Going to See the Doc

I always try to get my act together before I go to see the oncologist. He is a very sharp, intelligent guy, so I feel like I have to prepare to meet him so I can get the most out of the meeting.

I think today's meeting will be fairly predictable. But then I almost always feel that way and there always seems to be a surprise.

Today there isn't any scans to review or discuss. Todays meeting will mainly be about drugs and chemo.

As always he'll come into the treatment room, shake our hands, and ask us how we're doing (Barb will be with me). He'll sit down, open up my chart, pull his pen from his pocket and ask me what I would like to talk about today.

Well, I'm going to tell him about the "drug holiday" I took, then I'm going to tell him that I'm ready to start taking the nasty Interferon drug again.

I'll ask him when he's planning on doing a scan again to see what, if anything the Interferon might have done. Then based on the results of that scan I wish to talk to him about whether he would consider prescribing a new kidney cancer drug.

I'm going to mention that I have had some pain.

And that I'd like to discuss overall general health.

Then he'll take off from there. He usually brings up something I never expected. He always gives me a solid physical exam.

The "drug holiday" was originally his idea when he learned how rough the Interferon had been on me. I've taken a lot of harsh drugs over the past three-and-a-half years. Nothing was like this though.

I've been off the Interferon for about two-weeks and much has improved.

I know the doc has this strict three-month time frame he prefers to adhere to between scans. I'm anxious to see what this nasty Interferon has done. But I'm willing to wait until what we expect to be early December for the next scan.

As far as pain goes, the harshest and strangest pain I have right now is in my left calf. It's had me hobbling around at times. But it's odd. It's constantly in the same part of my calf, but it moves around from side to side to back. I'm really hoping he might know something about that.

I have this weird suspicion that it might be from the La-Z-Boy, as strange as that may sound. During the bad, bad, bad Interferon days I was pretty much planted on the recliner. Being so tall, my legs hang out over the end of the recliner. The last place my body touches the recliner is right where the pain is in my calf? I don't know.

Barb and I have a pretty strong idea of how things will go today. We'll discuss getting back on the Interferon, one full dose a week, rather than three full doses. We'll discuss the left calf and maybe decide to do a much more affordable x-ray. And we're hoping he will bless the new cancer drug just approved by the FDA if Interferon proves not to be working.

Wish us luck...