When I checked me voice mail this morning there was a tearful message from my mom. According to her, the brain tumor was back, she has a mass in her abdomen and her kidneys aren’t working. She said she was scared and she was crying a little.
Not a good thing to hear first thing in the morning. But I know my mom is sometimes prone to a little exaggeration. She also sometimes doesn’t get the story completely right or ask enough questions. So I called her oncologist’s office and made an appointment to talk with him at 11:30 today.
I showed up and was escorted to a conference room where the oncologist basically had pretty upbeat news. The brain tumor is back, but as before, it is benign. It is also much smaller at only 3 cm. The multiple myeloma seems to under control. We don’t know what the mass in her abdomen is. He also told me that he thinks my mother might have a bit of dementia, but that might be treatable as well. So I left his office feeling a lot better than I had after my mom’s call!
So I headed over to mom’s room to give her a bit of a pep talk. She was sitting in bed eating a salad. The woman has lost over 20 pounds involuntarily, so I am a little surprised to see her picking at a salad! When the nurse came in I teased her about getting her a juicy cheeseburger, chocolate shake and some french fries. We all laughed but I think the nursing staff might push her a little harder to make some more calorie-filled meal choices!
While I was there a very young, very handsome, and very pleasant young urologist came into the room. I recognized him from his picture in the medical directory and I knew I had typed many letters to him for the general surgeon I work for. He was very patient with mom and let her tell her stories. He said that there were a couple of things maybe going on. Her bladder cancer might be back, or she might have some kidney stones causing blockages, and of course we still have to figure out what this mass is! But he left with a positive attitude of “Let’s see what we’ve got here” that I think didn’t traumatize mom too much.
As I was leaving, I met the neurologist looking at my mom’s chart. He was trying to figure out when the CAT scan was done and where the results were. He asked me a lot of questions and then he said, “Let me go down and look at the scan myself.” Before I could say anything, he was down the hall! But within 30 minutes he was back. He asked mom a lot of questions too, and then checked out her strength and did some other clinical tests. He felt that her brain tumor wasn’t giving her any problems right now, but that we could certainly follow it more closely after she gets out of the hospital. He too was very pleasant and reassuring.
So after making sure mom was okay, and putting her soaps on the t.v. I gave her a hug and came home.
The fourth doctor was for Isadora. Izzy was born with a bump on her left foot. She has had it all of her life and it has never bothered her. She plays soccer and runs cross country. But yesterday, for no reason, she started complaining that her bump hurt. Of course, considering the luck I’ve been having my mind raced ahead to dire diagnoses like sarcoma. So I was able to make an appointment to get her in today.
I have known Izzy’s pediatrician for over 20 years. He was my doctor when Calvin was a newborn! He’s very personable and tells a lot of jokes. He’s a perfect doctor for kids. He had looked at Izzy’s bump years ago, but today his eyes popped out a bit – it is quite a bit bigger. After taking some measurements and doing an exam, he thinks she has a cyst under the skin and he referred me to some pediatric surgeons. We have an appointment there for next Thursday.
So I’m a bit worn out, but feeling a little positive for both my mom and for Izzy.
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