Honorable Discharge

Today was my follow-up appointment with the radiation oncologist ... and I'm happy to report that he cut me loose, I've been honorably discharged ... and remanded to the custody of the medical oncologist to oversee my future cancer follow up screenings.

Thank goodness. One less doctor to keep up with on appointments!

I'll see both the medical oncologist and surgical oncologist for follow up visits for the rest of my life ... they will oversee the process of maintaining my health and being on the look out for any signs of recurrence. And as I've mentioned before, I'm in very capable hands. I see the medical oncologist next week for my regular 3 month follow up appointment. When I saw her a couple of weeks ago with my hives outbreak, she said she had targeted me as a perfect candidate for a clinical trial, but that she couldn't put any new meds in me with the hives outbreak in progress, and that by the time I came back to see her, the enrollment period would be closed. So I'll miss out on that one, but she's very active in clinical trials and I'm sure another opportunity will present itself. Basically it would involve taking some type of medication ... and you don't know if you are part of the control group getting a placebo, or if you are actually getting the real deal medication. Then they chart results and determine if the medication helped the people who took it versus the people who thought they were getting the medication but were actually getting a placebo. I'm game to the role of human guinea pig ... there really isn't much to lose and potentially, there is much to gain if you get the medication and it works the way they hope and think.

Seeing her next week also means blood work on Monday, so back to being a human pin cushion again. I suppose at some point this spring I'll need to repeat the PET scan, which I had last spring to determine if my cancer had spread anywhere else in my body. It hadn't, and so that test is helpful in the future for keeping tabs on that.

Yesterday was an exhausting day ... I received a call that my mom had suffered loss of her vision and speech, and was enroute to a Peoria hospital by ambulance. I arrived just as she was being wheeled out for tests, and she was not awake or coherent. I sat in the ER trauma room for 45 quiet, solitary minutes until she returned, still not awake. It was an eternity to sit there and worry, alone. Then I watched her sleep for about 20 minutes until a nurse came in and she started stirring. Once she did, she seemed to regain her speech and clarity pretty quickly. It was determined she had a TIA or "mini-stroke" and after 5 hours we headed back to the nursing home with her in my car. It was a scary day, and spending so much time in the hospital environment was kind of draining for me after all I've been through of late. We were the first trauma room inside the ambulance bay and it was a stressful, continuous line of new arrivals on stretchers, and 3 arrivals by helicopter. So glad that she was able to leave under wheelchair power and is doing better today.

So after the hospital time yesterday, and my appointment today ... and I already know I have a trip to the hospital for blood work on Monday and I'm off to Illinois Cancer Care next Tuesday ... here's hoping for a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday without any medical appointments or ER visits. Seems like a simple request, don't you think?  :-)