CT RESULTS (?)

Written by Jodee McCabe    

Monday, 27 October 2008  8:30 PM

An update that isn't an update?  Well, it is sort of like a doctors' appt. that isn't a doctor's appt.   Yesterday we showed up at the oncologist's office.  After waiting for 45 minutes past our appt., we were ushered into the room to be told that there had been miscommunication with the radiologist's office and they needed the written report for the previous scan before they could complete their report.  What was missing was his/her comments on the liver, which, apparently, is more important than other organs in the oncologist's evaluation of the progression or non-progression of the cancer.  Apparently, what the nurse had received and passed on to us last Thurs. was an unofficial summary, not the OFFICIAL report and the radiologist did not want to offer that until he/she compared it to the first report.

There was a date on the bottom of the CD of the original CT Scan which denoted when the CD was copied and given to us.  HOWEVER, the date of the actual test was in the CT Study info on the TOP of the CD.  Unfortunately, the date at the bottom was bold in print and that is all the person who was requesting the written report looked at.  The oncology office had no "June 19" CT report so they were at a standstill.  We left the doctor's office needing to DRIVE to the other office, give them our copy of the RIGHT report (we still had not figured out the whole problem yet),  WAIT for them to complete the report and then hand carry it back to the oncologist's office.  They made an appt. for Friday to replace yesterday's appt.  

While we were sitting for 2 hours at the radiologist's (we were led to believe that the time would be much shorter or else I would have driven the 12 miles again later) I was thinking we should push to be worked in to the oncologist's office earlier...either later yesterday or maybe today.  When we returned with the full report, the nurse said there was no way for yesterday (he was already way behind, as we had witnessed by our 45 min. late appt. earlier).  But she would see about an appt. earlier than Friday and call us.

After 5 hours, minus 45 min. for lunch, in doctors' offices, we were pretty tired when we got home.  Not much got accomplished yesterday.  We left for dinner with friends at about 6 p.m. not having heard from the oncology nurse.   When we returned a couple of hours later, we had a message from both the nurse and the oncologist on the phone machine:

The liver results were similar to other areas:  some lesions were gone, others were new.  There was some mention of adding a new drug to the mix (new to Renal Cell cancer, but has been used for quite awhile for colo-rectal, breast and lung cancers) which would need to be IV injected every other week.  Our oncologist wanted to consult with Dr. Logan at IU Medical and so he wanted us to wait till Friday so Dr. Logan would have a chance to get back to him.

SO....we continue to wait.  The behavior of the cancer makes no sense to us but I'm sure that is part of why the researchers are having so much difficulty in figuring out how to treat it effectively.  It is sort of like shooting at a moving target.

This change of plans and the possibility of needing to be here for IV infusions has put our plans to visit my mom, in Florida, on hold for the moment.

The waiting is hard.  Please pray for our minds and hearts to be focused on God and HIS plan for us, over and above all the medical issues and decisions (It may be time for us to re-read, "Don't Waste Your Cancer" again) while still thoughtfully and prayerfully giving wise thought to our next steps.

Thanks for waiting and praying with us,