Data Collection

Posted by Roie Black on Fri 07 February 2014

Cheryl and I drove over to Houston on late Wednesday afternoon so we would not be rushed on Thursday for our appointments. It was a good thing, because getting through Houston and finding our Motel was a bit of a hassle. We got there just in time to go to bedy-bye!

We got up next morning, had a nice breakfast and headed off to find the M.D Andersen Cancer Center! We had no idea what we were in for. But Mrs. Garmin knew the way!

How does Gigantic Sound?

MDAnderson

We elected to use valet parking as it was cold. This place is a bit overwhelming, considering it is only about cancer! Cheryl and I got here around 10am, early enough to wander around a bit before we had to check in for our appointments. We looked over the lobby area where me met the first of a bunch of fish:

fish tank

Someone in this place is really into fish, these things are all over the place.

We walked down the halls on the first floor and looked over the cafeterias (typical) and the gift shops. then we worked our way down the other side of the building to see what we could see. The place is definitely big, and there were people everywhere. Well, that is what you would expect in a place with the reputation this place has.

Next, we walked across a sky-walk to a hotel connected to the hospital called the Rotary and Cheryl had lunch. I was not exactly in the mood for food.

Around noon, we headed up to the tenth floor and checked in for our adventure. I got tagged with an arm band, filled out a bunch of paperwork (the first of several with exactly the same questions), and then headed into a small waiting room for the doctor who is in charge of my "plan". Or at least the plan they will come up with. This man is Dr. Lai (lie - which we are sure he does not do any of. He come across as really knowing what he is up to!)

We sat in the room, just as we always end up doing - staring at yet another door:

doc door

Eventually a nurse cane in and told us that a resident would come in and talk over my history and then explain all of this to Dr. Lai (I have watched enough medical shows on television to know how all of this works. The residents are the slaves -er- students who do the grunt work so the real doctors can to the hard thinking). Anyway The resident eventually did just that, he came in and talked over what had gone on in the last six years. Then he got out that evil nose thing.

The evil nose thing

I have seen this thing before!

Dr. Scholl loves this thing. He squirts my nose with numbing spray, leaves for 15 minutes then comes in and tortures me with this thing:

nose scope

Now, you all know where your nose ends, right? Admit it or not, you stick your finger in there and know where it stops. Well, I am here to tell you that is not where it stops. When they stick this evil thing in there it keeps on going and you want to climb right out of that chair and up to the ceiling! There seems to be a light in that thing and the doctor can see inside the tube and see whatever he wants to, but I do not care about all that! I just want him to stop that, RIGHT NOW!.

Well, the resident did that, THEN DR LAI DID IT ALL AGAIN! DURN!

SHEESE!

Dr Lai's Visit

When Dr. Lai came in, he reviewed all of the data he had heard so far. He had not see the images from the PET scan, just the report, so we needed to call back to Austin to get the images sent his way (which took several phone calls later in the day). Dr. Lai was really on top of the labs that had been scheduled, considering we had driven over from Austin and several tests had been scheduled into next week. He had things rearranged so everything could be done Thursday, Friday and Monday, and got rid of a PET scan they had set up that was not really needed. Dr. Lai seemed to think that the PET scan had happened a bit soon after my surgery to de-bulk my cheek and perhaps part of what they were seeing was that.

All in all, we were pretty pleased with how he approached getting all the facts together, but the more I heard, the more nervous I was getting, and I do not know why. I was not hearing anything really new, it was all just really hitting home again.

He was saying this was bad, and that I may not have many options left. Well, we already knew that. What we all are hoping is that there are options still left, and that he can come up with ways to shrink the tumor and perhaps find ways to get rid of part of it. Anything is better than nothing at this point.

More tests

We left Dr. Lai's office and headed off to find the nearest hungry vampire. We found one, but this one could not figure out how to get into my arm, so she had to take blood from my wrist. In six years that was a first. Fortunately, she was pretty good at doing that. I have had a bad experience with folks doing things in my wrist before so I was a bit nervous about that.

Then we were off for am MRI. We had to walk across the street in the freezing cold for this one. Boy, after living in Taxas for a while, we are turning into wimps!. Even the building was cold, We got there about an hour early for my test, so we sat around doing nothing and I think I even napped a bit. Then they took me back to the testing area, made me change into one of those silly hospital gowns, and put another IV in my writs!

Then I got to sit in the cold for another hour while the IV percolated through my system.

WHen my feet were pretty much numb, they came and got me and we went back to one of six donut machines for the texst.

High class MRI

The MD Anderson MRI machines are a lot different from the more mundane ones in Austin. And loud? These ones make so much noise, they make you wear ear plugs while they do the test. I went through about four passes through the machine. ON each pass there was a set of what must have been about 10000 pulses. I got to the point where I was sure they would never stop, then when they finally did it was such a shock, it was kind of scary each time!

Weird!

When the whole thing ended it was around 8PM!

Cheryl and I left the place and went back to the hospital to scrounge up something to eat. Fortunately (really?) Hospital food is available 24 hours a day!

Then we wend back to the motel to crash for the evening!

Day 2

The next morning, I had to be there for a CT scan at 7:30AM. We go there around 7AM and parked in the parking garage, walked across a sky-walk to the hospital, then found the clinic. We were still early so we checked in and they took me back right away.

These testing centers are huge, with a bunch of machines in each area. I changes clothes and got to an IV setup area right away.

For this test, I got an Iodine injection that makes you very warn when it goes in. They put the IV in before you get to the machine, but the Iodine goes in after you are there.

After I was situated on the machines, they got me ready for the injection then warned me that it might hurt, and told me to push a button it if did. I felt it start to go in and it started out cold, then heated up pretty quickly, I could feel it course through my body everywhere, and then I started to salivate and wanted to swallow. I heard someone tell me not to swallow and the machine started moving. Boy was it hard not to swallow, I kept moving, trying not to swallow. I seem to remember I had to swallow once, the machine keep moving, then it stopped Then it started up again, she told me not to swallow, it was hard to do, then I could not stop from swallowing then it was over.

She said I did fine. I think she lied!

We are done?

That was all we had on our schedule, so we packed up our stuff, retrieved our car, and headed off to the local Microcenter, so I could have a technology fix, and not think about cancer.

We walked around the place for an hour or so, and I spend a bit of money, then we got to the car and were in the process of programming Mrs. Garmin for the trip back to Austin!

Ring, Ring!

Yes

Mr. Black?

Yes!

This is M.D. Anderson

Yes

What is going on with your eyes?

Well, I am having some issues double vision because of the tumor.

Why don't you come on in and we will look at that!

Well, it went something like that!

They called us literally just as we were about to leave town, and ended up setting up an appointment for us as soon as we could get back there. We saw a doctor who looked over the tests we had and determined that my vision problems are definitely due to the tumor pushing on my eye. The good news is that the eye itself is fine, and the optic nerves are fine as well. The tumor is right next to the muscle that pulls my eye down. Dr. Scholl knew that, and said it would be hard to remove it without damaging the eye itself. That is what we are hoping they folks here can find a way to do something about. What was interesting to hear was that the CT scan I had this morning was being read by the doctor this afternoon. Boy are these folks on top of things!

We ended up todays tests by taking pictures of the inside of my eyes just to document the fact that there is no damage to them at present. That is a good thing.

The trip back home

I was pretty wiped out by this whole adventure. The eye doctor dilated my eyes as part of her examination, so I ended up sleeping most of the way back home. We got home, had a bit of dinner, and ended the day watching Olympics stuff on TV.

We will rest up over the weekend, then head back Sunday evening for more of the same on Monday.

Still praying for good results from all of this!

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tags: Cancer