My Oncologist -The First Visit

I made it through the Thanksgiving Holiday and now Monday had finally arrived.

I drove to my new Oncologists' office to see Doctor “S”. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I pulled into the parking lot. I parked and went inside. I walked up to the check in window, I signed in and paid my co-pay. I was sitting there in the waiting room filling out the insurance paper work and the questionnaire. You know, the one with the questions like has anybody in your family ever been sick. About fifteen minutes passed and then the nurse opened the door to the waiting room and called my name “Steve Johnson”. I got up and walked to the door and she directed me down the hallway to one of the suites. I entered the room and sat down in a chair, and then the nurse said, “the Dr. will be with you in a bit”. She left the room, closed the door and there I sat in this suite waiting for my new doctor. I picked up one of the magazines and started to flip through the pages to occupy my time as I waited. Five minutes passed, and then ten minutes, then my new doctor came in. His name was Dr. “S”.

Dr. “S” greeted me as I moved to the examination table, the one with the crisp white paper that crunches when you sit on it. He was reviewing my folder, reading the biopsy report and looking over my questionnaire. I just sat there watching him, I was wondering, did he even read my biopsy prior to seeing me or was he doing this examination on the fly?  I asked him, "how did I get cancer in my Lymph Nodes"? He said, “we don’t know how it happens”. He lowered the back on the examination table and as I sat on the front edge of it, he started to examine me. He put his fingers on the sides of my neck and started to feel up and down, then he moved his fingers under my chin. He didn’t tell me what he was doing, but I already knew he was trying to determine how many lymph nodes he could feel. Then I had to take off my shirt and he felt in my under arms, again feeling for enlarged lymph nodes. He asked me to lay back and then he pushed down on my stomach area trying to see if my spleen was enlarged. Finally, he felt around my groin, again searching for enlarged lymph nodes. Then he said, “you can put your shirt back on”.

My new doctor did not have a lot of personality. He didn’t really seem to want to offer up any information. It was like he wanted to keep me as the mushroom who lives in the dark. It probably made his job easier if he didn't have to answer allot of questions. I asked him “what do you think”? He just replied that he was going to send me for CT scans. I asked him again “did I have a lot of enlarged lymph nodes and what about my spleen”?  He replied that my spleen seemed OK and that I had a few enlarged lymph nodes in my neck and in my under arms. Remember all we had at this point was a biopsy that said one lymph node had cancer in it. I asked him the same question that was burning a hole in my brain “How long do you think that I going to live” He was uncomfortable with this question and was reluctant to answer. He could not avoid me starring at him waiting for the answer. He rather mumbled “5 years”. This time it wasn’t a shock, but it was deflating. Getting information out of this guy was not easy, I was thinking I should get a different doctor, but my primary had recommended this guy so I figured I would give him a chance.

He wrote a prescription for me to get a CT Scan (more on that later). He handed it to me and said he would see me again in two weeks after he received the results. I asked him “why am I getting a CT Scan?  He actually explained that they determine Lymphoma by the size of the lymph nodes and they will be able to see that with the CT Scan. This was all new to me, so I thanked him for his answer and that was it, the office visit was over. I went to the front desk and they said they would set up the CT Scan for me and that the Imagining Center would call me with the instructions for the Scan.

So that was it for, My Oncologist -The First Visit. I had waited for what seemed like an eternity to see this doctor. It came down to him reading my file, doing a physical examination, feeling my lymph nodes, telling me he didn’t know how I got cancer, telling me I had five years to live and then sending me off to get a CT Scan. I must say It did not lift my spirits, but I was determined to be positive about my future anyway. Now all I can do is tell everyone that you have to be pro active with your on health care. Allot of doctors just do not tell you that much and at some point you may have to find a new doctor. Nevertheless, for now, I was going to try this one.

More to come next time…