Good Meeting with the Doctor

First of all, I need to say how great it was to see Muk this past weekend. Muk was up from Florida to visit with my Dad and family, and to attend the Myerstown High School reunion. My Mom and Muk were kind enough to visit us here in Marietta.

It was great to see her.

"Muk" is Martha, my aunt, my father's sister. They tell me when I was tiny and tried to say Martha I instead said "Muk," and it stuck. (shrugging shoulders) It's always worked for me.

We're glad to hear that Muk is safely and comfortably back in Florida.

Barb and I met with the oncologist yesterday. He's really been an outstanding doctor. And we had a very good meeting yesterday.

He gave me a good lookover like always and told me that everything checks out. The evidence right now suggests that the chemo Sutent is working well on the "disease" and keeping everything in control.

My eating's good, digestion is good, energy has been pretty high, May has been a pretty strong month.

The plan is to have a CT scan after every three-months of Sutent. The next one would be due in July. Instead of a CT scan the doc would like to do a PET scan, and we think that's a good idea.

A PET scan is just like a CT scan but with an added bonus. They inject me with radioactive sugar, let the sugar work through my body for an hour, then let the scanner check for areas in the body that are actively utilizing the radioactive sugar. Those areas light up on the scan an indicate probable active cancer activity.

The oncologist feels that some of my tumors that have shown on CT scans may now actually be just dead tissue, still showing on the CT scan but difficult to differentiate from active cancer. The PET scan will show the active areas. It's a good idea. He's a sharp doctor. I'm in good hands.

The ongoing challenge this year will be the "seeding" of the cancer in the brain. It's there now. It's not just a fluke instance.

But we're not without options, especially in the hands of a new neurosurgeon.

We "broke up" with our now former neurosurgeon. At least it seemed like breaking up with a girlfriend. It was odd.

We weren't happy with him quite frankly. He was the first doctor to put me on a powerful steroid known as Decadron, and he did so without any instructions or guidance. This thing is so powerful you have to ween off it very gradually. I pulled right off cold from high doses and paid the price for it.

I never was warned that Decadron often causes "thrush," a fungal growth in the mouth. You guessed it. I caught it.

He basically never communicated at all.

The final straw was when he suggested a second round of whole brain radiation. It's an absolute no-no. A second round is virtually assured of causing permanent brain damage.

After this neurosurgeon learned that I was going to switch to another, he called me at home. It was like breaking up with a girlfriend, as I mentioned.

He told me that I was making a huge mistake, that I was really screwing up. He told me the doctor I was switching to was just a "trainee." He begged me to reconsider.

It was really strange.

I felt obliged to share this story with my oncologist.

"Jim, what is your gut feeling on this thing?" the doctor asked me.

"I think I'm a dollar sign," I said, "and the doctor is upset about losing business."

"You got it," the doctor answered. I could tell from his reaction that he was disgusted by it, and had already run into this situation with another patient.

There are great doctors out there, and there are not-so-great doctors out there. There are doctors that relate well to me, but may not to you. But one thing I've certainly learned from my experience is to work on getting the best health team around you that's right for you. It can make such a difference.