I had a quite a busy Thursday night and Friday.

I had a quite a busy Thursday night and Friday. I don’t know where to begin but I will try. Thursday night, I was frustrated from trying to reach doctors all day. I got a call from my sister, Jody, who gave me the name of a Dr. in California who treated an old friend of hers for melanoma. So I called him, and talked to him about the trial I signed on for. He felt the trial was inappropriate as a first line of defense. This was right in line with what the doctors in Pittsburgh said. They all felt is was more of a last resort treatment. Sooooo, of course I went into a ridiculous panic. Frantically, I began trying to reach my oncologist here in Rochester to opt out of the trial. Fearful that I signed my life away, I was prepared to run and hide from him if necessary. (When my wife came home she pointed out that there was a disclaimer enabling me to stop the trial at any time.) Whew!!!! The oncologist didn’t return my call—and the office was now closed. (Who closes at 4:30? That’s better than banker’s hours!) My next meeting with him would be 5 days away, and I needed to rectify the situation or I would not be getting any sleep. Then it occurred to me—where do you go after closing? Home, of course. So I picked up the white pages and began scanning through the names/numbers. Sure enough, his name and home address were listed. I dialed the number and his wife answered. Ooooh, was SHE peeved! But she passed the phone to my doctor. When he got done yelling at me, (he said he was not on call, and I should be calling the phone service…) he filled me in on the info he should have called me about earlier in the day. Apparently, he had had a conversation with Pittsburgh docs regarding the best paths to take. But he didn’t tell me everything. He said to call back at the office in the morning…

Not satisfied, first thing Friday, I couldn’t wait, so I called the Pittsburgh Doctor’s pager at 6am. (He had slipped that he awakens at 4:30 every day, so I figured I’d reach him.) He was kind enough to call and fill me in at that ungodly hour.

On Friday afternoon, I met the boy’s (the Kodak trio—three retired gentlemen who provided me with transportation to/from the hospital for my treatments, recently) at Silk’s for lunch. You probably know the place. Also referred to as O'Laughlin's, it is located on the river at the end of St. Paul Blvd. I was waiting for a phone call from the doctor, so I took my wife’s cell phone with me. We were enjoying lunch on the patio, and one of the guy’s said “Hey, the bikers should be arriving anytime now.” Just then, the cell rang. It was the doctor calling with the information I’ve been waiting for about the clinical trials I have to choose from. Suddenly a roar of noise rolled into the parking lot. I can only imagine what the doctor was thinking about my whereabouts. . . but somehow she managed to communicate the information to me.

I have a choice of 28 trials to choose from. 10 are particularly appropriate for me. And of the 10, 4 would be considered a good first line of defense. I don’t have a lot of detail, but my next appointment is in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. That’s when each of the choices will be explained in detail. Depending on which therapy we go with, I may actually be able to arrange to have the treatments here and go back to Pittsburgh only once a week or once every two to three weeks. This is good news, since even the Family Houses in the area cost $25 to $30 per night… this could add up fast!