More Questions than Answers

Well, where do I start????? When we arrived he asked if I had an appointment. It wasn't obvious to him so I replied yes. He stated that I wasn't supposed to come this week but rather next week. This is news to me. He clearly said come in 1 week after you have the scans. So there I was and he wasn't prepared. My test reports were all over the office, some he never did locate. Everything was the same as far as he could tell but he also didn't have everything. He was kind of like the nutty professor. I am sure he is a great doctor but I was hoping for a more put together figure!

He spoke to one of the doctors that Dr. Eckardt said that he should speak to and the other didn't return his call. No surprise. The doc that did call back said that he recommended a more aggressive approach. Higher doses of methotrexate (same drug) and it would be harsh. He couldn't speak to how I would react but it is a very high dose and it will not be pleasant. It is a shorter run and carries 10% higher success rate.

The alternative is low dose over the course of a year in smaller amounts. The side effects are much less pronounced and it is given over the course of a year or so. The draw backs are that it will occur once a week for the year and it has less of an effect on destroying the tumor cells.

So the choice is ours. He wants us to think it over. Return next week with questions and in the mean time he will present my case to the tumor board and speak to that other doctor to see what he has to say. Scott asked the success rate in general and it is a disappointing 40%. I am starting an uphill battle from the get go.

He gave us some literature on methotrexate and described the protocol (albeit briefly.) If it is going to be low dose chemo, it will be delivered with another chemotherapy drug visbiline (or something like that). Both cases will be followed with a healthy cell boosting drug whose name escapes me at the moment (leucovorum.... something like that. It replaces the folate cycle..) Scott confiscated the literature once I read "can lead to death" on the first page. Not pleasant!!

So I will return next Wednesday afternoon to hopefully get this horror show on the road. I can't say that I am looking forward to it and I hope this time the doctor is prepared when I walk through the door :-)

Stacey