My daughter had taken the car to her boyfriends’s house. So, before I went to bed, I left the hallway light on. I was anticipating that Jessica would turn off the light before she went to bed. Well, I was wrong. I awoke at 2:15 am to go to the bathroom and the light was still on. So I called her on her cell phone a couple of times, but no one answered. I thought she had fallen asleep at Dave’s house. So I tried a half hour later. To make a long story short, Jessica was in bed but had forgotten to turn off the light. Moral of the story, check the driveway to see if the car is there or check the bedroom to see if Jessica is there. I was worrying over nothing. So as you can read, I didn’t get a good night’s rest before the trip to Pittsburgh.
I got up at 3:50 am. Showered, shaved and made a pot of coffee. Had a bowl of cheerios with blueberries on top .By the time I got out the door, it was 4:50 am. There was hint of autumn in the cool air. Dew was on everything. I knew that I would be running into fog and morning mist along the way. The trip went quite well. Traffic was very light until I got to the city limits of Pittsburgh.
I arrived at about 9:30 am and went directly to the second floor to sign in. The place was packed. It looked like airport terminal on a Monday morning with all of the commuters waiting to reach their destination. There was a line just to sign in, and most of the seats in the waiting room were full. I knew from that moment, that it was going to be a long day. Thinking ahead, I brought my emergency knapsack. It contains, my folders, pens, reading material. But this time I added drinks, chips, a sandwich and a bag of half frozen blueberry muffins to hand out to the staff. I like to give them a treat every once in a while. They tend to look forward to seeing me and I like getting all that attention. Hey!! When it works it works and they don’t bite the hand that feeds them. Oh!, I forgot to tell you that I packed a tape recorder also. Dee always asks questions about what the doctor’s say. Usually I forget things. So now I just have to play back the tape. Boy, it makes my life easier.
So first, they draw my blood and then sent me to concourse D. The Hillman Center reminds me of JFK Airport. With all of it’s little hubs. At concourse D, I pass on my charts to the receptionist that doubles as a nurse practioner. She takes my weight, temperature and vital signs. All seem normal. She then sends me back to waiting room. Within 15 to 30 minutes I get the call. I follow the nurse to the examination room. It is now about 10:30 going on 11:00 am. The first person that stops in is a new physician assistant student, Michele. She first asks me about my medical history. I give her the condensed version. She asks me to take off the gown. You know which one. The one that you are suppose to tie in the back which I could never do. She gives me the once over and checks my tumors.
Next, Melissa walks in and starts telling me what they had found on the scans and the CT report. I quickly stop her and proceed to turn on the recorder. She asks, “Should I start over from the beginning?” I said, “Definitely yes. Dee would kill me if I didn’t get it all on tape.” Here the scoop. The tumors on my back got a little bit larger. My lungs have more spots on them then the scan before. This is an indication that the decarbazine treatment is not working. It may have slowed down the progression, but the tumors continued to grow. The previous spots on my lung have doubled in size.
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