This morning, Cheryl and I headed out to M. D. Anderson in Houston for a 12:00 appointment with Dr. Lai, our chief surgeon there. I have been waiting EIGHT DAYS to hear what the CT scan from last week showed. Bottom line - NOTHING FOUND! I am still cancer free, 15 months now. Dr. Lai looked everything over and decided to move visits from every three months to every four.
<!> Sounds of people doing a Happy Dance <!>
My first thought when we heard that was that the voice Cheryl heard last week was right! Maybe God is watching us, just as we prayed He would!
The Commute to Houston
Driving over is getting to be something we do not even notice much these days. We left the house at about 7:30am and missed most of the rush-hour traffic. We had a foggy drive to begin the trip, the clouds were walking this morning! It was a bit hard to see the road at times until we got past Smithville, Texas (home of "Hope Floats" for you Sandra Bullock fans).
Fortunately, the fog cleared enough for us to find the signs pointing to great Cinnamon Buns in La Grange, and of course we stopped for some of those!
We have done the trip in 2.5 hours, which is about as fast as you can legally do the 181 mile trip. Most of it is on four-lane roads with a 75 MPH speed limit. Today, it took three (counting the stop for breakfast). It took another hour to navigate the parking garage at M. D. Anderson, and find our way to the 10th floor where Dr. Lai's office lives. We got there with about a half-hour to spare.
Visiting the Doctors
We were the first appointment of the day, so it was hard for him to start off late. Still, it was 30 minutes before we entered that durned waiting room with the door knob they make you wait and stare at. And stare at it I did. Another half hour wondering what the verdict is.
This is not something you ever get used to. I have been through it dozens of times now, and each time, it is the same. You may hear you are going to live, or you may hear something else! Not knowing is worse than knowing even bad news. I have not had any significant signs of pain, but I do have tingling going on under the "flap" they used to cover the area where they took away cancer last time. Dr. Scholl, back in Austin, said that is either nerves growing back, or signs of another tumor. Great! That thought was in my mind as we waited for the answer.
Getting the News
The first doctor to come in was one of Dr. Lai's assistants, and she showed us the report we had been waiting to see. "No indications of relapse" was the phrase that caught my eye! Then the one that said "no lesions on the brain". Yikes! I know the tumors have been in my head, but I always thought they were forward, in my jawbone. Apparently, the area is close enough to the gray-matter that they watch it closely, just in case.
Good, I am silly enough without something making me sillier!
The assistant stuck the requisite hose up my nose to a good look-see, but apparently did not do it quite right.
Top Doc
Dr. Lai can in a few minutes later, and did the nose tube job right! I told him that thing must be his favorite toy! He denied that, so I said "Really? You have some evil device you like better?" He laughed at that! After he finished examining me, we talked about my visit with the plastic surgeon last week. Dr. Lai is pretty sure they can do something to help improve my mouth, which I would really like, since I am drooling a lot when I eat, and cannot even tell, since I have no feeling on that side.
He said he was going to talk to Dr. Yu and see what they could come up with.
Dr. Scholl's Comments
The last time I visited Dr. Scholl for an ear cleaning, something we are doing about every six weeks, he indicated that he could see some raw bone in my ear canal. That is not good, and is the result of the massive radiation I had in that area, plus the surgery. I told Dr. Lai about this concern, and he decided I needed to be seen by an ear specialist in his area. He went off to set up an appointment for that. When he came back in, he also looked in my mouth and decided I should also visit with one of the dentists there as well.
Dr. Lai left us saying they would figure out all the appointments and let us know. Hopefully, we can get them done on this visit or the next day!
Back to Dr. Carduso
We were able to get right in to see Dr. Cardosu (number 35 from when I had my artificial eye built back in January), and we wandered down a floor to wait for that appointment. Another hour later, we were in yet another office, this one with a dentists chair. Another assistant did an initial look at my teeth, then Dr. Carduso came in and they discussed what can be done about my teeth.
The big problem I have is that all the radiation I have been through means I cannot have any teeth extracted without major problems. Things in that area do not heal! They can use a hypobaric chamber, basically a pressure cooker, to try to get things to heal, but it is a slow process, and they would rather not do that.
So, the only other option is to do root-canal surgery, which basically cuts the tooth from the nerves, and it slowly "rots" away on its own. My dentist back in Austin says I need to have this done to three teeth, but Dr. Carduso suggested that only two made sense. In the end, they called my dentist to review their findings, and I was told to pay better attention to brushing my teeth to try to keep them in shape.
While we were in the dentists area, we found out our appointment with the ear specialist is set for Friday at 10:30am. Since we did not plan on staying overnight, we decided to go back home, get some work done, and return in the morning. What is another six hours of driving, after all?
Dinner and a Drive
We left the Head and Neck clinic and had dinner in the cafeteria before jumping in the truck for the drive back to Austin. Smack into the middle of Houston rush-hour. That added another hour to the drive, most of that hour spent going all of six miles!
We got home around 8:30pm, after thinking this would be a quick over and back. We are happy with the day, though. The doctors are all looking to improve my quality of life, and not worrying about the cancer! That is great!
Back to Houston
We left home on Friday morning around 6AM to make a 10:30AM appointment. We got there in plenty of time, checked in, and waited. And waited some more. Finally they called me in for "vitals" (those things you seen to have an infinite supply of, they keep taking them, and you always have more!). The nurse told me to go back to the waiting room and I would be seen "in a few minutes". I said to her: "Right! I have been her many times before, and I know better!" In the end it took 45 minutes before we were led into a doctor's office, and another 45 minutes before the doctor appeared.
With a mob!
Dr. Gidley (let's see, that makes about 38 doctors now) showed up with a PA Assistant, and two fairly young students in tow. Dr Gidley looks a lot like Dr. Keis, my oncologist, and seemed very nice. He asked why we were meeting today (obviously that information was not provided to him), and I explained the problems I have been having with my hearing, or lack of hearing.
He looked me over, invited me into another room where he had a microscope to look in my ear, and used instruments to clean out my ear canal on both sides. He did see exposed bone, something that Dr. Scholl noticed on the last visit, but Dr. Gidley said is was not bad enough to cause concern, but should be watched.
He then brought up my CT scans and looked them over. We were able to see clearly what is going on. The areas where normally air is found behind the ear drum, are definitely filled with fluid. Since the Eustachian tube, which normally drains this fluid off was "obliterated", as Dr. Lai told one of his nurses on my last visit, there is no place for the fluid to go. So, any thought of vibrating my eardrum is gone. It just does not move. So, no hearing is going on on that side.
Dr. Gidley reaffirmed what Dr. Scholl has been telling me. Unless they put a tube through the ear drum, the fluid will stick around. Doing that has all kinds of risks, and most of them are worse that the loss of hearing.
So, in the end, I will not be getting better on the hearing front! Shoot!
I do know that everything works on that side, since earphones and high volume produce sound through bone conduction. There are headphones around that use this principle, basically vibrating your skull to produce sound. However, hearing aides that work this way do not seem to be available.
Dr. Gidley thinks that hearing loss in my right ear is just due to "getting old"! Thanks, doc! Always like to hear that (he said in a denying tone!)
As the meeting ended, Dr. Gidley asked if his students could look me over. "Sure Doc, but I charge students for that!". He laughed, and those two young guys took turns using the microscope to see where Dr. Gidley had done his work. I suppose they have to learn all this somehow. Glad to help, even if they did not leave any tokens behind!
End of the Visit
So our second visit to Houston was long, tedious, and in the end produced no new good news. Still, it is nice to know the doctors at M. D. Anderson are now focused on quality of life issues, and not length of life issues. That is a huge plus!
Another Drive Home
After a very late lunch, Cheryl and I headed away from the hospital. We made a required stop at Microcenter to browse for toys for my class, and a new laptop for her, then merged into Houston rush hour. Rush hour lasts about 23 hours in Austin, these days, and at 3:30pm, it was going strong in Houston! We took a toll-road to avoid the mess on I-10, and managed to get West of everything in about 30 minutes. Not bad.
We made one new stop outside of La Grange, at a very interesting "Non-General General Store" we have been seeing on our many drives to Houston. This place was amazing. It is totally "off the grid" in more ways than one. All of the energy they use is generated by solar panels, and the place is full of odd "stuff" ranging from exotic tech stuff, to antique radios, to clothing, dishes, containers. Whatever the owners think is cool is in there somewhere. Add to that some local artist's works, a huge train layout, and you have a place that can absorb an entire day just wandering around. We spent about 45 minutes, and spent some money on a few items, then vowed to stop again and bring family or other unfortunate visitors to spend more money there. We were quite happy we stopped to check this place out!
Then we jumped back in the truck and worked our way back to Austin, in time to be late for our cat's dinner. He made sure we were aware of that transgression when we walked in the door. We were both exhausted from the two-day adventure, but more than happy with how it all turned out!
God's Voice
At the beginning of this trip, Cheryl heard a voice, and we both believe it was a message from God. "It is fine!" turned out to be exactly what happened. We all want to believe in a power bigger than ourselves, and many (most) of us call on that power in times of need. We both needed help to get through all of this, and still do. So our Faith keeps us going. There will be more tests to come, and we are still praying for the same great outcome. We also need support from friends and family to get through all of this. Thankfully, we have had that support, and that support has been astounding. I never cease to be amazed at the kind words, thoughts and prayers we hear about from places we never imagined we would be hearing from. Thanks to all of you for that!
May you and your loved ones enjoy good health, and know that there will be folks with you helping you through your trials if you have problems.
Cheryl and Roie
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