Over the last four weeks, I've had five medical appointments, with four being on my memorable left brain lobe. The vast majority of them were very boring:
- June 7th: Dr. Wagner (oncology) - radiation is over, but I will be doing chemotherapy to be safe.
- June 16th: MRI - I stayed awake the whole time (yeah!) by counting the cars that drove in and out of the parking lot I could see behind me. It really was boring, but it was a good way to practice my math and memory skills in a nerdy sort or way.
- June 21st: Dentist - my teeth are still clean and happy :)
- June 24th: Dr. Stille (radiology) - no mental or physical difficulties were found, so I was good to go. There will be another appointment with him in six months to do another check since I've had so much radiation sent to my brain. Thankfully it is a part of my brain that doesn't do anything anyway (I could make some remark here about that part of my brain being like some of my students, but I will resist).
- June 28th: Dr. Wagner - was shown and given a copy of the MRI results from the 16th. Since my last MRI back in March when it was discovered that my tumor-buddy was trying to rise from the dead, the doc was as surprised as I when it was documented that the area in my brain that was treated with SRS had increased and not decreased in size:
". . . the nodular and linear area of enhancement along the inferior aspect of the temporal lobe again demonstrated and is slightly increased from prior study. Nodule measures 8 x 6 mm on axial image 69/232 when measured in similar fashion to the prior study approximately 5 x 4 mm; additional or new areas of enhancement are evident."
Needless to say, I was more than a bit worried about this statement from my most recent MRI. Dr. Wagner then saved me a bit when I brought up the results that were recorded. He let me know that he was leaning towards to idea that the only reason the brain-tumor zombie area had its millimeter increase in size was due to the fact that it was probably still a bit swollen after the surgery last month. To make sure that this is the case, I will be having another MRI in about two months to check on my always-wants-everyone's-attention-tumor (A.W.E.A.T.); this is my new and terrible medical acronym in an attempt to sound more medically knowledgeable for the next time I talk to a doctor. Unfortunately though, this does not get me out of chemo.
I am officially starting my first round of chemo tonight. It is going to be one week of chemo each month for a year, so I made sure tonight to eat the most fatty and greasy food that I could locate for dinner. It ended up being a trip to get fried chicken, fries, and mashed potatoes with a huge glass of Dr. Pepper. I know from past experience that any grease over the next year will most likely have an "memorable" result after I start treatment. I also made sure to pick up Junior Mints and a Hershey's bar so I can do my first set of chocolate tests this week. I'm thinking that the chocolate bar will be my first test tomorrow . . .yum (I hope)!
No comments:
Post a Comment