Tampa Day one...

Day one...

It was a foggy morning, kind of fitting for the mood today.

We woke up at 6 and hit the road about 7:15 for the appointment at 7:30. The hospital campus is HUGE, and we had a little trouble getting there, which contributed to our tardiness. Over all it was not hard to find, and we weren't that late. They were a little busy when we got into the GI clinic so it worked out well.

Once we were checked in, getting back to see the Dr. went pretty quickly. The intake nurse took Brian's vitals, weighed and measured his height. We found out that Brian is no longer 6' 4", he is now 6' 2.1". This is an area of concern as there are tumors in his spine, and he has always been 6' 4". Once Brian's vitals were taken and all pre visit questions answered, we were escorted to the room to wait for the Dr. to arrive.

First Dr. Strosberg's nurse Vanessa came in to see us. She is young, but knowledgable about the cancer, and treatments. She brought us a new folder with information as well as a detailed contact list. We gave her all of the records and CD's of Brian's various scans, hospital and Dr. visits, and waited for the Dr. to arrive.

Dr. Strosberg is a little different when it comes to bedside manner. That is to say that he is different than a primary care physician. At least they will look you in the eye when they talk to you. I think this may be the case with most oncology Dr's. Their job can't be easy, but it isn't a day at the zoo being a patient or a patient's spouse. I guess I can understand to a point why it would be difficult to look a patient in the eye. I mean I don't think they tell you everything, and if they have to look you in the eye they won't be able to hold anything back.

When he came into the room he started asking questions. I let Brian answer most of them, which as many people know, is VERY difficult for me to do. I have come to realize that the Dr's don't really want to hear from me. They want to hear from Brian. So I sit there and listen more than anything.

We found out that they believe the cancer originated in the pancreas, and that Brian has an additional tumor in his spine at T9. According to the pathology report the tumors Brian has are well differentiated. Meaning they are low grade, and this is why Dr. Thomas had advised in October that this is a slow growing cancer. Well, obviously something changed...

Dr. Strosberg ordered some lab work and a new CT scan. This was so that he would have a base line for the tumors to go with the new treatment he was also prescribing. This new treatment is an oral form of chemo therapy. Brian will take 7 pills a day for 9 days. 4 in the morning, and 3 in the evening. On day 10 he will add an additional pill and continue with that one, as well as the other 7 for the next 5 says. Once this cycle is completed he will have 14 days off of the chemo. Prior to starting the next round, we will travel again to Tampa to determine changes, and to make sure Brian is still healthy enough to continue the treatment.

Brian asked Dr. Strosberg a few questions, the first being "How many patients do you see with my type of cancer?"

His answer was that there are probably 3 other Dr's in the country who see as many of these cases as he does. He also stated that he has 3-8 patients a day with this type of cancer.

Brian's next question was inevitable, and is the one question that all of the Dr's have not wanted to answer. This one was no exception. Brian asked "What's the prognosis?"

His answer to this one was vague at best. He said "some patients live a few years, and others live many years." he did not specify which of these categories Brian fits into. Although, on one hand we want to know where Brian fits into this vague answer, there is the other hand that says, somethings are best left unknown...

Once the appointment was over, we went to check out and set up the lab and CT appointments. Brian was able to get the lab work done on Wednesday, but was to return on Thursday at 10am for the CT prep and scan. The scan would require 2 hours of drinking some really nasty tasting orange stuff so that they would be able to see what they needed to on the scan.

We went to the lab for the blood work, then to the pharmacy to drop off the 5 prescriptions we received. Then we were off to a day at the beach.

Brian and I at Seminole Beaches, and the second picture is of the house that Brian would like to build in Oregon some day.

 

I'll write about day two another time... I'm pooped...