It's been a while since I've wrote anything down. Sometimes I need to get away or maybe I just get lazy. So last Thursday I had appointments at the Huntsman. I left my house at 7:00 am and returned home at 8:00 pm. Needless to say it was a long day and I was exhausted. We met with Dr. Dechet. He seemed more compassionate this time and willing to listen and answer questions. Of course the news was as I expected, the bladder, prostate, and whatever else has to go. We discussed my treatment - chemotherapy (6 weeks) and then surgery. He recommended that I receive the most powerful of the 3 recommended chemo treatments - ddMVAC (hope I have that right). The dd stands for dose dense. I think I will wait to explain this treatment and drugs for latter. Anyways, assuming I make it through the chemo, they will then schedule me for my RC surgery. There is about a 4 week wait for that to happen.
We then discussed my wonderful 3 choices for urinary diversion - neobladder, Indiana pouch, and Ileal conduit. I asked many questions and received adequate answers. I told them that what I really would like is to meet men who have these 3 options so I can see for myself how these men use these devices. They said they would try to help me. They said each patient signs a 1 year release form and they need to check with people. It sounded like I was asking some strange request. Really - no other dumbass is curious enough about the next 5-20 years of his life that he doesn't want to talk to people who are already walking down this road????? We finished with a nurse showing me actual urostomy bag and how they fit to your stoma. It was helpful, but I still don't see how you could possibly wear a belt or jeans for that matter. I just don't see things loose enough to have the urine drain properly. Just more questions I have to figure out how to get answers to.
We had to wait till 3:00 to see Dr. Gupta, the oncologist. So Barb and I had lunch and went to the Utah Fine Arts Museum to kill the time.
Dr. Gupta and her team sat down with us and explained the chemo treatment and how it worked. She said that we need to get started right away. It's 2 days of treatment with a shot on the 3rd day to help with my white blood cell count. I have full faith in Dr. Gupta and her team, but Barb and I had wanted to discuss if it was possible for me to get my chemo treatment her in Logan. The nausea and a 2 hr. drive back to Logan 2X a week for 6 weeks just seemed something we might want to avoid. The only problem was that the oncologist in Logan does not necessarily agree chemo before surgery. Dr. Gupta graciously agreed to ask Dr. Ben Jacob to work with us and administer my chemo and he agreed. I was surprised and happy that my drive is 5 min. and not 2 hrs. He agreed to follow Dr. Gupta's game plan. I will say that with the time approaching 5:00, the staff at the Huntsman went way above their duties to try and get my heart test and other details transferred up to Logan and scheduled as quickly as possible. By the time we left my mind was exhausted and I gad a long drive home in rush hour traffic.
So Friday I had my echocardiogram at Logan Hospital. I was hoping to here from Dr. Ben Jacobs office, but when I stopped by at 4:00, they were closed. So I wait till Monday.
The weekend was nice. I am learning to enjoy these last few weeks with a normal functioning body. I'll hate to see it go.
So today I called Dr. Ben Jacob's office and the nurse said the ball got dropped on Friday. I am scheduled for consultation with a surgeon on Wednesday who will put in my port and on Friday he will do the procedure. I am anxious to get this started and I want to start on a Monday so I can be done by Tuesday and have as much time to recover by the weekend. The nurse said they could hook me up without a port for the first week. But the bottom line is that even though I chased down the echo report for the Doctor, I didn't start today. Oh well, let's try tomorrow.
When I saw Dr. Gupta at the Huntsman on Thursday, the first thing she said was, "We need to get going on this. It seems you have been dragging your feet." REALLY? As I said, let's try tomorrow.
For now, Good Night.
