duration of how long the chemo will be administered. I don’t have the times yet for these appointments, that will drive me a bit crazy until they show up on my schedule, but I can live with that for now. We have visitors coming for Thanksgiving. Fortunately, the chemo will not begin until the Monday after the holiday.

That is all for today. Stay well.