Hurry Up and Wait

Posted by Roie R. Black on Sun 05 April 2015

Note

Today is Easter Sunday! I hope you took time off to attend your local church and find out why we celebrate this day! Then, spent some time with your family reflecting on those events from 2000 years ago.

Sitting in a small room. A blue accent wall is in front of us, with a door and a knob that steadfastly refuses to budge. A big blue chair sits on a stand in the middle of the room, and we are sitting in chairs on the opposite wall. There are lots of medical supplies on a cabinet on our left, and on a sink on our right. In the corner sits a computer the doctor will be using soon enough. On the other side of that door is someone who knows the answer. We are sitting against the opposite wall waiting for it. Our patience is a bit thin, but we have been here before. Lots of times!

Then the knob moves, and in comes Dr. Kies, my Oncologist. "How are we doing", he asks. (That must be the "royal" we!) "That is for you to know, and me to find out!" I reply. In spite of the tension these times always bring, my sense of humor seems to be intact.

Dr. Keis sits down at the computer in the room. He brings up my records, and says "the blood work and chest X-Ray all look fine". Then he dials up the CT scan images and scrolls through my head, from top to bottom. It is obvious parts are missing, they have removed a lot of bone on the left side of my face. He says "nothing stands out indicating a problem, but you have had so much work there, I need to hear from the experts"

This is good news. Even though this report is not final, Dr. Kies has seen a lot of these images, and if there was something going on, he would surely spot it. There is a huge sigh of relief in the room. One from me, one from Cheryl, and one from Dr. Kies! We are all pretty happy with this news, after nine months, the cancer is still gone!

Back to the beginning

This last week, Cheryl and I headed off to Houston after my night class at ACC on Tuesday. Cheryl drove the whole way, since I was pretty tired after a long day in the classroom (two three hour classes are a lot for one day!) I really should not let Cheryl drive my truck. With the V6 engine (and her lead foot) we made it to Houston in record time, about 2.5 hours. We did not stop for much of anything! Then we both fell into bed, after setting the alarm clock(s) for 4:30AM!

We got up with far too little sleep and got ready for the day, then headed to M. D. Anderson for the morning vampire feeding, which started at 6AM! We got there a few minutes before the lab opened, and joined a crowd of folks waiting for their turns. As we sat there, a nurse came down the escalator and told the group "this lab is closed, you have to go to another building". Most of us sat there mulling this over, when she said "April Fools!" (it was April 1). We all resisted the urge to throw her off of the top of the building.

She told everyone in the lab about this several times while we were there. I just glared at her! Oh well, vampires need to have fun like us "normal" folks!

Vampire Feeding Time

The feeding went well. My nurse was so good, I hardly felt the needle. That is fine, I hate those things. Maybe I am just getting numb from all of the times I have been here before. She stole three vials of my blood and took them away for whatever they do next. I still remember that commercial where the vampire sat working in a blood center trying to convince folks to donate blood. He was no good at it!

The Big CT Scan

After we were done with that part, we headed to the imaging lab for my CT scan. We were two hours early for that, and I think I dozed off while waiting for my name to be called. I followed a young nurse into another small room, where the IV was supposed to be set up, and sat while she got the tools of the trade (more needles) ready. She tried to put the needle into my left arm, and after wiggling it around for about a minute, pulled it out saying she could not find a vein. Ouch! Then she tried it again on my right arm, and again failed to find the right spot. I told her "three strikes and you are out!". She gave up, and herded me into another preparation area where a bunch of folks were lined up waiting for their turn in the machine.

I sat in my cubicle for about a half hour, then another nurse came up. "Thanks for being so patient." (As if I had a choice!) Then she stuck another needle in my right arm, and apparently found the right spot this time. I sat there a bit longer, then she said "follow me". We walked out of the cubicle into the hall, and she directed me back to the waiting room where Cheryl was sitting. Great, more waiting! They were not quite ready for me yet!

Another half hour of sitting and another technician called my name. This time, we walked past the preparation area towards the machines. I had to change into one of those famous backwards shirts, and yet another nurse led me towards the machine.

"Krispy Cream, or Dunkin?", I asked with a straight face. "Shipley" she replied, so quickly I knew she had heard that before. (I think Shipley is a local Texas outfit.) Then we were in the room in front of the big "Donut Machine".

The nurse sat me down on the table, Then I laid down and lined up my head. She hooked up my IV to the tubes that would deliver the iodine "contrast" that helps the doctors see any tumors that might be lurking around. Then she elevated the table to line me up with the center of the hole I would slide through, and left the room. I heard her mumble something through a loud-speaker, then I felt a pain in my arm as the iodine started in. That has not happened before, but the pain subsided enough that I let it go.

As the iodine works its way through your body, you feel a warm sensation in areas you did not even know you had. You can feel it all the way from your head to your toes! A few minutes after the heat started, the machine moves your body back and forth through the hole while a ring in the machine spins around at a high speed. This is the imaging head that shoots the beam through your body and creates the image. They basically build a slice by slice set of images that the doctor can view with a cursor to examine anywhere they like in your body. It is pretty weird watching while the doctor looks at all of that!

All too soon, it seems, the nurse is back and she says "the images all look good". She lowers the table, pulls out the IV tubes, and helps me stand up. I am a bit unsteady from all of this, but that passes. Then I am back in the waiting room and find Cheryl on her phone reporting in to someone. (She is my Chief Information Officer in all of this, and does a great job keeping the many folks who follow and support us in this great adventure informed).

Chest X-Ray

Next stop is another lab where I will get a chest X-Ray. With all the attention to my head, we sometimes forget to make sure cancer does not pop up in other places. I had to go to the bathroom after all that iodine was pumped in, so I left and headed off to find a restroom. When I go back, Cheryl told me they had already called my name. (We were a bit late for this appointment after all of the waiting for the CT scan.) So, I was whisked off to the room where the x-ray machine lived, and two quick shots of more rays from the machine, and I was done.

We were late for our appointment with Dr. Kies, so we hustled up to the tenth floor where his office is located.

Oncology

The meeting with Dr. Kies went very well. Even though it had only been minutes since we had all of the tests completed, he was able to bring up everything and look it over. He does this so smoothly, we always feel just fine with his report, even when the news is not so good. This time it was good! The only down part of our visit was finding out that Dr. Kies is considering retirement. "It is on the table" he said. His family thinks he has put in enough hours to consider stopping the pressure that working at M. D. Anderson must surely bring, and focus on himself and them. Although it would be sad to lose him as one of my crowd of doctors, both Cheryl and I are grateful for the work he did to blast this cancer beast into submission, so Dr. Lai could cut it out. We both wish him well.

Off to Lunch

With the morning's appointments behind us, we headed down to the cafeteria on the first floor of the main building. Cheryl likes the one at the end of the golf-cart ride over in another building, but we were too wiped out by all the adventure so far, so we took the easy route and ate locally.

Lunch is a time to relax a bit, and do some people watching. Sadly, what you see is not always that great. Every one in this room is doing something about cancer. Some are treating it, some are fighting it, and some are supporting those fighting it.

You see all kinds of effects of this evil disease. I saw three other folks who had lost eyes to the battle, one lost both an eye and his ear. He was interesting. His "patch" (probably stolen from his leg, as I recall) neatly covered the whole area, and he was not wearing anything to cover it. I suspect he elected not to go through the fake eye route, although that might be something he visits in the future.

As we left our table after lunch. we headed down a long hall looking for the "Patient Images" desk where you can order copies of just about any medical record they have. Dr. Scholl (number 3, and previously, "Top Doc") wants to look over the scans and see if there is anything he can do to help out with my hearing on my left side, which is now shut down completely. Finding this place took two tries, once on the wrong floor, then we finally got directed to the right area. We ordered the CD and then headed up to the tenth floor to pick up a prescription Dr. Kies ordered up (he thought I looked like I had a little thrush in my mouth). The wait looked pretty long, so we elected to skip that part for today, and we headed out the door. We were done for the day!

We got back to the motel, our favorite La Quinta, and we both took a nap for the afternoon. We had far too little sleep the night before.

Visiting Friends

After we got up, we headed up to North Houston, to visit with Sharon and Dan Tonsing. Cheryl and Sharon went to high school together, so we spent the evening catching up on what was going on in our lives. We all went out for dinner at Olive Garden, and had a nice meal. I became best friends with their new dog, who sat by my side begging to be scratched. It was cute. We ended the day after driving back south to our home-away-from-home.

Day 2

The next day was not so busy. We really only had two appointments, one to check on my eye appliance, and the all-important meeting with the current "Top Doc", Dr. Lai!

We had time to have breakfast in the motel, then stopped at a local Barnes and Noble to look around for a bit. I bought a book on the history of electronics in the technology age, and then we drove over to the hospital to begin the second day's adventure.

Parts Department

The first stop was back in the "Parts Department", where Patti met us (after anther wait caused by the front desk not telling her we were there!). She took my $12,000 plastic eyeball and looked it over. Then she inspected my face and said "you look a bit swollen around the eye socket, and the skin is depressed a bit." She left the room and brought back a box with all of the plaster molds they used to build the appliance, and decided that the changes in my face were not so severe that the appliance needed any real work. The paint is wearing off a bit, but she said it looked normal. As we left, we asked her to say "hi" to Peggy, only to find out she retired! Boy, my pool of doctors (and technicians) is shrinking! Hey Peggy! If you read this, we wish you well in your new idle lifestyle! I told Patti to enjoy her new boss (herself), "Don't take any guff from your boss" I told her!

Our appointment with Dr. Lai was at 2:15pm, so we wandered back to the Patient Images desk to pick up our CD. Then we headed back to the cafeteria for lunch. This time the people watching brought more interesting (and sad) images. Cheryl spotted a man sitting behind me whose hand was swollen and spotted. "I do not know what leprosy looks like, but I bet it looks like that!" she said. I glanced at his hand as we left, and she was right. I have no idea what kind of cancer might cause that, but he was fighting to keep his hand, that much was clear.

The Real Report

We got to Dr. Lai's area around 1pm, way early. We hoped he might be available early, but that was not going to happen. I asked the admitting folks how he was doing, and they had no idea. So we sat and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Our appointment time came and went, and no sign of Dr. Lai was anywhere to be found. Finally, someone came out and put up a sign saying he was 1.5 to 2 hours behind! Yikes. Well, we have experienced this before. Cheryl had read all the magazines around, so she spent some time on the ever-present puzzles that sit on tables in the waiting areas. I read my book. The expected wait time expired, and Dr. Lai was still not to be found.

Then a nurse came out to announce that Dr. Lai was really backed up and might not be able to see everyone. We were pretty confident that he would get to us, but I bet others were worried. You do not want to miss an appointment with a doctor who has important things to tell you!

Shortly after that announcement we were called.

Another small room. More blue and gray painted walls, another blue chair and yet another door and knob! We have been here before.

The big difference this time, was I sort of already knew the answer. We just needed to hear it from Dr. Lai. So we waited more, studied the wall, the floor, the appliances, the computer.

Then the door opened, and another doctor came in (I did not get her name). She looked me over, listened to my complaints, then left to fetch the real boss, Dr. Lai. After more waiting, finally he came in:

"How are we doing?" (He had read the same script!) I resisted the urge to repeat my response, and simply said "fine, no real pain, just problems with drooling, and hearing!"

I told him I had been feeling tingling in the area around my eye, and he was a bit concerned about that, but said that an "electric shooting pain" was real cause for alarm. I have not had that, just tingles that seem to be nerves coming back to life in the surgery area. In any case, he walked over to the cabinet and dug out the end of that evil nose probe gadget. You know the one. That 10 foot long tube they stick up your nose and shove so far in you are sure it will come out some other place entirely! He hooked it up to the light source, then shoved it in, and in, and in some more. As he did so, he called the other doctor over and said "see that area, we kind of obliterated the eustachian tube. That is probably why his hearing is bad". As he wiggled the tube around, I was trying to climb up out of the chair and leave the room! Not fun. He did not even use numbing spray, but most of the nerves on that side are shot anyway. Unfortunately, not all of them, though!

After he finished and walked away, I asked "did you take that thing out, or did you leave the tube in". It still felt like it was there!

Dr. Lai then asked "Is there anything else we need to talk about?". Silly boy, we have not gone over the CT results! He said that he had looked them over and saw nothing there, but the "official" reading had not happened. That was what we heard from Dr. Kies, so two of my doctors agree that I am good for now.

Punch! Another three month ticket. (I live in three-month increments, these days!).

Dr. Lai said he would call us when the final report came in, and said we should return in another three months. Dr. Kies was thinking we might be at the six month point, but both Cheryl and I feel better with three months for now.

It is odd that you actually feel better when you get a test, as stressful as that is, and hear the good news. Not hearing anything, and not feeling anything wrong, does nothing to calm your fears. Unfortunately, the possibility of the evil returning is always in the back of your mind.

That is why I work hard, study a lot, and play an occasional game or two of Mah-jong on my PC at night. To keep those thoughts at bay!

Dr Lai turned us loose and we left the area seeing only a few people left in the waiting area.

Microcenter Visit

My way of unwinding from the time at M. D. Anderson, is a walk around all the toys at the local Microcenter. I stopped there and went in while Cheryl activated the phone alert system to tell folks what had happened. She has learned how to copy-and-paste text messages, so she got done quickly, and came in to watch me as I studied the racks of small toys I can use in my classes for student projects:

Tech toys at Microcenter

Finally, we headed back to Austin. After stopping at the Dairy Queen in Sealy, Texas, just outside of the Houston area for dinner and our usual Blizzard to celebrate, we drove back home to our comfortable bed and warm kitty!

More Thanks

We both have to thank all of those who keep in touch, read this blog, or just quietly pray for us as we stumble through all of this. These trips to Houston are always stressful. As we approach another visit, my mind is always on every twitch I feel, worrying if it is caused by another tumor. Thankfully, with God's help, and with all those supporting us, that has not happened. Chery and I are both exhausted from the trip, but feeling pretty good about the results.

We have spent a couple of days recovering from everything, and spent a nice quiet day today, at church for Easter, and home for a nice Easter dinner together.

Who can ask for more!

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tags: Cancer