On Tuesday 2/10/09 Sam had a follow-up appointment with his Oncologist. It was strange.
Nothing bad… just strange.
After waiting an hour to be seen, Sam was examined by the “Physician Assistant”. Sam told her about the development of the neuropathy in his fingers and toes. He also told her about his visit to his primary care doctor who ruled out B-12 deficiency and diabetic neuropathy and that the E/N/T suggesting it was the Cisplatin. She (the P.A.) agreed that that was the likely cause. Then struts in the Oncologist who said, “This is odd. I treat with this drug a lot and I haven’t found that it occurs this long (3 months) after being given.”
Sam and I just looked at her in amazement. Fortunately, Sam spoke up and said, “Well, we looked it up online and it said that it’s common for neuropathy to occur 3-5 months after Cisplatin is administered.” I wanted to squeeze him because he usually doesn’t challenge doctors.
Here’s one example:
http://www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin/NCI_Cancer_Bulletin_040307/page7
“Chronic peripheral neuropathy may arise weeks or months after chemotherapy treatment and may be very difficult to treat; in some patients, it may be irreversible.”
Anyway, the Oncologist then said something like, that’s probably what it is from.
Annoyed, much? Good guess.
Next steps: Another visit to the E/N/T on 2/24/09 and then a PET/CT will be scheduled for mid-March.
The best surprise of the office visit was the weigh-in. Sam’s weight is now 145.5 pounds. That’s up 16 pounds from September 17th. Pretty soon we’ll have to put him on a diet.
Well, Happy Valentines Day to all our loved ones and friends. Thanks for remembering us before the Throne of Grace. We love you all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi Sam & Maddy,
Will send you a short email here as can't seem to get messages to you on gmail, not my favorite site. Glad Sam is gaining weight, thats always a good thing they tell us when Bill weighs in. Darn doctors, need them, but they certainly don't know it all and sooooooooooo glad you challeneged them, we do it all the time with what WE want to do and our schedule, etc. Bill's CEA test showed no cancer but they still want to do preventive chemo, thats our next step. Glad Deanna was able to visit for a short time, our Jennifer is coming home this weekend for a short time as well. Keep up the good work, praying for all. God Bless, Marla and Bill
Post a Comment