the next steps

Friday at 1 p.m. we went back to the cancer center here in Topeka where I had the radiation on my shoulder and hip over four years ago.  It's a modern building with a spacious three-story atrium (with a grand piano) and an adjacent library for cancer support groups.

We may not be the oddest of odd couples, but people do seem to remember us, and we were greeted as if we were old friends.  Dr. Green, the same radiologist we had before, did the consultation.  We're going to do ten sessions of radiation, including T4 and T9, the two vertebrae that border the four with the tumor.  The side effects of the radiation, he said, would be the usual redness and fatigue, but also, because the esophagus runs parallel with the spine, some difficulty in swallowing, especially after the treatments have concluded.  He said not to worry about this as the problem would resolve itself.

To pinpoint the precise areas of radiation, I underwent another CT scan and am now covered with markings in ink to delineate the focus.  (The last time, they asked me whether I minded a number of very small tattoos to serve the same function; I said that I did.)  Like last time, after all the waiting, once things begin, they are going to move quickly.  I'll begin the ten daily sessions on either Monday afternoon or Tuesday.

There is some damage to vertebra T6, but Dr. Green said that they didn't do prophylactic action (i.e., opening me to put cement in the vertebra) unless there was more serious damage.  I'm to notify them if the pain in that area becomes more pronounced.  That was a relief as one of my worries was that the tumor was eating away at the vertebrae the way the tumor in my leg had on my femur.

We also asked Dr. Green about Dr. Hashmi, the oncologist who works four days a week in Topeka and one day at KU Med.  He is the one who is taking at least some of Dr. Van's patients, including me.  Dr. Green responded immediately that Dr. Hashmi was "wonderful" and loved by all his patients.  He twice described Dr. Hashmi as 'articulate.'  The choice, he said, was a "no-brainer": go with Dr. Hashmi and be treated here in Topeka. 

I'll blog more frequently now that changes are underway.