A busy day!

Thursday, April 30th was a busy day with 4 appointments at both Mayo Clinic campuses, the Scottsdale Campus and the Phoenix Campus. Fortunately both are equal distances from my home and are relatively close. The first appointment was for a follow-up X-ray of my chest to check and see how my right lung was doing, as in was there any sign of collapsing, followed by an appointment with a new to me, Dr. of Radiology Michelle Halyard.
However, before leaving home I decided to weigh myself since it had been about two weeks since I last weighed myself, and I had gone some 36 hours with nothing but intravenous solutions since shortly before/during and after the biopsy. They would not discharge me from the hospital on Tuesday until I had consumed everything they had given me on my breakfast tray, which consisted of jello, clear broth, some type of fruit juice drink and black coffee. I had all but the coffee. Well, needless to say I was shocked when I weighed in at 183.7 pounds when my last weigh in was recorded at 192.2 pounds! Since my throat was still sore from the biopsy and I had no desire to eat or drink anything I began to seriously consider the consequences of becoming dehydrated and or mal-nourished.
When I met with Dr. Halyard, who by the way told Dad and me that she was originally from Homestead, Pa. - home of Kennywood Park, she had already received and reviewed all of my records from my previous radiation treatments, both the ones in Pittsburgh and the ones in Phoenix, and we went through a pretty thorough question and answer session to make her more familiar with me and my case. I found her to be very pleasant and compassionate. After the interview she performed a physical examination of mouth and neck are and also both right and left axillaries of my upper chest. She concluded that more radiation treatment to either of the two areas would be more detrimental than worthwhile. Mainly because of the amount of treatment already received there, but also due to the fact that the disease had now spread to a wider area and was now below my clavicles in the mediastymun, which is the upper middle chest between the lungs and the heart. Dr. Halyard said that perhaps there would be some type of chemotherapy that might be used in an effort to slow down the progression of the disease but she would leave that determination to her counterparts in Oncology, with whom I have an appointment with next Thursday.
I had then mentioned to Dr. Halyard my rather large loss of weight and discomfort in eating and swallowing and I requested that a feeding tube be re-implanted to prevent the dehydration and mal-nutrition I spoke of earlier. Dr. Halyard said she thought it was good to have a back-up and graciously placed an order for this right then and there in the office. As of this writing I have yet to hear anything as to this procedure being scheduled. Our appointment ended there and it was back to the house for a quick snack, jello and whipped cream and then off to the Phoenix Campus to meet with Dr. Hinni for post surgery follow-up and then meet with the Mayo Clinic Social worker.
The appointment with Dr. Hinni was rather droll, nothing new to add from when I saw him the day after the biopsy, I guess they just want to really make sure you're coherent and absorbing everything they are saying to you. He did offer one suggestion based on his experiences and things he has seen in his career. He said when you think there is nothing more that can be done, "Just give up" He said that he has seen Dr's continue to do more and more and more when there is clearly no chance of survival and he basically said it would be up to me to say "Stop, enough is enough!"
With that I had asked him if he had the results of the chest X-Ray from earlier in the day at the Scottsdale Campus and he was able to access it on his computer and said that everything looked "Perfect". Followed by his staring me in the eyes, as if maybe he were looking for signs of fear or maybe that I didn't "get it", I'm not sure what, but I thanked him for his efforts. He told me to keep in touch and I told him I had a blog. He said he tries to stay off the computer as much as possible and I understood where he was coming from, but he graciously took the blog address and said he would check it out. I told him that I don't update it daily and if he doesn't get to check it out than that was okay, too. At least he has the address. He will be the first Christmas Card I address this December, just to let him know that I'm still around.
With that we met with the Social worker, again nothing big there, a lot of repeating the same information, as if he were trying to fill the time. Maybe I just wasn't prepared with the proper questions to keep him on his toes. Maybe next time I will have more questions to ask. My first time with a Social worker and I wasn't and am still not sure what they can do for you.
So I have the weekend free to start packing up for my trip home and then on Monday I have a Specialty Exam for Palliative Care, followed by Thursdays appointment with the Oncologist and somewhere in between I hope the Peg-tube procedure.
Many "thanks" to one and all who have sent emails to this site or to my personal sight for their expressions of concern and prayer. All are very much appreciated and I draw strength from these and the cards I receive in the mail. They inspire me to do my damnedest not to let anyone of you down, after all the support you've given me!
Love to everyone,
Tom