News from my "Doctor"

I was under the impression all this time that I would have a pet Scan after my 4th round, followed by surgery. I was mistaken.

The purpose of the upcoming scan is only to determine if the cancer is shrinking, how much, and how fast. They won't be doing surgery for quite a while, even if the cancer has backed away from the "danger" areas (my sigmoid colon, bladder, liver, and abdominal wall). I'm sure this is what my "doctor" meant all along; I was just conceptualizing the process differently than he, and wrongly.

So this means chemotherapy into the foreseeable future. But the upside of it is that I will be able to travel home for a bit over the xmas break. I don't know when just yet, but I will definitely be coming for a visit. If I'm not in the hospital or recovering from surgery, I'm certainly not going to just sit around Atlanta in the moderate to warm weather and the blue skies.........wait a minute.....

In other news, in terms of blood counts and such, my "doctor" says that I am tolerating the chemotherapy quite well. A normal, healthy adult has a white blood cell count of somewhere around 8000-10,000. My white count, thanks to the $6000 Neulasta shots I get, is -- are you ready...........

15,000!!

That means that I'm healthier than all of you who are reading this.

My doctor did not bring up the subject of the letter that I sent him, the one where I detailed the incompetence of his office staff, etc. He stood across the room from me until it was time for him to actually examine me. I think he's clearly afraid of me, which means that aside from all of his shortcomings as a physician and a professional, he's not entirely stupid.