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The anticipated day finally arrived. With some trepidation we entered Dr. Sheh’s
office. Of course, this is not the
office we are used to going to, just ¾ a mile away. No, South Bay Oncology was purchased by
Stanford and moved to a brand new building over near Good Samaritan where we
had the surgery done. It’s not a bad location – just different. It’s a more
sterile environment. The walls of the
exam room had no pictures, just a ticking clock on the wall. Most doctor offices do not have clocks
because it only serves to make patients more anxious listening to the tick,
tick, tick, especially if the doctor is running late. We also were not checked in by Dr. Sheh’s
normal bubbly assistant, Jordan. Jordan
always greeted us with a smile and made small talk as she got George’s
vitals. Today, the assistant was very
hard to get to be personable. Also, at
this new office the patients are given a little “tag” to where which indicates
where they are in the facility. The
doctors also wear one. Guess they want
to know where you are at all times! While
Stanford Hospital has a good reputation, it is just another “big business” that
charges more bucks for the same services we were getting before. It does not necessarily mean better patient
care. (We found that out when George’s
mom was in the hospital at Stanford last winter.) Anyway, it will take time to get used to this
new place.
And, yes, get used to it we must. Unfortunately…. For the latest CT scan shows
signs of recurrent disease. For now, it
is relatively small – and not much to worry about – seemingly, anyway. There is one area that is growing more
visibly so Dr. Sheh would like us to do a follow up appointment with Dr.
Bastidas to get his take on what should be done. He may say that we will continue to watch and
wait – or maybe he will want to do some surgery to remove something. We don’t know. That answer will be forthcoming in one week
when we visit his office.
We are not entirely surprised that there is recurrence…. Just
disappointed that there is obvious new “growth” in areas where previously there
was none. We had hoped for No Evidence
of Disease (NED), but that is not in our deck of cards.
On the “good” side, George’s labs were all pretty good. Some are still a little off but are getting
closer to normal as time goes on.
Although it has been almost a year, the body is still making
adjustments. Also done this time around
was an immunology panel. The doctor did
not appear to feel that there was anything to worry about in that area, so that
is good.
Other things we discussed today were George’s lack of
stamina. Although he has made a lot of
progress over the year, he is still far from where he was pre-surgery. And that may never come back. That is the most frustrating thing for George
to deal with.
Outside of the doctor’s office we also discussed the memory “hiccups”
that George has. He was telling me the
other day about a comment his boss made that surprised him. I won’t go into details as that information
is confidential, but I remarked to George that he had made a comment to his
boss about this topic back in the spring.
Not only that, but we had another conversation at a later date where I
told George that he had made a comment to his boss in that regard. George does not remember either
conversation. I said to George, “I find
it hard to believe that this type of memory loss is only apparent at home, it
has got to be happening at work as well.”
He said that yes, it has happened at work as well. That is worrisome. At home it is one thing, at work quite
another.
Where does all of that leave us? Well, #1 we have to wait and see what the
surgeons’ viewpoint is on the CT scan findings.
#2 we will start exploring George’s options about continuing to work,
working part time, or retiring.
Obviously these are both things that require considerable
deliberation.
But it also leaves us “on hold” for one more week as we await
our appointment with Dr. Bastidas.
Ugh! There is nothing worse than
waiting!!
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