Thursday, July 24, 2008

Finding our equilibrium

OK - so yesterday was not a good experience with the oncologist. As a health professional myself, the one thing I know is that you NEVER take hope away from your patient. Sometimes it's all they have. Well, obviously the doctor we saw yesterday was absent from med school the day they taught that lesson.

So, bottom line from her yesterday...no radiation, chemo only. She was not interested in discussing any complimentary therapies - period.

She ordered some further diagnostic tests to determine if the cancer has spread to any other areas, and my Sweet Hubby had the first scan (chest CT) this morning. We now await the brain MRI.

I had contacted Johns Hopkins earlier in the week to seek a second opinion appointment and I got that call back this morning. The downside of an appointment at JH is you cannot have begun any treatment when you are evaluated. The earliest appointment they could give me was August 22nd. And that is just WAY too long to wait to begin chemotherapy. So we may utilize JH further down the line, but for now we need to begin treatment. I scheduled an appointment with another oncology practice for this Wednesday. We will get our second opinion there and I'm hoping that this new oncologist will be more open to supporting the patient as they attempt to fight and help themselves.

So, in a nutshell...that's where we stand at the moment. I imagine this upcoming week, my Sweet Hubby will begin chemo. Thank you all for your continued prayers! I received a wonderful email from a friend today. She included several scripture verses...I'll close with this one:
"The Lord Himself goes before you - He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged." Deut. 31:8
Blessings,
Gigi

1 comment:

La Bella Cooks said...

I'm sorry to hear about your experience yesterday. I would hope Steve's next oncologist will have a lot more compassion. I'll definitely be thinking of Steve in the coming weeks when he start chemo.