Checking Things Out

One of the things that is pretty special about my oncologist is the simple fact that he gave me his cell phone number. That may not seem like much. But almost all doctors I have interacted with prefer that patients do not call them. Most doctors want to see patients.

As my primary physician explained to me (and he is one who will take phone calls), "That's the way the business works. You can't charge someone unless they come into the office."

I consider having my oncologist's cell phone number a privilege, and I am careful not to abuse that privilege. In the many months that I have had his number I've used it only twice.

I am considering calling him this morning though.

Over the weekend I had two odd little incidents. Parts of my body went numb, and felt like they went to sleep. I've had this happend to me before in months previous. But I never had it happen on back to back days before, so I'm slightly concerned about it.

On Saturday, around mid-morning, suddenly my right hand went numb. I still had full movement, full control and coordination, it just went numb. A few minutes later the right side of my face went numb as well, including the right side of my mouth and the right side of my tongue. It all lasted no more than 30-minutes. It then went away and I was fine the rest of the day.

On Sunday I woke up with a stiff spot in the left side of my neck. It was no big deal. It just felt like I slept a little strange. Again around mid-morning suddenly the left side of my neck went numb. It lasted about 30 minutes again and then cleared and I was fine after that for the rest of the day.

This kind of thing has happened to me before several times since the beginning of the year. Typically it starts in the right or left hand, then goes to the right or left side of the face. It always goes away quickly. It's very random. It always drew my attention quite a bit but I had never made anything of it since it happened so rarely.

I've gotten use of all the weird things that can go on when you're actively using chemotherapy to attack the cancer within the body. There always seems to be little wars going on inside, here one day, over there the next day. During my last visit the doctor asked me if I had any pain. I told him I have the "pain du jour," a different pain in a different place every day. But it's not any pain with a direct relation to cancer growth.

I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that my recent episodes of numbness are caused by the chemotherapy. The chemo can mess you up pretty good.

But I can't stop thinking about what the radiology-oncologist told me last week. "Any lesions in the brain, of any size, can cause things to go a little whacky upstairs."

So I think I'm going to try out the oncologist's cell-phone again this morning. I'm looking for a little peace of mind. And I'm looking for a Monday without any episodes of numbness. I'd rather not go for three-days in a row.