Latest Doc Visit

I had my latest visit with Dr. Dougherty at Doylestown Hospital. She is a caring doctor and I like her. My mother came with me as usual. I have to say my mom is a huge asset in my recovery. Not only is she selflessly here to help me with feedings, medicine, dressing changes, and the like, she is there to take me to the doc. When we're there, her medical background and ability to gain the respect of other nurses and docs helps immensely. She's a great advocate for me and I treasure the help she's been providing.

Yesterday, Dr. Dougherty said I look good to go for next Monday's follow-up chemo #2. My counts are ok, liver functioning ok, no appreciable increase in hearing loss, and blood counts seem ok to proceed. She also did a feel of my throat to check my lymph nodes and says she can't feel a lump. The only possible thing she detected is near my obvious scar tissue from biopsy #1 done in Warminster. At most, she said anything there is smaller than a pea.

This is very likely to be residual necrotic tissue, if its not scar tissue from the first biopsy, so I expect Dr. Weinstein will forego a recommedation for surgery. I also expect he'll want to do some testing before making a recommendation, but we'll see.

In any case, it's good the lump is either gone or virtually indetectable now.

The next round of chemo is set for Monday and I hope it goes smoother than the last. We have some good plans for proactive hydration and anti-nausea meds, so I think we'll fair ok. It's just tough business and time to put my game face on.

This is a fight for life, and I never lose sight of that, or all I have to win for. Sadly, a few family family members of a good friend have recently been taken by cancer, and that reminds me how there's no guarantee this treatment will succeed. I've never understood so well how much I love life.

"The future is unwritten."
- Joe Strummer, Punk Rock Warlord