August 22, 2023
David saw a radiology oncologist (we will call him Dr. Wa since our PCP is also Dr. W).The nurse went over past history and asked many questions and then explained how radiation works. She said it would stop the bleeding David had been experiencing and David was very glad to hear this. She asked about his pain level and David said with meds it was a 5 and without it was a 7. She explained they would set an appointment for their own non diagnostic CT scan that would help them set up and target for the radiation treatments. She told us radiation would be every day and gave David some tips for managing the side effects. Dr. Wa came in and said right away that Dr. C did the right thing by opting to stop surgery and recommend radiation. He explained they wanted an R0 resection which basically means no parts of the tumor remain even microscopically and the radiation will help ensure that. He explained that in order to do this though, we would need to see a Medical Oncologist who would direct the plan. Med Oncs are usually hematologists, and he would treat the anemia as well. Dr. Wa explained the various schools of thought regarding chemotherapy/radiation treatment combos. Dr. Wa office’s made an appointment with a medical oncologist for September 6. He explained the PET scans appointments were taking a month or more for scheduling so he went ahead and sent the orders for David to have one. (Update: our insurance initially denied the scan and Dr. Wa had to have a peer-to-peer meeting with the insurance doctor and was able to then get it approved. We initially got an appointment for a scan in October but found a location in Atlanta that could do it on 9/22)
INFORMATIVE DECISIONS (-d)
Lots of information on this visit. Some of it was great news like that my bleeding could stop. I felt like if we could get control of that, my blood issues would be helped a lot.
Then, a lot of information on not just how radiation works but also the many different types of how cancer treatment can work in general. It felt like a lot at the time, but looking back it was a good primer for hearing similar things from our oncologist later. The radiation seemed a little intense, but I was really ready for anything in any way that could make a significant difference. Picking an oncologist wasn’t the easiest thing but I tried to stay inside a group that I already trusted and felt good about, and surprisingly enough even though it wasn’t exactly what I had expected it turned out to be the perfect fit. Call it what you want, blessings, luck, fortune, etc. but I’ve had more of them like this in this experience (and honestly in my life) than I can count. The PET scan seemed significant, and I remember really wishing I could have it sooner rather than later. So when we were able to move it up about a month I was really happy with that.