My First Oncology Appointment

The Friday I got the news that I had Cancer, my doctor made an appointment with the Oncology department for the following Monday.

I really wasn't sure what to expect but I wanted to go as fast as I could to get this new phase of my life underway and under control. Julia offered to drive me to my appointment, and my dad was going to drive down to meet me there too. Appointment was at 3:30, but Julia and I got there more than 20 minutes early. There was really no wait, and they let us back to the exam room right away, well before my dad had gotten there. Mentioned to the nurse that my dad would be on his way soon and he was allowed back when he got there. She took my vitals and said she would let the receptionist know that I was expecting someone else. Doctor came in shortly after still no dad, just Julia and I, and he basically said again what my primary doctor had told me the Friday before. That I had Cancer and that the tumor was too large to remove surgically. I told him I hadn't seen any of the imaging and that was one of the things I personally wanted to see since they halted the Gall Bladder surgery because of the protrusion from my liver. He obliged and started showing me the CT Scan results as my dad was let into the room.

I was completely floored, was able to keep my head but almost completely destroyed when the doctor showed me the images. I had been expecting just to see a huge tumor on my liver, but was mortified to see that there were spots in my lungs, lymph nodes, pancreas, as well as along the bile ducts inside the liver. I saw the look on my dad's face as the doctor was going over the images, and felt truly that he was taking it much harder than I was. I understand completely, I would much rather go through something like this myself as to watch it happen to my own son. The Oncologist explained that because of the multiple system involvement I would be on Chemo for the rest of my life, there was just no way to get rid of all of the cancer either surgically or through radiation with the Cancer spread out like it is. Julia was my rock and gave me the strength to comfort my father once the doctor had left the room to send for the Chemotherapy nurse.

The Chemotherapy nurse came in and she was a bundle of unstoppable energy. She went over some of the basics that I would be experiencing, and scheduled me for a required Chemotherapy class for that Thursday, and also coordinated with getting me scheduled for my first Chemo session that Friday as well. She also produced several forms my parents and Julia could talk to the doctors about me, or more to the point the doctors could officially talk to them about my situation. I got all that filled out and turned in and then just waited to get the confirmation of the class and the Chemo times which she came back with right away.

More to come ................