Is Sam Glowing?

This morning we reported to the UPMC Passavant Cancer Center for Sam's follow-up visit with Dr. Chen his Radiologist.

Dr. Chen's Assistant, Lori, greeted Sam and told him he looked great. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard myself say, "Boy, you have low standards." Sam didn't hear the comment, but Lori laughed. I guess "great" is relative.

Lori, Dr. Chen's Nurse/Assistant

Lori asked Sam how the eating was going, not realizing that he still isn't eating anything by mouth - and only swallowing water. Sam just gave her a puzzled look and said, "I haven't even tried to eat anything yet; it hurts too much." Her next question was, "On a scale of 1-10, when you swallow, what is your level of pain?" Sam said, "Eleven." She looked surprised and Sam said, "Really, sometimes it hurts so much I cry." I have not seen him cry, (that's something he would probably shield me from) but I believe it and I felt like crying. Can you imagine how much it would hurt if he were not taking pain medication. Can you believe that it still hurts to swallow water even with the pain meds? Wow!

When Sam got on the scale I was surprised that it weighed him at 129 pounds. He has been getting in 1500 calories the last few days, so I think he should be able to maintain or gain in the coming weeks, especially once he starts to eat some soft foods. Lori told him that something like oatmeal might be easier to swallow than water because he would have more control over how fast it goes down his throat. I guess that makes sense, but I think that "experiment" will be a little ways off.

When Dr. Chen examined him he said he thought his mouth looked good and he was happy with the amount of saliva that Sam had. (Remember, they nuked his salivary glands) Dr. Chen thought the "Ethyol" shot may have protected his glands. He said that he wasn't surprised that Sam had a lot of difficulty swallowing because they really hit the throat and tongue area hard.

When Dr. Chen learned that the PET/CT scan was scheduled for Oct. 20th, he kind of freaked out. With his cute foreign accent, he said, "Too early, too early. It should be 8 weeks after radiation stops, we don't want false positive. Why would they do that? Who scheduled that?" Lori, in her calm manner explained that Oncology set it up and she would check with them. Dr. Chen then said, "Okay, I think it should be mid-Nomember unless they want it for some other reason." Next, he felt the back of Sam's tongue and thought the tumor seemed reduced and as he checked the lymph nodes, he said that we should follow up with the E/N/T specialist after the PET/CT scan because sometimes the radiation does not irradicate the cancer there and they could remove the lymph nodes.

When I got home from work tonight, Sam said the scheduler for the PET/CT scan had called and he is now scheduled for November 6th and the "results" visits are scheduled for November 11th. While its a little disappointing that we have to wait longer, it is certainly better not to end up with a false positive. We are gaining patience through this process.

If there is one flaw with their operation, its that these two groups (radiology and oncology) seem to have issues coordinating their plans regarding scheduling. I guess if that's the biggest problem they have we should be glad.