I take my final Dex with breakfast. (Dex? I've been told that that's how the in-group of doctors refers to dexamethasone. I may as well join the in-group :-) I have an appointment with "my GP", to get a repeat prescription,to get more dex for the rest of the six months of using it.
Dr P is friendly, concerned, worried. After all, my only previous meeting with "my GP" was a couple of months' back, to get a thorough health check. Which I passed with flying colours... Ha! missed that one, didn't you?!
Not to worry.
All my heart, blood... etc... etc... tests were absolutely normal. I have -- and had -- no symptoms of GBM, my terminal brain cancer. The hard testicle came a bit after my first and only meeting with Dr P.
There was nothing "bad" to be seen. No warning signs, no detectable symptoms. Nothing that would show up without x-rays or an open skull. I was -- and possibly still am -- very healthy. Just with a "hidden", terminal, cancer.
I'm here with my GP for a chat. A we-meet-again update. To let her know about next week's surgery. About my upcoming treatment plan. So that Dr P is less surprised, next time she gets a letter from a hospital about the results of my latest... medical adventure.
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I walk across the road to rejoin Deb, at the local shopping center. Via the chemist to get my new scrip filled. (Is that what's said? I still have to learn the language of a medical patient.) Now, briefly:
Deb has been shopping. We enjoy a relaxed coffee at the cafe. Drive, shop some more, drive home. I eat at home. Deb is is out to lunch with a friend. Then it's time for this week's final doctor...
(Okay, "final doctor", it's a good line. There's still an MRI scan for Saturday. I don't know if a doctor will be, somehow, involved in that scan. "This week's final doctor" is too good to be left unused. Even if untrue.)
The week's final doctor is the medical oncologist. Dr Tsoi will prescribe and manage my chemotherapy. This meeting is to explain the plan -- the first, six-week plan. It is also my chance to ask questions. Deb, Robbie & I meet with Dr T.
Robbie is interested -- as a doctor -- in hearing details of my treatment plan. Accurate details, that is. Not my interpretation of my understanding of what I have been told.
It will also be good to have Robbie "in the loop". He will be able to talk about me, with Deb, using the medical terms that they understand but that confuse me. He will be able to talk with with me, to explain medical terms at a level which suits me. Robbie is, after all, a paediatrician. And it will be good just to meet with Robbie. With the doctor. And after, over coffee.
As for our other son, Tim... He -- like me -- would rather be anywhere else, other than in a hospital, discussing medical matters :-)
So. Explanations, questions, answers, key points:
... I get several prescriptions which need to be filled before starting my six week treatment plan ... next meetings with Dr T will be at and during that treatment ... I will need weekly blood tests during treatment
... Remember that weeks ago question of, Am I willing to be considered to be part a clinical trial of a new drug? Well, too bad: I am *too* unique :-) Having two "primary" cancers puts me in a very small, very select group.
... In another study, by Curtin University, I am a perfect fit: people receiving treatment for GBM. That's (about to be) me!
... I will be contacted approximately monthly by a nurse, to ask me, What are my thoughts on the treatment so far? I think that Dr T really said, or really meant to say, that the study is about patients' impressions of the quality of the explanations to and understanding by patients of... whatever it is that is going on.
By this stage, my mind is switching off. My focus has switched -- since a day or two ago -- to next Wednesday's surgery. That is, as soon as I knew I would go under the knife -- a simple six week treatment plan seemed to be far less important :-)
First, I deal with preparation for surgery. Mental preparation, fasting, getting to hospital on time... that is my focus. Experts will take care of every other aspect of that operation.
Once that's over... I will be ready to think more carefully about the upcoming treatment plan.
Will I have anything to say to the Curtin researcher?
Bloody hell yes!
Even in my current state of, I'm not yet ready to think about this... one set of instructions leaps out as being useless.
I think I'll leave that for the next post.
For now: Deb, Robbie & I have coffee in the hospital cafe. We discuss our amazing toddler son/grandson :) All very enjoyable. I snack on a cupcake with thick sweet icing. Nice, but it would have been better with real butter icing. (Unless I really can't tell butter from other greases.)
We head to our various homes. Sausage curry for dinner, delicious. Deb sleeps, she is at work tomorrow (now today). I blog.
Not much more to cover in the next blog... and then I will be ready to sleep. Actually, I'm ready to sleep already! But I do want to feel "caught up" before I stop...
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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"No matter where you go, there you are." ... Confucius ?
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Now much more than a clever name for a holiday journal:
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